Wayne Bank and Indiana University East have selected this year’s ATHENA Award recipients. Tracie Robinson is the recipient of the ATHENA Leadership Award® and Roxie Deer is the ATHENA Young Professional recipient. The Girl Scouts of Wayne County Service Unit is the recipient of the ATHENA Organizational Leadership Award.

The awards will be presented to the recipients at the annual dinner at 6 p.m. on Thursday, August 18, at Forest Hills Country Club, located at 2169 South 23rd St. in Richmond, Indiana.

The recipients are presented a hand-cast, bronze and crystal sculpture that symbolizes the strength, courage and wisdom of ATHENA recipients.

The ATHENA Leadership Award® is presented to an exemplary leader who has achieved excellence in their business or profession, served the community in a meaningful way and, most importantly, actively assisted women to achieve their full leadership potential. The event recognizes women leaders who motivate, inspire and create positive change in the community. Previous award recipients include Mary Jo Clark, Jackie Carberry, Kim Poinsett, Angie Dickman, Janis Buhl-Macy, and Melissa Vance.

Robinson of Richmond, Indiana, is a sales manager and associate broker at Better Homes and Gardens First Realty Group. Currently, she is the president of the Board of Directors for the Boys and Girls Club of Wayne County. Robinson has been a six-year member of the board and has also served as first and second vice president and on many of its committees. She is also the vice president of the Cope Environmental Center Board of Directors, president of the Historic Richmond Depot District, co-director of the Depot Festival of Trees, a board member for the Midwest Music and Heritage Trail, board member of Wayne County Revolving Loan Fund, a member for the Wayne County Area Chamber of Commerce Awards, Celebrations and Events committee, the Economic Development Corporation marketing committee and a member of Tri Kappa Delta Zeta philanthropic sorority.

She is a past board president of the Richmond Board of Realtors, Wayne County Area Chamber of Commerce board president, Economic Development Corporation board president, Every Child Can Read and Third Grade Academy board member of which she is now a volunteer, and she was a non-profit coordinator for InConcert.

The ATHENA Young Professional Leadership Award actively supports and celebrates the ATHENA mission of supporting, developing and honoring women leaders, inspiring women to achieve their full potential—creating balance in leadership worldwide. ATHENA Young Professional Leadership Nominees are 18-35 years age. Nominees are emerging women leaders who demonstrate excellence, creativity and initiative in their business or profession. Provides valuable service to improve the quality of life for others in their community. Clearly serves as a role model for young women both personally and professionally. Previous award recipients include Jessie Pilewski and Ashley Sieb.

Deer of Richmond, Indiana, is the director of membership and education for the Wayne County Area Chamber of Commerce. She is a member of Helping Young Professionals Engage (HYPE) and the Wayne County ambassador to Forge Your Path Eastern Central Indiana. She is a board member for A Better Way for Genesis, the Winter Meltdown Festival, serves as the board chair for the Housing Authority for the City of Richmond, a board member of DIVA, and serves as secretary and committee chair for Whitewater Community Television and Tri Kappa Delta Zeta. In 2021, she established the Deer Family Fund to raise money to support women battling breast cancer in the Wayne County community.

This is the first year the ATHENA Organizational Leadership Award is presented in Wayne County. The award actively supports and celebrates the ATHENA mission of supporting, developing and honoring women leaders, inspiring women to achieve their full potential—creating balance in leadership worldwide. ATHENA organizational nominees are business or organizations, in the profit or non-profit sectors – who create an organizational culture that encourages women employees to achieve their full leadership potential or gives back to the larger community of women and girls by providing and/ or supporting leadership development opportunities and initiatives.

The Girl Scouts of Wayne County Service Unit is the inaugural recipient of the ATHENA Organizational Leadership award. Girl Scouts is a program with the mission of helping girls to build courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. Girl Scouts throughout Wayne County are committed to working to help others, being resourceful and offering companionship and friendship to others.

The Wayne County Service Unit hosts events such as day camps, cookie rallies, World Thinking Day celebrations, award ceremonies, and service projects. This year there were over 850 boxes of cookies donated to Wayne County first responders, food pantries and military service members.

About the Leadership Award® Awards
Wayne Bank and IU East are honored to bring and sponsor this award to Wayne County, established locally in 2014. Proceeds benefit local organizations dedicated to serving leadership building for women of all ages.

The program is facilitated locally by Wayne Bank and Indiana University East, licensed ATHENA host organizations. Nominations are sought throughout the community and recipients are selected by a diverse group of community leaders based on the criteria above.

ATHENA Leadership Award® recipients hail from all professional sectors. The award’s rich history, international scope and emphasis on mentorship make this award unique and amongst the most prestigious leadership awards one can receive.

About ATHENA International
Founded over 30 years ago, ATHENA International is a women’s leadership organization that supports, develops and honors women leaders through the programs it administers. ATHENA’s flagship program, the ATHENA Leadership Award® Program, has honored over 7,000 women leaders from hundreds of cities and eight countries since its inception in 1982.

To RSVP visit waynecoathena.com or contact Dana Henderson at (765) 259-0205. For more information about the dinner including sponsorship opportunities, contact JoAnn Spurlock, vice president, director of operations at Wayne Bank, at (765) 259-0209 or jspurlock@waynebnk.com or Paula Kay King, director of Gift Development at IU East, at (765) 973-8331 or pkayking@iue.edu.