Well known local advertising executive Sharon Napier is this year’s Athena Award winner. Napier, who is CEO of Partners + Napier, was presented the award Thursday night by The Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce and its Women’s Council affiliate.
In nominating Sharon Napier for the ATHENA Award, Partners + Napier Head of Public Relations and Social Rebecca Bellush said, “For more than 36 years, Sharon Napier has broken glass ceilings, defied stereotypes, raised standards, and mentored, serving as a role model for hundreds of young women making their way in the ad industry. In the process, as founder and CEO of Partners + Napier, she’s shown that it’s possible to build a small regional advertising agency in a mid-size market like Rochester into a serious national player.”
Kim Allen, managing partner at Dixon Schwabl, another local advertising and communications firm, received the ATHENA Young Professional Award, and Allen’s employer, Dixon Schwabl, took home the first-ever ATHENA Organizational Award.
The ATHENA Organizational Award goes to a woman-owned or woman-led business or organization that creates a culture encouraging women employees to achieve their full leadership potential and supports leadership development opportunities for women and girls in the community.
