Girl Scouts of NE Ohio 2019 Women of Distinction Awards

Girl Scouts of North East Ohio (GSNEO) held its Women of Distinction Awards Luncheon on Friday, May 10, at the DoubleTree by Hilton, Cleveland Downtown-Lakeside. This year’s event was a sell-out crowd with 400 guests, and was the most successful fundraising event GSNEO has had to date, raising over $123,000!

The Women of Distinction Luncheon was established to raise funds for Girl Scout scholarships and financial aid, while honoring women who go above and beyond to make our communities better places to live, work, and raise a family.

This year’s Women of Distinction honorees were: Angela Douglas, Cleveland State University; Julie Johnson, Boys and Girls Clubs of the Western Reserve; Brenda Kirk, Hyland Software; Jeanene Kress, Olmsted Township; Susanna Krey, Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland; Lisa Mandel, Rubber City Radio Group; Dr. Candice McDonald, NASA Glenn Research Center; Kathy Moock, Community Volunteer; Antha Poleondakis, Merrill Lynch and Grace Wakulchik, Akron Children’s Hospital

These women were recognized for their remarkable achievements as business, community, academic, and civic leaders dedicated to supporting opportunities for women and girls. The 10 nominees were selected by a committee of community members led by Women of Distinction Event Chair Ebony Yeboah-Amankwah. Yeboah-Amankwah is Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, Corporate Secretary & Chief Ethics Officer at FirstEnergy Corporation and a 2018 Women of Distinction honoree.

This year’s Advancing Women Award was presented to The Kent State University Women’s Center and Women’s Network of Northeast Ohio.

This award is given to a company or organization that has been dedicated to the advancement of women in the workplace. The Kent State University Women’s Center believes in supporting women through advocacy and education about women, gender, and diversity. The center offers a variety of resources for students, faculty, and staff at the university. Some of these resources include crisis intervention, food pantry, pregnancy and parenting campus resources, a career closet, and scholarships. Women’s Network of Northeast Ohio believes in empowering and inspiring women to achieve success. They also aim to help women develop in their personal and professional lives through leadership training, professional development, business knowledge and skills, professionally-facilitated mentoring, networking, recognition, and awards and scholarships. The Women’s Network of Northeast Ohio is a grassroots organization that serves more than 550 women.

Three Girl Scouts received the Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarship Award: June Guy, Nordonia Hills High School; Elisabeth Lendal, Avon Lake High School and Abigail Richardson, Western Reserve Academy

These honorees have a strong commitment to engaging in the Girl Scout Leadership Experience. They also demonstrate high scholastic achievement, creativity, initiative, and community outreach. Each girl embodies the council’s belief that young women with promise today will become tomorrow’s leaders. The three finalists each received a scholarship award.

The Women of Distinction Awards Luncheon was made possible by a number of generous sponsors. First National Bank was the Presenting Sponsor of the event. Other sponsors of the event included FirstEnergy Foundation; Nordson Corporation; Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland; Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Kent State University; Board of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Western Reserve; Cuyahoga Community College; Dominion Energy; Lubrizol Corporation; Medical Mutual; The Sherwin-Williams Company; Akron Children’s Hospital; Brandstetter Carroll, Inc.; Huntington Bank; KeyBank; Jeanene Kress; Lisa Ferring Mandel; Metis Construction Services, LLC; Oswald Companies; Sikich; Sisters of Charity Health System; Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro’s Department of Job and Family Services; Susan Flowers; The Davey Tree Expert Company; and The Timken Company.