Athena's STEM community gathered virtually on June 30 to reveal this year's Pinnacle Awards that annually honors the distinguished diversity champions among us.
Reaching new heights in 2021, the STEM Event of the Year began with the first Lifting While Climbing Summit, giving access to leading-edge STEM company executives as they shared data-driven approaches and operational strategies used to scale an equitable workforce and win the battle for talent and customers.
Proceedings from this Summit are now published in Athena's DE&I Playbook for the STEM Industry, available here.
The big reveal of Athena's 2021 Pinnacle Award winners were then selected from a crowded field of extraordinary nominees.
"These nominees and winners certainly have a lot to be proud of and tonight’s event reminds us of the lives impacted when we intentionally climb as one," Athena CEO Holly Smithson said as she closed out the event. "And it’s those shared values that magnify our power to continue driving sustainable outcomes."
Following the event, Smithson thanked sponsors, speakers and attendees: "We are honored to report that Athena’s’ first Lifting While Climbing Summit & its 23rd Annual Pinnacle Awards were a resounding success by all accounts. We convened and celebrated all the great leaders across our STEM community, we transferred DE&I best practices for our business partners, we awarded the industry’s diversity champions that lift women in their collective climb towards leadership, and we were reminded of the power of collaboration to harness the full potential of summiting towards a more equitable workforce. We are grateful for the extraordinary efforts of the #LWCSummit founding members - Encore Capital, ResMed, Tandem Diabetes Care, Qualcomm and SDGE - requiring their trust, vulnerability and willingness to share their company's DE&I journeys, data-driven approaches and strategies used to scale an equitable workforce."
"Thank you to our invaluable event sponsors, Intuit, Mitchell, SDBJ, and experiential event planner extraordinaire, Sara Brown Events," she continued. "To our esteemed speakers, Tom Fox, Sarah Hassaine, Kendall Helm, Tracy Ting and Glenn Williams, your insightful and illuminating conversations truly moved us all forward in this collective journey towards diversity, equity and inclusion. And thank you to all our event guests who joined in this historic conversation and continue alongside us on this "Lifting While Climbing" journey."
Did you miss the live celebration? View the playback here.
Comments