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ATHENA International Presents Marlo Thomas

With 2015 Global ATHENA Leadership Award

 

 



CHICAGO (April 16, 2015) -
ATHENA International, a nonprofit organization known for recognizing women leaders throughout the world, bestowed its highest honor - the Global ATHENA Leadership Award - to Marlo Thomas in her New York City penthouse on Thursday, April 16, 2015. Thomas was nominated by Trish Doll, 1996 ATHENA Leadership Award recipient, for championing St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and pioneering as the first independent working woman on television. The award was presented by ATHENA International representatives: Dianne Dinkel, President/CEO; Jan Maddox, Chair; Judy Lancaster, Vice-Chair; and Trish Doll, ATHENA International's Pennsylvania State Ambassador.

 

The Global ATHENA Leadership Award recognizes exemplary leaders who set the standard for all women with regard to living their best life, achieving their full potential, sharing their gifts with other women along the way and whose body of work has positive global impact for women and girls. Among the previous recipients have been Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, NPR's Nina Totenberg, former Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and legendary women's tennis professional, Billie Jean King.

 

Thomas, who was born in Detroit, is an award-winning actress, producer and New York Times best-selling author, known in part for her role in the television series "That Girl" (1966-1971). Thomas serves as National Outreach Director for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, a treatment and research facility founded by her father, Danny Thomas, in 1962. The hospital focuses on pediatric cancer and children's catastrophic diseases, where no child is denied treatment based on race, religion, or ability to pay.

 

In November 2014, Thomas was named as one of 19 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. "Whether championing equality for girls and women, giving voice to the less fortunate, breaking barriers by portraying one of television's first single working women on 'That Girl,' or teaching children to be 'Free to Be You and Me,' Thomas inspires us all to dream bigger and reach higher," reads a statement from the White House.

 

In addition to receiving Emmys and a Golden Globe, Thomas has earned a Peabody and a Grammy and was inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame. For her activism, Thomas has received the Helen Caldicott Award for Nuclear Disarmament, the ACLU's Thomas Paine Award, the American Women in Radio and Television Satellite Award and the William Kunstler Racial Justice Award.

 

 

About ATHENA International?

Founded in 1982, ATHENA International is known for its mission to support, develop and honor women leaders. The nonprofit organization is headquartered in Chicago and is well-known for its award programs that have honored over 7,000 women leaders in more than 500 communities in eight countries.  For more information, visit the organization's Web site at http://www.athenainternational.org/ or call 312.580.0111.

 

 Chicago, IL | athena@athenainternational.org | p. 312.580.0111| www.athenainternational.org