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The Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce held its fourth annual Chattanooga Nautilus Awards Luncheon on October 30 at the Convention Center. The event recognizes outstanding local businesswomen and the businesses and individuals that assist women in reaching their potential as entrepreneurs and corporate leaders.
The 2009 award recipients are Dr. Terry Melvin, ATHENA Award; Velma Wilson,
Navigator of Entrepreneurship Award; Rosemarie Bryan, Lightkeeper Award; Marquita Jones,
Stargazer Award; and Kermisha Tate, Pearl of Promise Award.
The ATHENA Award
The ATHENA Award is presented to an individual whose professional achievements,
community service, and efforts to help women obtain career goals and leadership skills are
worthy of this coveted honor.
As Hospice of Chattanooga’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Terry Melvin supervises and
inspires a professional staff of 320 women, 10 men and 200 hospice volunteers of whom about
120 are women. She leads by example, training Hospice employees to achieve new levels of
excellence in care for over 560 hospice patients in daily care and an additional 475 patients in
non-hospice Palliative Care.
Melvin has recruited leading women physicians to help direct patient care for Hospice
of Chattanooga, but she encourages staff in every department to move forward in career goals.
As a result, Hospice of Chattanooga is an organization where women become proficient managers
and leaders both in their hospice careers and in the community at large.
Under Melvin’s leadership, Hospice has received special commendation from the
Community Health Accreditation Program for physician leadership, wound care and its volunteer
program. Melvin has also been recognized for establishing the region's only dedicated Pediatric
Hospice and Palliative Care program and for developing free Grief Counseling Programs open to
the community, including Children's Grief Support Counseling and Children's and Teen Grief
Retreats.
Melvin is a board member of the Southeast Tennessee Chapter of the Alzheimer’s
Association, a past president of the Chattanooga Regional Oncology Association, and a past
board member of Senior Neighbors of Chattanooga. She is a volunteer with Volunteers in
Medicine, Chattanooga’s free clinic, among other organizations helping those in need.
ATHENA Award Finalists
Darlene Brown is managing broker and an owner of Real Estate Partners. The company
is all-women owned and 31 of the 35 real estate professionals are female. These women are
among more than 1,000 women Brown has hired or managed during her 35-year career in real
estate.
The formation of the company reflects Brown’s commitment to her hometown, her desire
to support the downtown resurgence and a dedication to encouraging the professional
development of women.
Bringing residential living back to downtown is Brown’s most important business
accomplishment. Its first year Real Estate Partners was the No. 1 real estate company in
downtown Chattanooga and on the Northshore and was No. 1 in the entire metro area in condo
sales.
Brown has held virtually every office at the Chattanooga Association of Realtors,
including president and Realtor of the Year. She was the first female member of the Downtown
Civitan Club and served on the McCallie School board.
Virginia Anne Sharber is a member of the law firm of Miller & Martin, PLLC,
practicing primarily in commercial lending and commercial real estate development since 1984.
She serves on the diversity committee and is a co-leader of the female attorneys’ affinity group.
Vice president of the Women's Leadership Institute, Sharber serves on the Institute’s
committees that design and implement the “Women Mentoring Women” program. She is also on
the executive and program committees of the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga
Women’s Fund, which seeks to make Chattanooga a place where women flourish personally,
economically and professionally.
A 1989 graduate of Leadership Chattanooga, Sharber previously served as program
committee chair on the board of Girls, Inc. and is a past board chair of the Community
Foundation, Allied Arts, the Bright School and the Memorial Health Care Systems Foundation.
In 1996, she was president of the Junior League of Chattanooga when it received a
national award for partnering with primarily female residents of the Westside Community Development Corporation.
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