IL QC Chamber and The Women's Connection Announce
2010 Athena Award Winners

The Illinois Quad City Chamber of Commerce and The Women's Connection today announced the recipients of the 2010 Athena Business Women's Awards, honoring those women within the Quad City Region excelling in their business or profession and making a significant difference in the community. The 2010 Athena Business Women's Awards are presented by Missman Stanley & Associates.

Four Quad-City women have been selected to receive the 2010 Athena Business Women’s Awards.

They are Stephanie Acri, president of Evans Premium Manufacturing; Linda Duffy, retired president of Assumption High School; Jennifer Rowe, owner and senior executive vice president of Serv-A-Lite Products Inc.; and Cynthia Tidwell, president and chief executive officer of Royal Neighbors of America.

The winners were announced Tuesday by the Illinois Quad-City Chamber of Commerce and The Women’s Connection. They were selected from more than 30 nominations.

Nominees were evaluated by criteria that included: leadership in her business or profession; serving as a role model to other women in her profession and community; displaying creativity and innovation and contributing those talents to the growth of her profession; and contributing time and energy to community betterment.

The 2010 award winners are as follows:

Stephanie Acri is president of Evans Premium Manufacturing, Rock Island.
As the female owner of a national manufacturing company, she has blazed a career path atypical for many women with her mechanical engineering degree and corporate roles and business ownership in male-dominated fields. Under her leadership, the company earned the 2007 Business of the Year honor from the Quad-City SCORE chapter and was selected as Safer Foundation Employer of the Year in 2008. Evans Premium Manufacturing offers employment opportunities to clients of ARC of Rock Island County, the Safer Foundation and through a summer “youth to work” program.

Linda Duffy is the retired president of Assumption High School, Davenport.
In addition, she has served in various management positions in her family’s business, Per Mar Security and Research Corp. She served on the St. Paul the Apostle board of education and the Assumption High School board of education before being appointed in 2002 as Assumption’s first president. Under her leadership, Assumption completed a $5 million fund drive to provide tuition assistance to families with financial need. Through her efforts, the State of Iowa passed a tuition scholarship bill.

Jennifer Rowe is owner/senior executive vice president, Serv-A-Lite Products in East Moline.
When Jennifer and Tom Rowe purchased Serv-A-Lite Products in East Moline in 1979, the company had one employee and sold one product. Under Jennifer’s leadership, and alongside her partner and husband Tom, the company today employs 140, sells over 40,000 products, and has 250 sales representatives throughout the U.S. and Canada. A believer that “a good organization is built on great ideas,” Jennifer is a role model for the company’s employees, more than 85 percent of whom are women. Serv-A-Lite also supports an active program for the Blackhawk Area Education Center helping handicapped children.

Cynthia Tidwell is president and chief executive officer, Royal Neighbors of America, Rock Island.
She served as president of Fireman’s Fund, a national property and casualty insurance company, before joining Royal Neighbors 2005. Under her leadership, Royal Neighbors has grown a network of 5,400 independent agents nationwide and opened or grown offices in Austin, Texas, and Mesa, Ariz. It also has added 70 new chapters nationwide — all giving back philanthropically to their communities. She is the 2009 recipient of the Stevie Award as “Turnaround Executive of the Year.”