Young
Denise K. Young, executive director of the Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization, has been selected as the 2012 Athena Award recipient.
The Athena Award is a nationally recognized program that was introduced in Jefferson County in 1991. The award celebrates the potential of all women as valued members and leaders of the community and recognizes those who support them, according to a release from the Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce.
“I am humbled and honored to be selected,” Mrs. Young said in the release. “There are so many outstanding role models in my life who have mentored and guided me. Truly, anything that has been accomplished has been through the hard work and dedication of an extraordinary team of people and the support of my family. It is they who deserve to be recognized.”
The Athena Award is presented and sponsored by the Greater-Watertown North Country Chamber of Commerce, Bernier, Carr & Associates, Timeless Frames, Decor and Expressions, and WWNY TV7.
Mrs. Young was nominated for the award by Thomas H. Carman, president and CEO of Samaritan Medical Center.
She was hired in 2007 as the first executive director of the FDRHPO. She is also a member of the Watertown Noon Rotary, founder of the Watertown Rotary Interact Leadership Institute, 2010 recipient of the Fort Drum Women of the Mountain Award, board member for the North Country Healthy Heart Network and Northern New York Rural Healthcare Alliance. She is also a black belt martial arts instructor of American Kang Duk Won Karate.
Mrs. Young will be presented with the award on Thursday, Sept. 13, at Ryan’s Lookout restaurant in Henderson Harbor. For reservations to the award dinner, contact the Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce at 788-4400 or email events@watertownny.com.
