Barry County Chamber & EDA Announces 2024 ATHENA Leadership Honoree

Barry County Chamber & EDA Announces 2024 ATHENA Leadership Honoree
As with any community, strong and meaningful leadership is crucial to that community’s success. Barry County is fortunate to have an environment that promotes the growth of leaders within its vibrant and flourishing communities.  Leadership comes in many shapes and forms, and the Barry County Chamber & Economic Development Alliance (BCCEDA) annually recognizes those individuals, businesses, and projects that exhibit excellent leadership skills at the BCCEDA Annual Dinner & Awards Celebrations. 
 
Among the honors given is the ATHENA Leadership Award. The Barry County Chamber & Economic Development Alliance has proudly served as the host organization for this internationally recognized program since 2009, and to-date, has recognized 26 ATHENA Professional Leaders and Young Professionals throughout Barry County. Representing a variety of industries, communities, and experiences, the recipients of the ATHENA Leadership Professional award all exhibit the traits and characteristics embodied by the ATHENA tenets and Leadership Model.

The ATHENA Leadership Model, developed right here in Michigan through a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, identifies eight distinct attributes that are reflective of women’s contributions to leadership: living authentically, learning constantly, advocating fiercely, acting courageously, fostering collaboration, building relationships, giving back and celebrating. These personal traits, combined with the strongest aspects of traditional leadership - taking risks, assertiveness, hard work - prepare women to be successful leaders in the 21st century. 
 
BCCEDA is thrilled to announce our 2024 ATHENA Honoree, Katelyn Brown, Fitness Specialist Coordinator, Corewell Health Pennock Wellness Center.


About our 2024 Honoree:
Katelyn Brown
 
Impactful, inspiring, thoughtful, passionate, encouraging – consistently these words are used to describe the 2024 ATHENA Leadership Honoree, Katelyn Brown.  In addition to her role as the Fitness Specialist Coordinator at Corewell Health Pennock Wellness Center, Katelyn is active in the community, supporting local 4H programs, sitting on several committees, and volunteering at events such as the Summerfest Run and the Julep Gala.  She lends her expertise to the wider business community, working to develop solutions that reduce workplace injuries and increase health outcomes, in order to decrease overall absenteeism.
 
Tina Frank, who led the nomination team for Katelyn, stated, “Katelyn is a rising young leader in Barry County.  Katelyn’s courage and assertiveness to take on a new project such as presenting proposals to the Pennock Foundation and Medical Executive Committee, and collaborating with a team, resulted in new equipment for the Wellness Center.  The new equipment not only expanded more offerings to the community members but was also instrumental in growing our memberships.  What impresses me the most about Katelyn is that she is constantly learning and learning to grow as a leader and in her personal growth.”
 
Katelyn has been vital in helping the Wellness Center reach new levels by taking the initiative to identify gaps in community services, Wellness Center activities and help proposing actionable solutions that create projects to addressing these needs.  Her professional leadership is demonstrated through her work with the Pennock Foundation Board and Medical Executive Committee. In the past two years, she presented funding proposals to the Pennock Foundation Board and Medical Executive Committee that resulted in over $30,000 for new equipment that expanded offerings to community members to help them meet their fitness goals.
 
“Katelyn is energetic and cares about her community and the clients she assists with their health improvement goals to increase strength and mobility… whatever the goal is, Katelyn is an encouraging force, who is compassionately recognizes other’s personal limitations, inspires them to keep striving to meet their goals and celebrates wins” stated Janine Dalman.
 
Katelyn has led many women to becoming their own health champions.  She has achieved this through the Momentum Program, a program designed to enable women in the community to regain strength and flexibility through exercise. Katelyn empowers her clients with tailored programs that drive their fitness success.  She forges powerful partnerships with providers such as local physicians and physical therapists enhancing the support and network available to the clients she works with. 
 
“A few years ago, I heard about The Momentum Program where you work with a trainer and have a lot of exercises given to areas you might want to target or need…I started with another trainer, but halfway through, that trainer took another job closer to family so the new trainer, Katelyn Brown took me on.  Katelyn always challenges me, but double checks to see if I felt it too much.  You see, I had heart failure at age 60 and could have sat down and done nothing, but she didn’t let that happen,” recounted Ann Devroy.  “She always had that big smile and encouraging words that made me feel like I was amazing!  She not only was helping me physically, but also my mental well-being, which was a plus.  After The Momentum Program was done, I’ve continued to work with Katelyn to push myself forward, even after having a double mastectomy in April of 2023… She’s what we want in our next generation of leaders.” 
 
Katelyn transforms careers, guiding individuals from front desk duties to fitness instructors and wellness coaches.  She mentors them in communication and client engagement empowering them to pursue certifications that boost their credibility and expertise.  Katelyn also supports women in the community helping them navigate exercise routines, healthy living, and daily challenges.  She is also an active youth mentor, supporting local 4H programs from her family’s beef cattle farm.  From tending animals and preparing for shows, to growing and harvesting crops, Katelyn’s support of the local 4H program is reflective of her desire to grow and support the next generation of leaders in Barry County. 
 
The ATHENA Leadership award will be presented at the Barry County Chamber & Economic Development Alliance Awards Dinner & Celebration, on Saturday, January 18, 2025, at Bay Pointe Woods in Shelbyville.   
 
The ATHENA International Leadership program is proudly brought to Barry County by the Barry County Chamber & Economic Development Alliance and is supported through sponsorships from the following organizations:
 
Hastings Insurance
Edward Jones: Andrew Cove & Madison Cove
Corewell Health
Greenridge Realty Hastings
Highpoint Community Bank
Bay Pointe