Awards

Woman of Distinction Award

The annual Woman of Distinction award recognizes a woman who has demonstrated exceptional leadership through her professional endeavors, community involvement and social responsibility in the areas of diversity, equity and inclusion, thereby supporting and advancing her community and her field.

Nominations Open

Nominations are now being accepted for the 2024 Woman of Distinction Award!
All nominees must be submitted by Friday, April 26, 2024.

  1. Have not been a previous recipient of the Woman of Distinction Award.
  2. Have a minimum of 5 years history of promoting or supporting women in the workplace, not exclusive to Cobb.
  3. Must currently live or work in Cobb County.
  4. Must be members of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce.
  5. Must meet the membership qualifications for Cobb Executive Women (CEW). Membership in CEW is not required.
  6. Nominations must come from a CEW member, Chamber member, or community member (no self-nominations).
  7. Current Steering Committee members are not eligible for nomination.

Cobb Executive Women (CEW) membership is available to women whose organizations are Cobb Chamber members. CEW defines prospective members as individuals in one of following categories: 

  • Corporate Executives:  Women who manage budgets and teams (if appropriate for your industry) and who have significant company-wide impact in at least one functional area, such as sales, marketing, or finance
  • Business Owners:  Women whose full-time role is running businesses registered with the secretary of state and have a valid business license, if required; owners of multi-level marketing businesses are not eligible
  • Nonprofit and Government Executives: Women who lead nonprofit and government teams and manage organization budgets as their full-time endeavors


For more information, contact Rebecca Chadwick at 770-859-2368 or rchadwick@cobbchamber.org.

Award Sponsor

Congratulations to the 2023 Award Winner

Congratulations to Stacey Chapman, Senior Vice President of CROFT & Associates, for winning the 2023 Woman of Distinction Award!

As Senior Vice President of CROFT & Associates, Chapman is the first woman to be a member of the company’s executive leadership team. As the only woman on the CROFT leadership team, she has a unique perspective on the needs of the staff and uses this insight to help drive the visioning strategy that she knows will lead the entire company. Part of her associate growth strategy specifically targets more female representation. She is consistently recruiting internally for women to rise in the ranks, recruiting to bring more women in house and being a champion for those on staff to have adequate professional development. 

In late 2022, Chapman founded the CROFT Women’s LeadHership Initiative program that educates other women not only in the firm, but others in the industry, about contracts, contract negotiations, operations, budgets, marketing, and other business functions to help them on their path to leadership. 

In addition, the LeadHership initiative, one of her proudest CROFT accomplishments has been the establishment of CROFTCares, the company’s giving and volunteerism program, which she also directs. Annually, CROFT Cares supports on average 25 local charities/causes and donates more than 20 percent of its revenue back into the community, which has resulted in more than $2M contributed. 

Chapman is also active in the community and values her work with organizations that prioritize equity, inclusion and leveling the playing field. She serves on the board of various non-profits and is affiliated with several industry-related associations. She is also a proud member of Leadership Cobb Class of 2023. 

Recently she was named for the second consecutive year to Engineering Georgia Magazine’s list of 100 Influential Women and was named an honoree of LiveSafe Resources’ 2023 Woman of Achievement Award.

Past Award Winners

Shan Cooper, Lockheed Martin

Judge Mary Staley, Cobb County Superior Court

Dr. Yolanda Graham, Devereux Georgia Treatment Network

Tracy Styf, Town Center Community Improvement District

Holly Tuchman, Executive Director of liveSAFE Resources

Allison Giddens, Director of Operations at Win-Tech Inc.

Kim Gresh, President of S.A. White Oil Company

Shari Martin, CEO of Cobb Community Foundation

Bill Kinney, Marietta Daily Journa

Ed Baker, Atlanta Business Chronicle

Ron Francis, Charter Bank

Gen. Terry Whitnell, Dobbins Air Reserve Base

Don Robertson, The Walker School

Bill Byrne, Cobb County Commission

Eleanor Davis, Crawford & Company

Shelia Buckner, Cobb County Government

Tom Hill, WellStar Health System

Gwynn Ross, Galleria Specialty Mall

Sheila Blake, WellStar Health System

Larry E. Collier, SunTrust Bank

William P. Kane, Dobbins Air Reserve Base

Ron R. Koger, Southern Polytechnic State University

Brent Brown, Chesley Brown International

Dr. Harlon Crimm, Chattahoochee Technical College

Dr. Lisa Rossbacher, Southern Polytechnic State University

Joe Daniell, United Community Bank (ret.)

Fred Bentley, Jr., Bentley, Bentley & Bentley

Bonnie Cole, United Way of Metro Atlanta

Sam Olens, Sam Olens for Attorney General

Jeri Barr, Center for Family Resources

Lisa Crossman, Cobb & Douglas Public Health

Kathy Schwaig, Kennesaw State University

Contact:
Rebecca Chadwick

770-859-2368

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