A worthy woman

By Don Shilling

ATHENA honor goes to accountant

Packer Thomas’ first female partner won the award.

BOARDMAN — The 2008 ATHENA program was all about setting goals and persevering — even in the face of laughter.

Karen Cohen, this year’s award recipient, recalled when she was hired at the Packer Thomas accounting firm in Youngstown in 1990. She said right away that she wanted to become the 85-year-old firm’s first female partner some day.

“The men I was working for just laughed. They said, ‘You keep that goal and go make these photocopies,’” Cohen said.

Those men left and were replaced with other leaders, such as firm president Phillip Dennison, who served as her mentors until she was named partner in 2006.

For her professional achievements and the mentoring work she has done, Cohen was named the 2008 ATHENA Award recipient. About 700 people attended a ceremony Thursday at Mr. Anthony’s in Boardman that honored 32 nominees.

Cohen wasn’t the only one who told a story of grit and determination at the event.

The keynote speaker, Virginia Albanese, told about her rise to become president and chief executive of FedEx Custom Critical, a heavyweight freight shipper based near Akron.

She earned a teaching degree from Kent State University, but realized she didn’t want to teach. So she took a part-time job in customer service at the trucking company and rose to the top.

She advised ambitious women to gain as much experience as possible in various parts of an organization, to accept challenging roles in areas that control profit and loss, and to find a mentor and be willing to develop new skills.

“I was given a lot of responsibility very fast because I was willing to take it,” she said.

Albanese told the story of how she wanted to play the drums as a child, but a band leader said girls didn’t do that. She said her parents paid for her to take lessons, and she eventually became a drummer and led the percussion section in the school marching band.

Cohen, 50, of East Palestine said she felt the same pressures as a child. She felt that she wasn’t supposed to go to college or establish a career because she was a woman.

She started attending Youngstown State University anyway, but took classes part time after she got married and started a family. She earned her accounting degree 13 years later, and then received a master’s degree the following year. By then it was 1990 and she knew what she wanted.

“I wanted to be the person that people came to for help, to be a resource to guide the firm into the future. The best way to do that was to be at the top,” she said.

She said it helped that she was a “nontraditional” accountant. And by that, she didn’t mean a woman, but someone who is willing to be out front, talking and communicating with clients.

Also honored at the program was Patricia Syak, who received the ATHENA Advocate award. She is president and chief executive of the Youngstown Symphony Society and member of the ATHENA committee.

Jennifer Zdelar, a senior at Struthers High School, received the $1,500 ATHENA Scholarship, which is presented through the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley.

The ATHENA Award, which is sponsored by the Regional Chamber and The Vindicator, is awarded for professional accomplishments, community leadership and mentoring.

Cohen said that all of the 32 nominees met those requirements and that the large attendance at the event showed much about the community. ATHENA International officials told local leaders that the Mahoning Valley program is one of the five-largest programs in the country. “This event says that there still is a flame of hope in this Valley because of the hard work that all these women do,” Cohen said.

shilling@vindy.com