Metro South Chamber of Commerce held their annual ATHENA Leadership Awards at Thorny Lea Golf Club. 24th Annual ATHENA Award Recipient: Phyllis Ellis, President of the Brockton Area Branch NAACP. The NAACP is the oldest, largest, strongest and most effective civil rights organization in America. She is currently serving her third term. Ellis received the Black Excellence on the Hill Award in 2019 at the State House after being nominated by Representative Gerry Cassidy. She also received the Sojourner Truth Award in 2020 from the historic Boston Equal Rights League, Inc. and in 2020 received the grand prize of $25,000 for the Myra Kraft MVP Community Award. The funds were given to Family and Community Resource who nominated her. Ellis is chair of the Brockton NAACP’s ACT-SO Committee: a program for students 9-12 who can compete in more than 30 categories in STEM, Humanities, Business, and Performing and Visual arts. She is the producer of the NAACP Forum aired on Channel 9. She is the chair of the Mayor’s Community Justice Task Force and is a Commissioner for the Plymouth County Commission on the Status of Women; she serves on the Board of Trustees at the Brockton Main Library and is a Board Member at Family and Community Resources. Ellis is currently employed by K&L Gates, LLP, a Boston law firm, as a Travel and Credit Card Coordinator. Phyllis earned a B.S. in Business Education from North Carolina Central University. She is a homeowner in Brockton and has three children and six grandchildren. Guest Speaker: Dr. Allessandria Polizzi, Verdant Consulting. Owner of a 2022 Workplace Wellness “Hot List” company and named a top 100 HR Professional of 2020, Dr. Allessandria Polizzi left her 20-year HR career following recovery from burnout and rebooted her consulting practice. Verdant Consulting focuses on implementing the latest scientific resiliency, burnout prevention and psychological safety research to help people, teams and organizations learn practical, simple skills that will help them flourish. With a cadre of diverse affiliates from around the globe, they offer training programs and organizational consulting services to address emotional wellbeing, change leadership, and organizational performance. Dr. Polizzi is also co-Founder of the Kite HR wellbeing app for HR professionals and shares of-the-moment discoveries on all of these topics via the Be Verdant podcast. Learn more: verdantconsulting.net June 17, 2022