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At the Annual Washington County ATHENA Award Presentation Luncheon today, the POWER of Southpointe announced it will be merging its organization into the Washington County Chamber of Commerce.

The consolidation will allow both organizations to align common missions, combine resources and reduce administration costs. With the merger, The POWER of Southpointe will fully incorporate its organization, programming and assets into the Washington County Chamber of Commerce.

Speaking to over 400 business and government leaders at the event, Melissa Stein, the founder of the POWER of Southpointe, relayed that the consolidation with the chamber is part of the continued evolution of the organization. “Since 2008, the POWER of Southpointe’s mission has been to provide a dynamic base for successful, professional women to celebrate diversity and recognize the importance of building strong and effective women leaders in the business community. We now believe that it is in the best interest of our organization as well as our business community to combine our team with the chamber team and together expand our mission, realize organizational efficiencies and create new opportunities for women business leaders in Washington County,” Ms. Stein commented.

Jeff Kotula, President of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce, remarked that the merger is a new step in expanding the chamber’s programming to promote women’s business leadership in Washington County. “When the chamber brought the internationally recognized ATHENA Awards to Washington County 14 years ago, we wanted to focus on highlighting the accomplishments of women business leaders in our county. Through our partnership with POWER and now their consolidation into the chamber, we can greatly increase our initiatives in not only honoring but now developing women’s leadership opportunities,” Kotula relayed.

As part of the merger, the chamber will continue to sponsor POWER initiatives such as the ATHENA Young Professional Leadership Award, Annual Champagne Toast and Women in Politics event. According to Megan Chicone, President of the POWER of Southpointe, this was an important part of the merger discussions. “We believe this is a great partnership because the chamber is well known for its quality programming and value it brings to its membership. However, we wanted to insure that our mission remains a focus in the chamber and that we retain our most important initiatives. By keeping these core programs, we have full confidence that the chamber will continue to build upon these efforts and expand them into new opportunities,” stated Chicone. Both Ms. Chicone and Mr. Kotula expect the merger to be completed in one month.

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