Carswell

Athena Award: Barbara Carswell

Barbara Carswell, an executive who oversees bank branches with deposits of $1.8 billion, is the recipient of the 2006 Athena Award, to be presented during tonight’s Lawrence Chamber of Commerce annual meeting.

The award, sponsored by the chamber and Crown Chevrolet Toyota/Scion, is billed as celebrating “the potential of all women as valued members and leaders of the community and recognizes those who support them.

“The Athena Award honors individuals who strive toward the highest levels of professional accomplishment – women and men who excel in their chosen field, have devoted time and energy to their community in a meaningful way, and who also open paths so that others may follow.”

Carswell is first vice president and regional coordinator for Capitol Federal Savings. Her responsibilities for the Topeka-based company include oversight of 12 branch operations in Lawrence, Manhattan and Topeka.

Other current leadership roles:

¢ Board member for the Douglas County Community Foundation and its grants committee.

¢ Board of Trustees member and immediate past chairman for Leadership Kansas.

¢ Chairman, Housing Trust Fund for the city of Lawrence.

Carswell also served as president of the United Way of Douglas County in 1998, when she led a national search for an executive director. She also was chairman of the organization’s Planned Giving Committee in 2004, the Finance Committee in 1997-1998 and the campaign drive in 1996.

Carswell was inducted into the Mid America Education Hall of Fame in 2006, and she received the Henry A. Bubb Distinguished Service Award from Capitol Federal in 2002.

Groene

Citizen of the Years: Tom Groene

The retired leader of a Lawrence insurance company is the winner of this year’s Citizen of the Years Award from the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce.

The award, given to “a community leader who has shown a lifetime of commitment to the community,” will be presented tonight to Tom Groene, who retired in 1992 as president of CEK Insurance and has served and continues to serve on a variety of community boards.

After coming to Lawrence from St. Louis in 1968, Groene’s service has included roles as:

¢ Chairman, board member and chairman of economic development for the chamber.

¢ President of the Lawrence Rotary Club, for which he is a Paul Harris Fellow.

¢ Chairman, Lawrence Board of Zoning Appeals.

¢ Board member for United Way of Douglas County, for which he was chairman for a business and industry division drive and the organization’s loaned executive program.

¢ Chairman, Douglas County Rural Water District No. 1.

¢ President, Kansas University Quarterback Club, KU Roundball Club and KU Lawrence Campaign for the Lied Center.

¢ President and treasurer, Cottonwood Foundation board of directors.

¢ President and board member, Lawrence Memorial Hospital Endowment.

Groene already has been named Man of the Year by the Boys and Girls Club, and has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Cottonwood.

Groene and his wife, Gaye, have been married for 54 years. They live in rural Douglas County and are the parents of four children – Marsha Buhler and Scott, Brett and Jonathan Groene – and 13 grandchildren.

Ambassador of the Year: Allison Vance Moore

Allison Vance Moore recruited dozens of new members for the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce in 2006, earning her the organization’s first Ambassador of the Year Award.

Moore, a vice president with Grubb & Ellis|The Winbury Group, Lawrence, is among 12 members of the chamber’s Ambassadors program, established in 2006 to inform area businesses about the benefits of chamber membership and enrolling new members.

Moore is an active member of the chamber, having served as chairman of its Envoys Committee and as an organizer of Leadership Lawrence, a program from which she graduated in 2002. Moore received the chamber’s Wally Galluzzi Chamber Volunteer Award in 2003.

A photo was not available at press time