Two community leaders recently were recognized for their commitment to professional excellence and community service at the sixth annual Tri-Cities Women in Business conference.

The longtime CEO of SIGN Fracture Care International in Richland received this year’s Athena Leadership Award for her longtime work with the nonprofit during the Jan. 25 event at the TRAC facility in Pasco.

Jeanne Dillner has helped grow SIGN, which is now found in 283 hospitals in 56 developing countries which have worked to improve more than 120,000 patients’ lives. SIGN manufactures stainless steel nails at its plant in north Richland, which are used to connect broken bones in the injured poor living in developing countries.

“Many of the countries she visits are considered high risk, such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Iraq and Indonesia. She doesn’t allow danger to interfere with her goals to help those in need,” said Jim Hall, Kadlec’s director of executive and community relations, during the award presentation.

Hall said Dillner has a passion for nonprofit work, including her volunteer work with Rotary, Kiwanis, Richland Alliance Church and the SmartMap Expo.

Richland police Detective Athena T. Clark received the Athena Young Professional Leadership Award, which is presented to a leader who demonstrates excellence, creativity and initiative in their business or profession.

“Our 2017 Athena Young Professional Leadership Award recipient definitely exemplifies those qualities. The awards and recognition committee really had their work cut out for them as all of these women are so deserving of recognition for the tremendous work that they do,” said Emily Volland, Kadlec’s community relations manager, during the award presentation.

Clark is a busy mother of two who dedicated countless hours to helping heal at-risk women and women in need, Volland said.

She is a member of the Tri-City Coalition Against Trafficking and because of her leadership skills, she has quickly been recognized as the area’s expert on all matters of human trafficking.

She has been recognized by her department for the multiple programs she’s successfully developed and overseen, and much of the work she’s initiated and refined over the past five years are still considered best practices, Volland said.

Clark worked closely with the Department of Corrections and Benton County to better monitor registered sex offenders. She’s also worked with the Every 15 Minutes program, a high school program that focuses on driving under the influence prevention and awareness, an at-risk youth program for middle-schoolers and a summertime CSI Academy for high schoolers. She also provided expertise to Richland High School staff on dealing with crisis situations.

Hundreds of women attended the one-day conference, which also included a variety of speakers on topics of interest to women, such as retirement, health, marketing to millennials, dressing for success, understanding business financial records and networking.

Diane Rolston, a life coach from British Columbia, Canada, talked about the most common problem she said she sees in her female clients. “They try to balance work and life. This is the problem. Work is only one area of life,” she said, pointing out eight different areas, including fun and recreation, relationships, health and personal development.

She said women frequently use success to measure all aspects of their lives. “The trouble with measuring life with success is you only feel good … in the moment of success. Success is short lived … it comes and it goes,” Rolston said.

She gave each in attendance at the confernece a copy of her new book, “Dynamic You,” and encouraged them to focus on satisfaction over success.

“A life built on satisfaction feels happy, fulfilling and successful. You’ll have energy, motivation and drive to create a deep and meaningful life,” she said.