WKU VP for Public Affairs named 30th recipient of ATHENA Award

Robbin Morrison Taylor, WKU’s vice president for Public Affairs, was named the 30th recipient of the ATHENA Award, given by the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce and Martin Dodge Jeep Chrysler RAM.

Robbin Taylor

The award was presented Thursday (April 16) at the Chamber office.

“This year’s group of nominees was very strong for an award that honors such positive role models. We believe Robbin Taylor exemplifies every quality of the ATHENA Award and we are proud she is such a vital asset to the Bowling Green community,” Chamber Board Chairman Tommy Adams said.

Taylor has spent most of her professional career in the public affairs arena. She spent nine years as the South Central Kentucky Field Representative for U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell where she worked closely with state and local officials in Kentucky’s first and second congressional districts.

In 2000, Taylor moved to the Hill as Assistant Director for Corporate Relations in the WKU Office of Development and Alumni Relations. A year later she was named Director of Government Relations and then Assistant to the President. She was named Vice President for Public Affairs in May 2008 and is responsible for oversight and management of WKU’s Media Relations, Marketing and Communications, Government and Community Relations and WKU’s events offices. She serves as the chief communications officer and spokesperson for WKU and advises and assists WKU President Gary Ransdell in the development of the University’s state and federal legislative agendas and serves as the primary liaison to state and federal legislative and executive branch officials and staff.

Taylor uses her expertise to advance Bowling Green and South Central Kentucky in addition to WKU. She serves on the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and is a member of the Executive Committee. She helped organize the Chamber’s first-ever South Central Kentucky Night in Frankfort and the Chamber’s first-ever Washington, D.C., Fly-in.

The Chamber, with the support of Martin Dodge Jeep Chrysler RAM, has honored local business people for contributing to the advancement of women in the workplace by presenting well-deserving business leaders with the ATHENA Award for the past 29 years. The ATHENA Award celebrates positive role models in the business world – more than 3,000 women and men to date – on local, state, national and international stages. The ATHENA Foundation is dedicated to recognizing individual leaders who have opened doors of opportunity for women in the workplace and beyond. The eight nominees for the award were:  Janette Reed Boehman, WBKO-TV; Ginger Cleary, State Farm Insurance; Lisa Dunn, US Bank; Vicki Fitch, Bowling Green Area Convention & Visitors Bureau; Rebecca Adams Simpson; Anna Taylor, Farmers National Bank; Robbin Taylor, WKU; and Shannon Vitale, Hilliard Lyons.

Contact: Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce, (270) 781-3200