Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce
November 2004
It is with great pleasure that the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce announces the selection of Jeanne Zolezzi as our 2004 ATHENA Award recipient. Since 1997, she has been a Founding Shareholder and Attorney with Herum Crabtree Brown. Jeanne is being recognized for her professional accomplishments, community service and her role in helping other women in the community attain success. The prestigious ATHENA Award honors outstanding professional women who encourage an environment where providing assistance, inspiration and mentoring to women is uniquely valued.
Jeanne was educated at Stanford University where she received her AB degree in 1982. She earned her Juris Doctorate at the University of Santa Clara School of Law, and graduated summa cum laude. Since that time, Jeanne has distinguished herself in the legal field, and is a recognized expert on water rights in California. This expertise has put her in a leadership role in the American Bar Association where she serves as vice-chair of the Section of Natural Resources, Energy and Environmental Law and Water Resources Committee. She was instrumental in the establishment of the Water Resources Committee mentoring program for lawyers throughout the country.
Jeanne is also deeply engaged in water matters at the state level with her involvement with the Association of California Water Agencies legal committee, and was selected by her peers to serve in the California Bar Association Committee on Real Estate Specialization Certification. She is also an active member of the State of California Bar Association Environmental Law and Real Property sections. Jeanne has written numerous articles for legal publications, and frequently lectures on environmental, water and natural resources issues in a variety of professional settings.
Her most significant contribution has been her relentless efforts to promote women in the legal community. Early in her career, Jeanne set two milestones at our community’s oldest law firm – she became the first woman elected shareholder, as well as the first shareholder elected after only five years of practice. She has continued to be instrumental in the professional development of female attorneys, and especially in the firm she helped found in 1997. Not only does she assist in their professional development, but also spearheads the strategic planning for establishing their individual legal practice specialties. She freely gives of her time to provide leadership in a classically male dominated profession. The influence of Jeanne’s fine example can be easily discerned by the fact that seven of the twelve attorneys in her firm are women.
Jeanne is a lifelong resident of San Joaquin County, and has served as President of the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce and Stockton Women’s Network. She is also past chair of the San Joaquin Chapter American Diabetes Association, and a graduate of the Leadership Stockton program.
The ATHENA Award will be presented to Jeanne at the annual ATHENA Luncheon on November 18, 11:30 AM, at Brookside Country Club.
Past ATHENA honorees include Judith Chambers, Cyril Seligman, Susan Carson, Marian Jacobs, Karen Munro, Iva Harris, Janice Marengo, Bobbie Fasano, Kathleen Janssen, Kathryn Rousek, Jeanette Michaels, Judith Buethe, Ann Johnston, Connemara Reisinger, Charlynn Harless, Kristen Spracher Birtwhistle and Hedy Holmes.
This year’s ATHENA keynote speaker is Cynthia Wagner Weick, Professor of Management at the University of the Pacific – Eberhardt School of Business. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in Strategic Management and Policy, Management of Technology and Innovation, New Product Development and Global Competition. Her research focuses on international strategies in commercial biotechnology, and on the use of metaphor to understand corporate strategy. Southwestern recently published her book, “Out of Context: A Creative Approach to Strategic Management.” Since joining the faculty at Pacific in 1990, Ms. Weick has earned fourteen outstanding teaching awards from the Eberhardt School of Business MBA and graduating senior classes. She has professional experience and academic training in both business administration and biology, and received her PhD in Business Administration from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and her B.S. and M.S. from Ohio State University. She has also served as a corporate planner at Pioneer Hi-Bred International, as a consultant to the United Nations Development Program and as a research scientist at Battelle Columbus Laboratories. Her work has required travel to Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South America and the former Soviet Union.
