As of last week, a highly accomplished and well respected executive of Howmet Aerospace in Niles has joined the pantheon of amazing women trailblazers and changemakers worldwide enshrined as an ATHENA Award winner.

Gina Govojdean, vice president of sales and supply at Howmet, is in great company with the likes of such other ATHENA goddesses as former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, legendary tennis icon Billie Jean King and NASA astronaut Christina Koch.

Govojdean received the Mahoning Valley’s 2026 ATHENA Award Thursday in Canfield from The Vindicator edition of the Tribune Chronicle and the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.

Clearly, she meets and exceeds the stratospherically high standards the global ATHENA program for women leaders sets for its honorees. Those standards include professional excellence, exceptional community service and exemplary assistance to women along their path to success and greatness.

As a business leader, Govojdean has played a starring role in Howmet’s exceptional rise to record-breaking success in recent years. That momentum continues with first quarter 2026 revenue reportedly up 20% over the same period in 2025.

As a model community servant, Govojdean serves as a stellar volunteer for the Horatio Alger Association, where she tirelessly works to promote scholarship opportunities for students in their quest to rise above adversity.

As a role model for women, she has shattered the glass ceilings in the male-dominated aerospace and manufacturing industries. Last year, the Manufacturing Institute recognized her talent in supporting young women considering careers in manufacturing and STEM disciplines. That national nonprofit workforce development agency bestowed upon her its 2025 Women MAKE Award.

Clearly, the Howmet leader richly deserves the prestigious ATHENA Award, named after the daughter of Zeus. Like Athena, Govojdean reigns as a goddess of heroic endeavors, personifying strength, courage, wisdom and enlightenment.

Those noble traits of hers show no signs of waning.

“I am committed to creating real pathways and breaking barriers so women are not the exception, but the standard — driving innovation and redevining the future, ” she said in accepting the award at the ceremony at Waypoint 4180.

Kim Calvert, the Regional Chamber’s executive vice president of membership events, hailed the newest award winner before the capacity crowd at the awards ceremony. “Gina Govojdean stands out because she has stepped into roles where women have historically been underrepresented, and excelled while lifting others,” she said.

Like her 32 predecessor Valley ATHENA recipients and the more than 1,000 nominees for the honor locally over the years, her trailblazing talents merit collective community applause.

Cheers, too, must also go out to all of the other 2026 ATHENA nominees. They are Amanda Banner, Huntington National Bank; Amber Bodrick, QUICKmed Urgent Care; Lauren Butka, ECMSI; Valarie Campbell, Covelli Enterprises; Beth Carmichael, Trumbull County Tourism Bureau; Tina Chance, United Way of Youngstown; Jamie Demain, Akron Children’s Mahoning Valley; Amanda Fluck, Window World PennOhio; Elizabeth Hartwig, Stifel; Aspasia Lyras-Bernacki, Penguin City Brewing Co.; Amy Less Shope, Lehner Shope Wealth Group; Luann Maynard, Akron Children’s Mahoning Valley; Heather McCowin, St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital; Melinda Miletta-Miller, Bolt Construction Inc; Alicia Miller, WesBanco; Julie Needs, Sustainable Opportunities Development Center; Markisha Parker, Farm & Family Alliance Inc.; Erin Phemester, Public Library of Youngstown & Mahoning County; Dorothy Powell, Ginger Bread Bakery; Megan Roberts, HD Growth Partners; Crystal Siembida Boggs,Siembida & Boggs Philanthropic Foundation; Tiffany Sokol, Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp.; Susan Sutton, The Ember Project; Amanda Thiry, PNC Bank; Candace Turpak, Huntington Bank; Jill Uberti-Stefanucci, St. Joseph Warren Hospital; Samantha Villella-Thomas, Lamar Advertising; Latisha Weaver, La La’s Daycare and Nursery; Belinda Weiss, National McKinley Birthplace Memorial Museum; and Tanisha Wheeler, YBI/Minority Business Assistance Center.

Congratulations to each and every one of these talented, passionate and community-minded leaders in our midst. You make the Mahoning Valley proud.