SWAN Woman of the Year Award

The Business and Professional Woman of the Year award is designed to recognize and honor a woman who has made an extraordinary contribution to women, business and Skagit County. She lives or works in Skagit County and actively contributes to Skagit County. She demonstrates excellence in her work, including contributions to professional associations within her field. She actively promotes professionalism of women in business, including contributions to the community, networking with and serving as a mentor to other business people. She makes outstanding contributions to her community including service in charitable or non-profit groups and cultural and volunteer activities that enhance the quality of life in Skagit County.

“Being honored as SWAN Business and Professional Woman of the Year was recognition of the hard work and challenges that I had to overcome to become one of the best in my business and it was recognition of being a key contributor to Skagit Valley. The judging criteria is not just being good in your field but also what a person has done to improve their community.  I have always felt that it was my purpose to serve others, not as a missionary but to use my talents to enrich others lives, help them accomplish their goals or make them feel valued.

I feel that other opportunity that winning this award accomplishes is that I can serve as a role model for others especially women who want to achieve their utmost potential both professionally and in giving back to the community.

The most interesting thing about winning this award was that every single day for over 3 months, someone congratulated me in person, by email, snail mail, over the internet from here to around the world. My company put it on the world wide web site and in the US newsletters. It was amazing the response that was generated!”

~Susan Krienen, 2009 SWAN Women of the Year