ARTS & COMMUNICATION - Shannon Cogan, WAVE News Anchor

Shannon is a multi-Emmy Award-winning journalist who anchors WAVE News Sunrise and WAVE News Midday. Since joining WAVE News in June 2013, she has become a familiar and trusted face in Louisville, bringing years of experience from newsrooms across the country, including WFOR/CBS in Miami, KTVT/CBS 11 in Dallas, and WESH-TV in Orlando. Throughout her career, Shannon has covered major national stories, including the Columbia space shuttle disaster and the 2000 presidential election.

BUSINESS, TECHNOLOGY & TRADE - Adria Johnson, President and CEO | Metro United Way

As President & Chief Executive Officer of Metro United Way, Adria leads one of the region’s most impactful organizations with strategic vision and a deep commitment to the community. She is recognized as a visionary and inclusive leader who brings people together across sectors to build coalitions, mobilize resources, and challenge systems that perpetuate inequity. Beyond her professional leadership, Adria serves on numerous civic and nonprofit boards, using her voice and experience to strengthen families, advance equity, and help build a more just community.

EDUCATION - Cindy Dahlem Baumert, Retired Education and Policy Advocate

Cindy began her career in computer engineering and marketing with IBM. The skills she developed proved invaluable during the second phase of her career in education policy and advocacy. Through lasting relationships with struggling students and their families, she gained insight into the unintended consequences of education decisions that overlook the complexities of families, classrooms, and teaching. Her ability to analyze data and navigate complex systems helped drive the adoption of changes to state education regulations and improve outcomes for students and families across Kentucky.

GOVERNMENT, JUSTICE & LAW - Mary Ellen Wiederwohl, President and CEO | Accelerator for America

Mary Ellen is the President and CEO of Accelerator for America, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works with local leaders to develop solutions that create meaningful change in their communities. Under her leadership, Accelerator for America works with more than 150 localities across the country, focusing on economic mobility, housing, transit and infrastructure, and workforce development, with the goal of expanding opportunities in underserved communities.

SCIENCE & HEALTHCARE - Melisa Adkins, EJD, MBA, BSN, RN, Chief Executive Officer | The Brook Hospital - KMI Hospital

Melisa is an award-winning healthcare executive with a distinguished record of leading complex health systems through transformation, growth, and operational excellence. She currently serves as CEO of The Brook Hospital KMI-UHS in Louisville and is the founder and CEO of A2 Healthcare Partners, where she advises healthcare organizations on strategic growth, operational transformation, mergers and acquisitions, and performance optimization.

SERVICE & ADVOCACY - Elliott Grantz '15, School Meals and Partnerships Manager | United Nations WFP

Elliott is a United Nations School Meals Programme and Partnerships professional whose career has taken her from Louisville to communities across Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. Currently with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Laos, Elliott works alongside governments, donors, and communities to strengthen school meal programmes, improve nutrition outcomes, and support sustainable development initiatives. Her work focuses on building partnerships that help create lasting impact for children and their families.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT - Karen Cassidy, Founder and CEO | Hildegard House

Karen Cassidy was tenured on the nursing faculty at both University of Louisville and Bellarmine University, teaching Community Health Nursing for more than 25 years. It was when she served as a palliative care nurse practitioner at St. Mary and Elizabeth Hospital that she saw the gap in end of life care and those that were not able access hospice care because they didn’t have a home or resources to pay for caregivers or family to provide them needed care when they were dying. She founded Hildegard House in 2014 and has served almost 400 residents since then.

MOTHER CATHERINE SPALDING VISIONARY AWARD - Dr. Stephanie Mary Latkovski '71* - Educator and Linguist 
*Posthumous

A life-long learner and educator, Stephanie attended Presentation Academy, Bellarmine University, University of Louisville, and Indiana University Bloomington. She taught French and Spanish at St. Xavier High School and was a foreign exchange and study-abroad administrator for Spalding University. Her professional career centered on educating students in many different ways, including teaching English in Ukraine on a Fullbright Scholarship for one year, mentoring international students, and working as a dissertation coach for graduate students.