2023 Woman of the Year Awards
New River Valley Express Chapter of the American Business Women’s Association Presents 2023 Woman of the Year Awards Christiansburg, VA.
The American Business Women’s Association (ABWA) New River Valley Express Chapter announced the recipients of their annual Woman of the Year awards during their monthly luncheon at the Holiday Inn Christiansburg Blacksburg on Wednesday, June 21, 2023.
Each year the chapter membership submits nominations for the awards and a three-member committee chooses two award recipients—one from among the chapter membership and one from the business community.
The ABWA NRV Express Chapter member award recipient for 2023 is Christine Smith, a Financial Advisor with Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC. She is our founding member and receives the prestigious Woman of the Year award in our chapter’s 20th anniversary year. She has helped people with finances for over 25 years in her practice and was formerly a host of “Money Talks”, a radio show broadcasting throughout the New River Valley for 15 years. She founded the first NRV local BNI chapter and American Business Women’s Association Chapter (ABWA). She has been awarded ABWA Woman of The Year twice and nominated for the National Top Ten Woman of the Year. Christine is a Past Assistant Governor for Rotary and a member of the Rotary Club of Blacksburg. Christine also served as the first female president of the Christiansburg Rotary Club. She was named Forbes Top Women Wealth Advisor Best-in-State in 2022 and 2023.
The ABWA NRV Express Chapter Community Woman of the Year for 2023 is Andi Golusky, the executive director of NRV CARES for over four years. Andi previously worked at NRVCS for over ten years in child and family mental and behavioral health services. A proud VT graduate, Andi fell in love with the New River Valley and has called it home since she graduated in 2006. Also a Highlander, Andi graduated from RU with a master’s in social work and later attained her License in clinical Social work. Her passion for social work has led her to also be a part time adjunct faculty in the masters program at RU.
To find out more about the New River Valley Express chapter of the ABWA, please visit our Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/ABWANRVExpress.
Founded in 1949 by Hilary A. Bufton Jr., a Kansas City, Missouri businessman, ABWA has thousands of members in chapters and Express Networks nationwide. ABWA has dedicated more than half a century to women’s education and provides workplace skills and career development training for its members.
