Brookdale Leaders Angela Kariotis and Diane Raver Named 2026 ATHENA Award Finalists

Two Brookdale Community College leaders whose careers have been defined by education, mentorship, creativity, and community impact have been named finalists for the Monmouth Regional Chamber of Commerce’s 2026 ATHENA Leadership Award.

Angela Kariotis, Director of the Whyman Center for Transformative Learning, and Diane Raver, Director of the New Jersey Film Academy at Brookdale, are among seven women selected as finalists for the prestigious award, which recognizes professional excellence, community service, and a commitment to helping women achieve their full leadership potential.

Kariotis and Raver were recently celebrated at the Monmouth Regional Chamber of Commerce’s annual ATHENA Awards Finalist Reception, hosted by BMW of Freehold. The finalists will be honored again at the 2026 ATHENA Awards Luncheon on November 6, when this year’s recipient will be announced.

Angela Kariotis: Transforming Education Through Creativity and Connection

An educator and award-winning playwright, Kariotis leads Brookdale’s Whyman Center for Transformative Learning, where her work focuses on strengthening teaching, leadership, civic engagement, and student success.

At Brookdale, she has championed initiatives including the Engaged Pedagogy Faculty Working Group, Open Doors Mentorship Initiative, Civility Week, which she co-produces, and the Faculty Fellows Program, along with institution-wide practices designed to create more engaged and supportive learning environments.

Her impact extends beyond higher education. Kariotis serves as Founding Teaching Artist, Curriculum Director, and Lead Facilitator of Walking the Beat, a nationally recognized arts education initiative that combines theater, media literacy, restorative practice, and civic dialogue to prevent violence and build cultures of care. The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General and the National Endowment for the Arts support the initiative.

Kariotis is also an accomplished writer whose work has been presented nationally and internationally. Her writing appears in Musing in the Margins, Poetic People Power: Three Spoken Word Shows for Social Change, Bullying: Replies, Rebuttals, Confessions, and Catharsis, and Experiments in a Jazz Aesthetic: Art, Activism, Academia, and the Austin Project.

Her honors include the New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship in Playwriting, National Performance Network Creation Fund Award, and Tennessee Williams Theater Fellowship, among other recognitions for her contributions to education, the arts, and civic leadership. She was also selected for the Acosta Institute’s Wounded Healers Portrait Series & Podcast, recognizing leaders whose work advances healing-centered education and community transformation.

Diane Raver: Creating Pathways into New Jersey’s Film Industry

Raver brings more than four decades of experience in film, television, entrepreneurship, and workforce development to her leadership of the New Jersey Film Academy at Brookdale Community College.

Her career has also been one of breaking barriers. In 1987, Raver became the first woman president of a commercial production company in New York City, leading The Madison Group during an era when few women held comparable leadership positions in the industry.

After returning to New Jersey, Raver co-founded the Garden State Film Festival, which grew from its inaugural event in Asbury Park in 2003 into an internationally recognized showcase for independent filmmakers. Through the festival, she has spent decades connecting filmmakers, students, educators, and industry professionals and creating opportunities for emerging talent.

Today, she is applying that experience to building the next generation of New Jersey’s film and television workforce. Under Raver’s leadership, the New Jersey Film Academy has developed a statewide training network that connects community colleges with industry professionals and provides students with hands-on education and pathways into film and television careers. Brookdale serves as the lead institution for the initiative.

Raver’s leadership has earned growing statewide recognition. She was named one of NJBIZ’s 2026 Leading Women in Business and, along with Brookdale President David M. Stout, Ph.D., was selected for the 2025 INNOVATE100 list of New Jersey innovation leaders. Brookdale also awarded Raver an honorary associate degree in 2019 in recognition of her commitment to the arts community.

Leadership That Creates Opportunities for Others

The ATHENA Leadership Award recognizes individuals who demonstrate excellence, creativity, and initiative in their professions; provide valuable service that improves the quality of life for others; and actively assist women in reaching their full leadership potential.
Those principles are reflected in Kariotis’ and Raver’s work at Brookdale: one using education, the arts, mentorship, and civic engagement to strengthen individuals and communities, and the other drawing upon a pioneering career in film to create pathways into an expanding New Jersey industry.

Joining Kariotis and Raver as 2026 ATHENA Leadership Award finalists are Marilyn Grabowski, Liz Graham, Patricia Howard, Rosemary Smentkowski, DNP, MSN Ed., PMHNP-BC, CARN, and Sophia Taylor.

The Chamber also named Chelsea Boyle, Kimberly Bukowiec, Dr. Manuela Jimenez, and Jessica Pepe finalists for the 2026 ATHENA Young Professional Leadership Award, which recognizes emerging community leaders ages 24 to 40.

The Monmouth Regional Chamber of Commerce is the only organization in New Jersey officially licensed to present the ATHENA Leadership Award. The international program honors individuals whose professional achievements are complemented by community service, mentorship, and efforts to help women reach their leadership potential.

All finalists will be recognized at the 2026 ATHENA Awards Luncheon on November 6, when the ATHENA Leadership Award and ATHENA Young Professional Leadership Award recipients will be announced.