Anthony "Tony" Zipple, Sc.D., MBA, Gordon B. Nash, Sr. Public Education Award	Shirley Woyt, Lifetime Achievement Award	Amy Watson, Ph.D., John M. Davis, M.D. Researcher Award
	Karen Meyer, Mike Flannery Community Service Award	Sergeant William ‘Bill’ Lange, Lt. Jeff Murphy CIT Officer of the Year Award

Tony Zipple, Sc.D., MBA, came to Thresholds in June 2003 from the position of Chief Operating Officer of Vinfen in Cambridge, MA. Dr. Zipple spent a very successful 14 years at Vinfen, helping the $73 million not-for-profit organization reach great growth and success in serving people with mental illness and developmental disabilities. Prior to coming to Thresholds, Dr. Zipple spent over 25 years developing, managing, evaluating, and teaching about community-based rehabilitation services for individuals with mental illness. He has also served as a Board Member for the International Association of Psychosocial Rehabilitation Services (IAPSRS).

As a dynamic leader in creating recovery-oriented programs and a local and national advocate for persons with mental illness, Dr. Zipple has continued Thresholds’ great heritage. Thresholds, started over 46 years ago, is one of the nation’s largest non-profit providers of mental health services. The agency offers comprehensive services, including therapeutic support, case management, education, job training and placement, and housing. With 30 service locations and 75 housing developments in the Chicago area, Thresholds serves around 7,000 consumers each year. The goal of the organization is to give people with mental illnesses the tools they need to live with dignity, focusing on independent living and wellness and recovery.

Shirley Woyt began her career at NAMI of Greater Chicago in 1986 and retired in the fall of 2007 after 21 years of service. Working on a volunteer basis when the organization faced a year of financial hardship in the mid-1990s, Shirley’s dedication to her countless responsibilities as Office Manager over the decades ensured that the office—and thus the organization—ran smoothly and efficiently. Shirley’s ability to patiently assist family members and consumers over the phone and in-person made her the mainstay of our weekday HELPLINE. Thousands and thousands of persons have benefited from her years of experience in providing information and referrals. Shirley’s ability to create a welcoming learning environment for our volunteers meant that informational supplies and tasks were completed not only well, but with cheerful enthusiasm.

Over the years, Shirley has listened to and worked with thousands of individuals and families; they and everyone at NAMI of Greater Chicago have been comforted by her understanding and hopeful response to the many issues that affect the lives of those living with mental illness. Shirley’s lifetime of achievement in serving persons affected by mental illness all across the Chicago area is not only worth honoring, but continues to serve as an inspiration to us all.

Amy Watson, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor at the Jane Addams School of Social Work at UIC. She earned her B.A. in Criminal Justice from Aurora University, and her A.M. and Ph.D. at the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration. Dr. Watson was a probation officer in DuPage County for five years, working primarily with probation clients with mental illness, and as a forensic social worker conducting mitigation investigations for death penalty cases. She served for five years as Project Director for the Chicago Consortium for Stigma Research.

With professional interests in mental health policy, the interface of the criminal justice and mental health systems, and mental illness stigma and treatment participation, Dr. Watson's research focuses on stigma as a barrier to accessing mental health services and factors, including stigma, that influence how persons are processed through the criminal justice system, adults as well as juveniles. Her current NIMH-funded study of the Chicago Police Department and NAMI of Greater Chicago’s Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) program is taking an unprecedented look at police officer interactions with persons with mental illness as CIT is expanding across the city of Chicago. NAMI of Greater Chicago honors Dr. Watson’s efforts to expand the understanding of the need to educate and work with law enforcement officials to better serve all those affected by mental illness.

Karen Meyer, ABC 7 News’ Feature Reporter on Disability Issues, joined ABC 7 in 1991. Her segments, dealing with issues pertaining to people with disabilities, appear on the ABC 7 Sunday Morning News and on ABC 7 News each Thursday at 11:30 a.m. Profoundly deaf since birth, Meyer has been the president of Karen L. Meyer and Associates, a consulting firm specializing in disability issues, since 1992. She also directs DePaul University's Office of Students with Disabilities and has taught at DePaul since January 2003.

Meyer has earned accolades for her leadership and service, including a 2003 Damen Award from the Graduate School of Loyola University and the 2000 Distinguished Alumnus Award from Eastern Illinois University. She was honored along with ABC 7 in 1992, 1994, and 1999 with the National Easter Seal Society EDI Media Award. In addition, Meyer was recognized in 1993 and 1988 as "One of the 100 Women Who Are Making a Difference in Chicago" by Today's Chicago Woman magazine. In 1993, she was honored with the "Outstanding Young Women of America, Superior Public Service" Award.

Since 2000, Sgt. Bill Lange has worked along-side Lt. Jeff Murphy, attending to the myriad details involved in the development and implementation of the additional four hours of mental health training for all new recruits at the Chicago Police Academy which was begun in 2002 and his work only grew when the 40-hour Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training program for experienced Chicago police officers was initiated in 2004.

Additionally, Sgt. Lange is a key CIT officer in handling particularly sensitive and difficult situations requiring a level of expertise beyond that of the average CIT-trained officer. Frequently, these situations arise at inconvenient times, not during business hours. As the years have gone by, these situations have gone from dozens to scores and now hundreds of occurrences. Sgt. Lange has never said no to a request for assistance, regardless of the time of day, whether on duty or off, and usually without compensation, obtaining his satisfaction from a job well done.