The Women’s Industry Network (WIN) Cornerstone Award was presented at the 2023 WIN Educational Conference to Laura Kottschade and Jeanne Esquivel, according to a press release.
The conference took place in San Antonio, Texas, May 1-3. The award was presented by WIN Chair Tanya Sweetland to Kottschade, the operations manager of Jerry's ABRA Auto Body & Glass in Mankato, Minnesota, and Esquivel, the business development manager of Enterprise Holdings.
With the Cornerstone award intended for individuals who have provided “high impact actions,” “unique contributions,” and a positive example for others, Sweetland credited the two with “completely overhauling” WIN’s scholarship program and showing dedication through personally donating shop tools to scholarship recipients.
The 2023 WIN scholarship program was expanded this year to reach a record number of 20 WIN scholarships being awarded. Kottschade said their goal is to double the number of scholarships in 2024.
“They really pushed the scholarship program to another level this year through their efforts of getting packages and applications together,” Sweetland said. “They helped build a different level of camaraderie within the Scholarship Committee and were willing to seek out additional resources to help better support keeping women in the collision industry.”
