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REDWOOD CITY’S MONTHLY MAGAZINE
GLENNA VASKELIS:
“WORK AT A PROFESSION YOU LOVE”
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Judy Buchan, Contributing Writer
Glenna Vaskelis received the Business
Woman of the Year Award from the
Redwood City–San Mateo County
Chamber of Commerce this month.
Winning awards is nothing new for Vaskelis, president
and administrator of Sequoia Hospital.
In 2005 and again in 2006, she was named one of
the Bay Area’s 100 Most Influential Women in
Business by the San Francisco Business Times. In
2004, she was recognized as one of the Most
Influential Women in Healthcare by the Silicon
Valley/San Jose Business Journal. And once again,
Vaskelis has garnered the respect of her peers by
winning the Business Woman of the Year Award
from the Chamber of Commerce and Mid-
Peninsula Bank. The award was presented at the
chamber’s Annual Dinner and Recognition
Banquet on Jan. 25 at the Hotel Sofitel.
Formerly known as the Athena Business Woman
of the Year Award, this year’s Redwood City–San
Mateo County Chamber of Commerce Business
Woman of the Year Award will present the recipient
with $1,000 from Mid-Peninsula Bank, to be
donated to a charity of her choice. Criteria for
nominees to the award remain the same: “A
woman who provides invaluable business acumen
to the local community for the purpose of stimulating
and enhancing the quality of life; demonstrates
excellence, creativity, and initiative in her
business or profession; assists other women of all
races, ethnicities, and economic backgrounds to
reach their professional potential within the business
community; and an active and supportive
participant and member in the Redwood
City–San Mateo County Chamber of Commerce.”
“Actually, I’m humbled and a bit embarrassed
about this award,” Vaskelis said as she recalled
coming to Sequoia when the hospital was “struggling
financially and hemorrhaging red ink.”
Stopping the red ink and becoming a top financial
performer took some three to four years. “I’m
very proud of what we have accomplished.”
Challenges at Sequoia have been daunting, but
certainly nothing that Vaskelis and her team can’t
handle. “I knew how to go out to find opportunities,
always with the goal of balancing good
patient care with the needs of the hospital.
Sometimes we had to postpone extra expenditures
(continued on page 22)
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