Jamie Marshall has enjoyed the year as the most recent ATHENA Award recipient. She has been honored on several occasions and has had opportunities to meet the twenty-seven of the other thirty-nine ATHENAs who continue to live in and contribute to the Great Falls community.
The ATHENA Award, sponsored by the Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce, honors women who strive toward the highest levels of personal and professional accomplishment, excel in their chosen field, devote time and energy to their community in a meaningful way, and forge paths of leadership for other women to follow. Jamie Marshall personifies these high ideals.
She grew up in Lenexa, Kansas—a suburb of Kansas City. She holds two master’s degrees, one in social work and the other in public health, from Boston University. She also brings to the Great Falls community the experience of two previous jobs where she sharpened her skills to serve others. “I love people, and always my goal is to bring people together because people can accomplish so much by working as a team,” said Marshall.
Jamie believes in the process of mentoring from experiences of being mentored by others. She has found that when she mentors someone else, she strives to know that person one-on-one, and when they set out on a learning journey, they learn together. “I always gain so much myself when I am in the position to mentor someone else,” said Marshall.
When Jamie and her husband Robert came to Great Falls December 2009, she soon found ways to channel her expertise. She has become a board member, a board president/chair, policy maker and held or holds leadership roles in the following organizations: Kids Education Yes (KEY); Prevent Children Abuse and Neglect (PCAN); the Great Falls Public Schools Foundation; the Dandelion Foundation ‘‘promoting the prevention of child abuse and family violence in North Central Montana through education, intervention, and awareness” –think of the blue pinwheels placed each spring around Great Falls during No More Violence Week; PTAs at Lincoln Elementary and East Middle School; East Middle School food pantry; and the Reflections program at Lincoln providing opportunities of creativity and self-expression; Alliance for Youth; and United Way. “I see the good in every human, and I choose organizations that reach out to those who are often in need, “ said Marshall.
Jamie is presently the board chair of the Great Falls Public Schools Foundation, an organization that enhances education through community giving. Jamie uses the experience she had in St. Louis at the Missouri Foundation for Health where she developed opportunities that supported children, family, and community through grants. To benefit the Great Falls community, the GFPS Foundation strives to enhance high quality teaching and life-long learning for students by funding innovation programs and scholarships.
Jamie and Robert have three children. They enjoy activities they can do together, such as getting in the kitchen to cook. They have recently gone to the mountains to get a Christmas tree. The Marshalls say they feel “at home” in Great Falls. “It’s a great community,” says Jamie, “It helps its own, and I’m grateful to be part of it.”
Jamie Marshall, among other honorees, will be recognized during a Chamber breakfast on December 17. Tickets can be obtained by registering online at greatfallschamber.org, calling the Chamber, 406-761-4434, or emailing Lorene at lj*****@***************er.org.
By Suzanne Waring: December 11, 2025 – Great Falls, Mt
Author: Staff
Our Staff account is used to publish submitted content. If you have content that was published under this account, and wish to have your name as author, please contact us at (406) 952-3021
