Biography
I joined the League of Women Voters of Tarrant County in 2019. In 2020, I was elected as Secretary and in 2021 I was elected as Vice President of Program. Since starting this position, I've learned a great deal about the importance of Program to the league. In order for our local league to advocate on an issue, our members need to be sure that this position is stated in our local program or aligns with LWVUS or LWVTX positions. This is to ensure that league communications are the same. I really enjoy working on our local league committees, as this is where a lot of the work gets done. I've been active in the Environmental, Redistricting, Governance (formerly Bylaws), and Nominating committees, and have established the Program committee. The Program committee works on the information to be discussed at the unit meetings and performs Program planning, including the review of requests for program changes and additions from members and unit discussions for Local Program, as well as changes to LWVTX and LWUS submitted from our league. I am also the lead for the Southwest Tarrant Unit meeting.
I graduated from Western Hills high school (Fort Worth), received my BS in Microbiology from the University of Texas at Austin, and my MS in Basic Health Sciences (Pharmacology) from NTSU/TCOM. I worked for 33 years at Alcon Laboratories, Inc. in R&D, starting as a Scientist performing drug metabolism studies for novel compounds, then as a Study Director for pharmacokinetics and ocular bioavailability studies, and then as an expert on the business processes I worked with scientists and IT to on-board several large data management systems to automate data analysis and reporting. I helped ensure regulatory compliance and became an expert at computer system validation. I moved into IT to support R&D scientists with business requirements gathering and system life-cycle management. I retired from Alcon in 2019 looking forward to finding opportunities to volunteer to provide positive change.
In addition to the league, I'm active in other organizations such as, American Association of University Women (AAUW), the Greater Fort Worth Sierra Club, the Alcon Retiree Association, and my local political party. I also support several non-profit groups to improve our local community: Planned Parenthood, ACLU, NAACP, Tarrant County College Foundation, North Texas Food Bank, Presbyterian Night Shelter, Texas Civil Rights Project, Texas Native Prairies, Friends of the Nature Center and Common Cause. I want to help substantially increase the amount of local undeveloped land protected to preserve wildlife, trees and native prairies.
My favorite things to do include bragging about my four grandsons, taking my mini Aussie Sophie for walks, playing Pickleball with friends, reading, traveling, eating out with friends and family, attending concerts and visiting museums.
My favorite quote is "The best way to predict the future is to invent it." If we all work together we can make good things happen!