Debbie Halverson

I joined LRI in 2003 after a move to Virginia to be near family members. Not one to depend upon them for either activity or social life, I was thrilled to find a brochure about LRI at the community
center and joined in the fall. A year after volunteering on the publications committee and the membership committee, I was asked to be membership committee chair and also to fill a vacant board director’s slot. In that position I considered it my job to represent the best interests of the members in every way. While I am now president of the board, I am also still the membership chair, and my focus from both positions continues to be member satisfaction. To that end, I instigated the tradition of holding annual town meetings and the follow-up mini town meetings this spring. I believe communication is necessary between members and the board so as to keep us all in the same loop. I write frequently for the e-News and also use the president’s letter to keep our members informed. I have also felt that the value of our faithful volunteers should be
rewarded and so I followed that desire through in our March appreciation luncheon.

I graduated from Middlebury College with a B.A. in literature and hold teaching certification through the University of California in Berkeley. I have had an active career in publishing including editorial slots for a national magazine, account management with a printer, and was production manager for Library Journal magazine. All of these jobs were detail-oriented and required management skills; they were challenging and stimulating and occurred while raising
three children and working around the migratory career of a journalistic husband.

In addition to my board activity, I have taught the life stories class for several terms, a course on Mary Chesnut, and have coordinated others. I hope at some time to put together a women’s
studies area of study that will cross other disciplines at OLLI and open up new areas of discussion. I believe program should be the focus of everything we do at OLLI and requires our continued diligence and refreshment.

I am especially interested in the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead of us as we continue to establish our presence and influence in the greater Washington DC area.  Our growth, while welcome, presents new opportunities and problem- solving, and I would like to continue to be part of the decision- making process.