Individual Category Finalist of 2009 Leadership Award
Dianne Dillon-Ridgley
Plains Justice
Iowa City
Nominated by Karima Ridgley and Dasal Ridgley
As long as my brother and I can remember my mother has been working for and supporting change on behalf of women and girls; locally, statewide, nationally and internationally. If I had to choose just one word to capture her essence it would be catalyst. Her bio and others now focus on her work at the UN, on White House delegations, from heading a number of US NGO’s and as a corporate director.
Near and dear to her heart are the eleven years when she was founding chair and head of the Iowa Targeted Small Business Board (1987-1998). As little kids we spent many hours in the car between Burlington and Des Moines, where she went before committees in both the Iowa House and Senate-making the case for Iowa to support grants, leverage funds and loans to women and minorities-as a critical part of Iowa’s future vitality, growth and prosperity. Besides being the right thing to do-it was also the smart thing to do! What amazing early lessons for both my brother and me, as she stood before the Iowa Banker’s Association and made them see how short sighted it had been to ignore the economic muscle and entrepreneurial fervor of women, by asking “to have her husband sign the loan for her“…..She highlighted and applauded to progressive leaders and chided but encouraged the laggards to come on board this fast moving train.
Needless to say she did not do this by herself, in fact teamwork, collaboration and partnerships have been the benchmark of her “MO”. A strong team is always greater than the single ’star’. She has been a committed leader, from her selfless work as pro-bono four term president of the Association of Iowa Human Rights Agencies, to training and helping hire the first three TSB Directors at the Iowa Department of Economic Development to her two terms on the Iowa Humanities Board-where she nurtured, Women, Partners on the Land, to being part of the founding board of the Iowa Women Archives at the U. of IA libraries.
These are but a sample of her lifelong work, her service-focused on Iowa. She has been an amazing example not just for us but generously for others at church, in many schools and the broader community. We hope you will take time to acknowledge her work as it has inspired so many.
For a more complete bio: www.uiowa.edu/~cyberlaw/ddr