Leaders for Equality

AMBASSADORS:

Douglas Burns, co-owner, Carroll Daily Times-Herald

Dianne Bystrom, former director, Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics

Bonnie Campbell, Iowa’s first female attorney general

Lee Clancey, former mayor of Cedar Rapids

Roxanne Conlin, attorney, Roxanne Conlin & Associates, P.C.

Art Cullen, editor and Pulitzer Prize recipient, Storm Lake Times

Peter Damiano, director, Public Policy Center and Bernstein Professor, College of Dentistry, University of Iowa

Trudy Holman Hurd, community volunteer

Joseph Jones, executive director, The Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement, Drake University

Mary Kramer, former Iowa Senate president and U.S. ambassador

Tim Lane, great-great nephew of Carrie Chapman Catt

Jean Lloyd-Jones, 50-50 in 2020 co-founder

Linda Neuman, former Iowa Supreme Court justice

Diane Ramsey, co-founder and former CEO, Iowa Women Lead Change

Mary Riche, family counselor

Ivadelle Stevenson, great-great niece of Carrie Chapman Catt

Margaret “Maggie” Tinsman, former state senator

Dr. Deborah Ann Turner, MD, JD, gynecologic oncologist and board member, National League of Women Voters

Connie Wimer, owner/chairman, Business Publications Corp.

AMBASSADOR SPOTLIGHT

DR. DEBORAH ANN TURNER, MD, JD

It would be hard to imagine a more fitting ambassador for the 19th Amendment Centennial Commemoration than Dr. Deborah Ann Turner, MD, JD. A native of Mason City, she currently serves on the board of the National League of Women Voters (LWV). Currently she chairs the LWV’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee.

Dr. Turner is the fifth known Iowan to serve on the national board, after leading the Des Moines chapter as president, and the state of Iowa League as vice president and ultimately co-president from 2011 to 2016. Other Iowans to serve on the LWV board include Mrs. J.C. Schramm of Burlington in 1942, Lois Leach of Davenport in 1951, Nan Waterman of Muscatine in the 1970s and Pat Jensen of Iowa City in the 1980s.

She credits her listening and collaboration skills for opening doors to leadership 9positions. “I want to help build on the past while making changes in the future,” she says. “Disenfranchisement of poor and minority groups and voter suppression are the greatest challenges going forward.”

Some of her many other accomplishments include:

The first African-American woman to be certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology in gynecological oncology; more than 30 years in medicine
The Outreach Program medical team trips to Tanzania, performing surgeries to improve the lives of women suffering from medical complications of child birth, and helping to feed children
Law degree from Drake University
President pro tempore, Iowa State Board of Regents
2013 Inductee into the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame; her leadership and exemplary accomplishments make her a role model for all women
2016 Professional of the Year, International Association of Who’s Who
Certificate, Schwartz Center for Compassionate Care

Activism and education are in her blood. As a young girl, she helped her mother canvass neighborhoods and hand out literature for different causes. More recently, while on a medical mission to Tanzania, she witnessed the incredible sacrifices of women to exercise the right to vote, symbolized by purple dye on their fingers. “As I approached the clinic one day, dozens of poor women and mothers stood waiting for treatment, each of them with a purple finger.” They had walked many miles under extreme conditions to exercise their right to vote. “At that moment it struck me that I must do my share to ensure that every citizen in my own country exercises that right.”

Many Americans don’t realize the importance of their voting rights. Education is vital, and the 19th Amendment Centennial Commemoration is the perfect opportunity to reach into every American’s life with information and inspiration.