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Marin Women's Hall of Fame Honorees
2016
Public Affairs
Judge Verna Adams has served as a Marin county Superior Court Judge since 1999. When asked to give the Marin Women’s Hall of Fame a brief autobiography, here is what she said:
I was blessed to be born in a country where a little girl from a small town in Indiana can grow up to be inducted into the... Read more
2016
Environment
Deb Hubsmith, Founder of the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, was a brilliant, kind and deeply loving spirit and a passionate, hard working and effective advocate who gave selflessly throughout her personal and working life. While she was seeking balance in recent years so she could... Read more
2016
Business & Professions
Barbara Morrison has devoted her career to advancing the financial security of Bay Area small businesses while simultaneously building her own business, TMC Financing, which provides financing for small business owners to purchase commercial real estate through the U.S. Small Business... Read more
2016
Social Change
Mary Kay Sweeney has midwestern roots; born in Motown and Catholic schooled in Detroit, Michigan.
Some people are lucky enough to know what they want to be early in life. That was true for Mary Kay. She wanted (and needed) to be of service. Right after high school she entered the Sisters of Mercy... Read more
2016
Community Service
Florence was born and raised in Mansfield, Louisiana. She grew up in a loving extended family. Her mother Myrtis, a nurse, and her father Willie, who worked for the railroad and a roofing company, worked hard and provided a comfortable and loving home for seven children. Florence grew up with three... Read more
2015
Education
Colleen Hicks’ Native American lineage comes from her Cherokee paternal grandfather. He moved to Idaho from the Midwest to build a life for his family away from the prevalent violent prejudice against native people. In Southern Idaho he apprenticed with a barber and set up a small business. Once... Read more
2015
Community Service
Kate Kain, Deputy Executive Director for the Center for Domestic Peace, is one of Marin County’s leaders in the work to end domestic violence. Her work has played an instrumental part in the statewide and international movement to transform society by bringing primary prevention programs to... Read more
2015
Social Change
Born in Transylvania in 1925 as Olga Davis, Olga immigrated to the United States in 1931 with her mother, two sisters and brother. Her father had emigrated four years before and settled in New York. A skilled craftsman, he arrived in New York with just his violin and thirty-eight dollars in his... Read more
2015
Environment
Barbara Salzman has been speaking out to protect wetlands, wildlife and the health of our ecosystems for almost forty years, but she did not start out as an advocate for these resources. Barbara grew up in Upper Darby Pennsylvania, a mostly-developed area with very little natural environment left.... Read more
2014
Community Service
Claudia Asprer has dedicated her career and life to foster children and adolescent services. She is the founder of Movin On Up, a non-profit organization that helps foster youth aging out of foster care find the resources they need to become successful. Over the past fifteen years, Claudia and her... Read more
2014
Volunteer Leadership
Joan Brown created Marin County’s internationally acclaimed Civic Center Volunteers (CCV), and directed it for more than thirty-two years. She started the program after property-tax-cutting Proposition 13 passed, with zero volunteers, and the first-ever county strike looming only weeks away. The... Read more
2014
Business & Professions
As President and Chief Executive Officer of the San Rafael Chamber of Commerce, Elissa helped establish the Marin Consortium for Workforce Housing and the Marin Workforce Housing Trust. She worked with Marin Vision to create the Marin Economic Commission and with the Marin Community Foundation to... Read more
2014
Health & Medicine
Tricia Hellman Gibbs, MD, is the co-founder — along with her husband of nearly thirty years, Richard D. Gibbs, MD — of the San Francisco Free Clinic. Established in 1993, SFFC’s mission is to provide free accessible medical treatment to those without health insurance, and to advance the field of... Read more
2014
Social Change
Bettie Hodges is an activist, philanthropic professional, educator and community development specialist whose professional career spans more than thirty years. Ms. Hodges is a native Marinite whose parents, Ruth and Charles, were part of the Great Migration of Blacks who fled the South in search of... Read more
2013
Dominican, Education
Dr. LeeAnn Bartolini, professor of psychology and co-chair of Dominican University of California’s Psychology Department, is one of Dominican’s outstanding educators. Since joining the faculty in 1985, Dr. Bartolini has helped to build a strong and successful psychology program, develop new... Read more
2013
Technology
In December 2009, after several years as a stay-at-home mom to her step-son, son and daughter, Christine Bronstein founded A Band of Wives (www.abandofwives.com), a social network and information website for women. Meant as a place for her to connect privately with her friends, A Band of Wives has... Read more
2013
Religion
Reverend Jan Heglund was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. She enjoyed a loving and supportive family circle with her parents and younger brother Ken. She played the piano and the accordion, took ballet, toe, tap, ballroom dancing and modeling lessons. Her high school years were exciting and fun... Read more
2013
Business & Professions
Kim Kaselionis was named Chairman/CEO of Circle Bank in 1996. She left the bank in 2012 after its sale to Umpqua Bank. In the intervening years, she led the Novato, CA-based community bank to a leadership position among Northern California financial institutions by championing local economies and... Read more
2013
Social Change
Jennifer Siebel Newsom is a filmmaker, speaker, actress and advocate for women, girls and their families.
Newsom is the writer, director and producer of the 2011 Sundance documentary film "Miss Representation," which explores how the media’s inaccurate portrayals of women have led to the under-... Read more
2013
Community Service
In college, Jan pursued a degree in nursing, but auditioned for the Augsburg Choir as well. She missed the call-backs because she hadn’t seen them posted as she had left campus that afternoon. So when she found an invitation to attend the first rehearsal, she was sure it was a mistake – until she... Read more