The Women's Foundation for a Greater Memphis is pleased to introduce Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, as our 11th Annual Tribute Luncheon Keynote Speaker.

When Maryland Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is crusading for any cause in which she believes, the ignited combination of vision, leadership and impact are undeniable. As a result, her efforts as a leader in social change have brought about enormous possibilities and life-changing initiatives, from improving schools to fighting crime.

A definite trailblazer, Townsend became Marylands first woman lieutenant governor (1995-2003) with a massive vision as a child advocate. She believed that its not just what our kids are taught, but how they are taught. This vision led her to create the state of Marylands first statewide office of Character Education to ensure schools focused on values and
teaching students right from wrong.

Townsends leadership in improving education started long before her term as lieutenant governor. As founder and director of the Maryland Student Service Alliance, she led Maryland to become the first state in the nation to require all high school students perform community service. Programs like this ensure the next generation learns the accountability and rewards of civic involvement.

Her aim for teaching future leaders good citizenship also continued after public office when she accepted the position of adjunct professor at Georgetown Universitys School of Public Policy. While there,Townsend served as president of Operation Respect, an organization founded by Peter, Paul & Mary singer Peter Yarrow, to teach children personal and social responsibility.

In other social change efforts, Townsends sincere concern for the community and the lives of its citizens was directly reflected in improving healthcare and reducing crime. With her outlook of better health care for families, Maryland now provides access to health insurance for over 95,000 of the neediest children and affordable prescription drugs for more than 40,000 seniors.

Townsend pioneered the Break the Cycle anti-drug initiative aimed at shattering the cycle of drug use and crime by combining drug testing, sanctions, and treatment to keep people who are on parole and probation drug free. In conjunction with Marylands other anti-crime efforts, this program generated results: drug use by offenders in the program dropped by 56 percent. The state point person on criminal justice, Townsend also created the HotSpots program, which is now hailed as a national model. The HotSpots program brings together law enforcement and community leaders to fight crime in some of Marylands toughest neighborhoods. The impact: reduced crime at record rates. In addition, she established the Maryland Police Corps to recruit young people as police officers and train them using techniques that emphasize building trust between citizens and law enforcement.

Prior to tackling Marylands crime problems, Townsend served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the United States. Always a leader with a goal of a ground-breaking result, she led a venture to put 100,000 police officers into the community, and she started the Police Corps, a program that awards college scholarships to young people who pledge to work as police officers for four years after graduation.

And all of this is just a mere drop in the bucket of Townsends impact upon the world. Her visions and their impact are proof of what women working in leadership to create social change can accomplish.