Speakers and Panelists

As AAUW’s top policy adviser, Maatz works to advance AAUW’s priority issues on Capitol Hill, in the White House, and in coalition with other organizations. She is a sought-after speaker across the nation and in our nation’s capital, and has a large and devoted following on Twitter. Lisa also provides leadership to several coalitions working to advance opportunities for women and girls, including the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education and the Paycheck Fairness Act Coalition.

Recently featured in the book Secrets of Powerful Women, Lisa has developed a reputation for her strategic approach to legislation and advocacy. She has done similar work for the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Older Women’s League, and was a legislative aide to U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY). Her grassroots advocacy career began when she was the Executive Director of Turning Point, a battered women’s program recognized for excellence by the Ohio Supreme Court. Lisa is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Ohio University, and currently serves on the university’s Diversity Alumni Advisory Board. She has two master’s degrees from Ohio State, and holds an adjunct appointment with the Women and Politics Institute at American University.

Honors include the National Committee on Pay Equity’s Winn Newman Advocacy Award (2013), National Association of Partnerships in Equity’s first-ever Public Policy Advocate for Equity Award (2012) and the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce’s 10th anniversary Trailblazer Award (2011). Lisa has also received the Women’s Information Network’s Karen Mulhauser Award (2010) for mentoring and service, and WIN’s Young Woman of Achievement Award (2001); she has served on that organization’s Advisory Council since 2003. She was a recipient of the Mentor Award from the Public Leadership Education Network (2003), and was recently named to their board of directors (2012). Lisa was awarded a Congressional Fellowship in Women and Public Policy from the Women’s Research and Education Institute (1997) and was a mayoral appointee to the Washington, D.C., Commission on Women (2006–10). Lisa has been with AAUW since 2003. During that time, she also spent 16 months serving concurrently as the interim director of the AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund.

Lisa Maatz VP Government Relations - AAUW

Kenneth Meshigaud Hannahville Tribal Chair

Earl Meshigaud Hannahville Cultural Director & Spiritual Chair

Hannahaville Tribal Leadership

Marc Tall Mayor, Escanaba, MI Marc D Tall has been in the radio business since 1968, as an announcer, reporter, owner and manager, and for the last twenty five years as a salesman for the Radio Results Network based in Escanaba. An active member of the community, Marc has volunteered for committees and commissions, and has been elected twice to the Escanaba City Council, where he now serves as Mayor. An active member of the Escanaba Rotary Club for over thirty years, he’s also proud to have been a part of the Delta Force Leadership Academy since its inception 13 years ago. For fun, Marc is a singer, with the Remnants Barbershop Chorus and the Next Generation Quartet! Married to wife Maggie for 45 years, they have two daughters and two grandchildren.

Tom Casperson served in the Michigan House of Representatives for six years, from 2002 to 2008. In 2010, he was elected to the Michigan Senate. The 38th District includes 13 of the Upper Peninsula’s 15 counties, making it bigger geographically than 9 states.

Prior to being elected to the legislature, Casperson worked for 27 years in his family’s log trucking business, including 12 years as its owner and operator. That business, Casperson & Son Trucking, was started by his grandfather.

While in the House, Casperson served as an Assistant Majority Whip and as Chair of the House Conservation, Forestry and Outdoor Recreation Committee and Vice-Chair of the Transportation Committee. In the Senate, Casperson has the distinction of being one of only two state senators to chair two Senate policy committees. He serves as chair of the Transportation Committee and the Natural Resources, Environment and Great Lakes Committee. In addition, he is a member of the Senate’s Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Committee and the Reforms, Restructuring and Reinventing Committee. Additionally, Casperson serves as the Chair of the Legislative Natural Recourse Caucus and is a member of the Legislative Waterways Caucus.

HONORS & AWARDS:

Casperson has been the recipient of numerous awards, including Advocate of the Year from the Michigan Manufacturers Association, The Tuebor Award presented by Michigan Forest Products Council, Legislative Leadership awards from Great Lakes Timber Professionals and the County Road Association, the Special Volunteer Award presented by the Michigan Association of Timbermen, and the National Logging Safety & Innovations Award from the American Logging Council. Since his election to the State Senate, he has been named Legislator of the Year by the Michigan Townships Association, the Michigan Association of Counties, and the Michigan Propane Gas Association, and was also named the Michigan’s Most Effective Public Servant by Transportation Riders United.

LEGISLATIVE ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

While serving as a State Representative, Casperson authored twenty Public Acts, including: the “Crib Truck Bill” (Public Act 142 of 2003), which addressed the cause of a fatal log spill accident, a tragedy that led to Casperson’s first run for elected office; the “Healthy Forest Package” (Public Act 125 of 2004), a group of bills requiring the Department of Natural Resources to certify Michigan’s forests as sustainable forests; Public Act 449 of 2004, legislation that permitted metallic mining in Michigan; “The Castle Doctrine” (Public Act 313 of 2006), an Act that gives Michigan citizens the right to use force to defend themselves and provides law-abiding citizens with civil immunity; and Public Act 332 of 2005, legislation that prevented the State from seizing control of the Mackinac Bridge.

Senator Tom Casperson Michigan 38th District

What Frida Talks About

“Everyone will cross an Arctic Ocean in their lives,” says Frida. “It may not look like the ice cap at the top of the world, but it will feel every bit as dangerous and alien.”

How will you cross that unfamiliar ground? Frida believes whether it’s to rescue your home, your health, your family or your finances, you must learn to rely on creative problem solving and teamwork--the same techniques that get off broken ice and back on solid ground.

Never one to shy away from testing her limits, Frida will encourage you to step into the ring and meet challenge head on. “Adventure pushes you to a new threshold. You never come home the same person.”

Her latest challenge in March 2008 will be to ski from Russia to Sweden across Finland. Check her blog for the story.

Pursuing a Dream...

The Geographic North Pole is a place few men have ever traveled, and even fewer women. In April 2001, Frida Waara, a small woman with a big dream, skied to the top of the world with a team of eleven other women to become the first all female unsupported expedition from Russian ice to the top of the world.

Frida's message of focus, resiliency and determination in the face of insurmountable odds takes your group to the top of the world, literally, and shows them how they can navigate the unfamiliar and chaotic waters of change.

Frida Waara Adventurer & Inspirational Speaker Keynote Speaker

Laura Coleman is President of Bay de Noc Community College, a position she assumed in July of 2006. Prior to joining Bay College, Dr. Coleman was Executive Dean at Bertrand Crossing Campus, Lake Michigan College, Benton Harbor, MI. She also served as Interim Dean of Institute for Diversity and Leadership at Lake Michigan College, Benton Harbor, MI. She served as the Director at the Jefferson City Campus of State Fair Community College. Dr. Coleman received her Doctorate of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia, her Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management, Lake Forest, IL, and her Bachelor of Science (BS) degree from the University of Illinois. Dr. Coleman serves on the Michigan College Access Network Board of Directors, the Michigan Early Middle College Board, the Michigan Center for Student Success Advisory Committee, the Michigan Colleges Online Advisory Board, and as Past President to the Continuous Quality Improvement Network (CQIN). She serves on the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) Presidents Academy Executive Committee and was appointed by the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) to the Advisory Committee of Presidents. She served on the AACC Commission on Academic, Student, and Community Development from 2011-2013 and the Commission on Research, Technology, and Emerging Trends from 2013-2014. Locally, she serves on the Delta County Economic Development Board, the EDA Executive Committee, the CUPPAD Central U.P. Regional Prosperity Collaborative and Rural Wage Study Committee, and is a member of Rotary. She served on the OSF Community Advisory Board from 2008-2012 and the Bay Area Economic Club from 2007-2014.

Dr. Laura Coleman, Bay de Noc Community College Keynote Speaker

Karlyn Rapport - Panelist Public Policy Director AAUW Marquette

Currently “retired” Karlyn Rapport has been a member of AAUW’s Marquette Branch since 1959. She was previously employed as a Speech and Language Pathologist. In 1977 she noted patients who suffered brain injury as a result of domestic violence. She brought this to the attention of the Branch. Eight members of the branch accompanied Karlyn to AAUW’s National convention with a resolution requesting AAUW take up this cause. The resolution was defeated. AAUW convention attendees thought this was only a problem encountered in Michigan’s North woods. The following year the Marquette Branch organized a conference on Spouse Abuse and was awarded a grant from AAUW to publish a resource directory. AAUW martialed a Marquette County Spouse Abuse Task Force and was instrumental in the establishment of Harbor House a shelter for women and children made homeless by domestic and sexual violence. She currently serves as the Marquette branch’s Public Policy Representative and is on Michigan’s AAUW Public Policy Committee. She represents AAUW on the Upper Peninsula Children’s Coalition. In 2014 she organized a press conference on Pay Equity, chaired the Candidate forum for candidates vying to represent the Upper Peninsula for Michigan House and Senate and U.S Congress, and organized and moderated a panel “Campus and Community Response to Sexual Assault”. She chaired a conference on Fostering Attachment for UPCC. Access to care and equity for women and girls are lifelong advocacy issues for Karlyn Rapport. AAUW helped her find her voice.

Bay College Women’s and Gender Studies instructor Molly Campbell earned her Master of Arts in Political Science from Colorado State University, with concentrations in Environmental Politics and Public Administration. She also holds a Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies from Western Kentucky University with graduate work in several areas of gender studies including Roots of Feminism, Feminist Knowledge and Social Change, Women and Psychology, Global and Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Women, Women and Leadership, and Women and Technology. She is certified by the WAGE Project as a $tart $mart Salary Negotiation Facilitator, and has been conducting these workshops for Bay College students for the past four years.

Molly Campbell - Panelist Women’s & Gender Studies Instructor

Dr. June Klees has been a professor at Bay College since 1997. There, she has taught a variety of history and geography courses, as well as classes in college success and education. She has participated on a wide variety of committees, advised two student clubs, and led initiatives in the areas of general and online education and professional development. She also served a three-year term as the Social and Behavioral Sciences Division's chair. Locally, she has been a guest speaker to various civic organizations, served on the William Bonifas Fine Arts Center's Board, and worked as a consulting historian on exhibits for the same organization. Nationally, June served a four-year term on the Organization of American Historians' Committee on Community Colleges and was a short-list finalist for the 2008 American Historical Association's Eugene Asher Distinguished Teaching Award.

Educationally, she received a Bachelor's in secondary education and a Master's in history from East Stroudsburg University. June earned her Ph.D.in history from Kent State University, with a dissertation focused on Civil War political culture & rhetoric. She has published articles based on her dissertation research and on an action-research project related to subject-value pedagogy in the history classroom. June also is the proud mother of an active and creative teenaged daughter with whom she enjoys spending time watching science-fiction programs like Dr. Who and caring for their rescue pets: Splash, JP, and Mia.

June Klees – Speaker/Panelist Professor of History Bay de noc Community College

Karen Lindquist – Panelist Retired Librarian Archivist – Delta County Historical Society

Retired: 36 years as the director of a small library system in southeastern lower Michigan

Personal: Born and raised in the Upper Peninsula, married to Charles Lindquist (retired historian, author and museum curator), one son who lives in Washington D.C.

Activities: Board member of the Delta County Historical Society and volunteer archivist, currently cataloging the museum's collection; Member of the American Library Association, the Freedom to Read Foundation, AAUW, League of Women Voters, Delta County Genealogical Society, Audubon Society and Wild Ones.

Interests: Historic preservation, architecture, bird watching, native

plants, reading.

Molly Meshigaud studied Public Relations at Northern Michigan University. For the last 3 years she has been the Newsletter Editor for the Hannahville Happenings, a monthly publication for the Hannahville Indian Community. She also performs Social Media Coordinator duties as well as providing administrative support to the community’s website. Molly currently serves on the Tribal Council and is a member of the Culture Committee. She has a deep appreciation for her Native American heritage and loves to engage in cultural activities along with her 4-year-old daughter.

Molly Meshigaud - Panelist Public Relations Specialist

Director of Hotel, RV Park and Guest Services Departments Island Resort and Casino Director of Chip In Casino/Island Resort and Casino, Hotel, RV Park and Guest Services Departments, serving as a member of Tribal Council, the As of May 1 employed in current position 24 years. Married and mother of two grown daughters, 3 grandchildren and numerous step children, grandchildren and great grandchildren through previous marriages. Graduated top third in the class of 1973 at Menominee High Attended NMU and studied nursing and Health Administration and Psychology. President 3 years of ONAIS (Organization of Native American Students) at NMU. She is Director of the Family Neighborhood Program, served on Casino Board, Health Board and Child Welfare Board and Tribal Cultural Committee. She currently is active in a number of organizations including a member of the Tribal Council and has participated for 15 years as a safe home within the community for women and children in crisis. Hobbies include dancing, sewing, gardening, cooking, fishing, camping and doing native crafts like beadwork, leatherwork, sweetgrass, birch bark and porcupine quill boxes. A member of the Midewiiwin Society and participate and help coordinated tribal seasonal ceremonies. "I have felt the maternal need to help and serve others since I was a child. I guess it's natural that many of the things I am and have been involved in are because of that need. And so I find it natural to seek out ways to fill needs and speak up when there might be a possibility for change and might make things better for someone. Our people are by nature shy and reserved so it's a gift to be able to find words that can bring about good change for many. My elders and teachers long gone now told me they are depending on me to stand up and speak out for the people. I, in turn tell those coming behind me the same thing....this is how our culture, language and way of life stays alive and thrives to this day"...........noreena