STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
Two Ketchum women were honored during the inaugural Grande Dame Brunch and Women in Leadership presented by Zions Bank Sunday morning at the Limelight Hotel.
Aimee Christensen, executive director of the Sun Valley Institute, formerly the Sun Valley Institute for Resilience, was honored with an award for Public Policy Leadership. Among other things: Christensen brokered the first bilateral agreement on climate change while working with the Department of Energy under former President Bill Clinton.
Former State Rep. Wendy Jaquet was honored for Political Leadership. While continuing to live in Ketchum, Jaquet is teaching about politics and public policy at Boise State University.
Actress Geena Davis also handed out awards to Rebecca Casper, the mayor of Idaho Falls, who was honored for her work in civic leadership; Karen Echeverria, executive director of the Idaho School Board Association; Debbie Field, executive director of Idaho Women in Leadership and chairman of the Idaho Board of Correction, and Janet Gallimore, executive director of the Idaho State Historical Society.
Gallimore who received an award for Culture, has been involved with the reconstruction of the Idaho Historical Museum in Boise. Before moving to Idaho, she was involved in restoring Adlai Stevenson’s home.
The honorees were selected by Zions Bank CEO Scott Anderson and Idaho First Lady Lori Otter, recognizing their work in the fields of education, business, public policy and culture.
Otter told the hundred-plus people who turned out for the event about the new Idaho Women in Leadership organization. The nonpartisan 501 3C organization recently hosted 220 women for an event called Capitol for a Day.
Women were taken on committee floors and educated about the political process. Two hundred of those women had never been in the Capitol building before.
The organization plans to put on candidate schools across the state in hopes of getting more women involved in the political process.
“We need to be part of the solution. It’s not enough to complain,” said Otter. “We take them through everything from a how to construct a financial plan to how to handle the media, how not to handle the media…”