Meet the 48th Biennial Convention Chair and Co-Chair!

Following the launch of a federation-wide call for volunteers, SIA is pleased to announce the appointed chair and co-chair for the 48th Biennial Convention.

Convention Chair

Theresa Heidt-Vanderschoot of SI/Bend, OR (Northwestern Region), will serve as convention chair. A member since 2001, Theresa has held several leadership positions, including district secretary and director and region secretary. She is currently president of her club. 

Theresa has a master’s in counseling and worked as a counselor for 10 years. She owns and operates an adult foster home and does private behavioral counseling and consulting. She has an extensive background in social services that has included assisting with event planning for work and community-related events. Currently, Theresa is a consultant for a non-profit providing education to individuals to be employers of home care workers. This includes creating training events for groups of individuals so they can remain in their homes and be safe as well as for professionals.

Advocating and supporting minority populations is a passion of Theresa’s. She has served on numerous community committees to help further the positions of marginalized populations and creating and presenting training on how to better serve these groups of people. She is committed to the mission of Soroptimist and lives by their values. Theresa will do her best along with the committee of dedicated women volunteers to present to you an amazing conference that provides education, fellowship, and fun for all.

Convention Co-Chair

Karen Hall of SI/Olympia, WA (Northwestern Region), will serve as convention co-chair. A Soroptimist since 2011, Karen has held several leadership positions at the region and club level, including running workshops and events. She is also the current president for her club.

Karen’s background in events stems from the mid-’90s as an event planner in Seattle. More recently, Karen applies her planning expertise to event creation and implementation. She really enjoys creating, running and maintaining successful events in her community.

Karen is the director of housing at South Puget Sound Habitat for Humanity, which supports the county of the Washington state’s capitol. She created a public education program including courses on financial well-being, budgeting, and first-time home buying for the income diverse. Karen is passionate about helping others see the value within themselves and gain empowerment by learning something new. She is excited to bring an SIA event to her region and state!

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