Women in Leadership Preview: Panel #3

AURORA – The topic of the third, and final, panel discussion at the Colorado High School Activities Association’s second-annual Women in Leadership Conference will be How to Break into a Male Dominated World.

The panel will feature women with a variety of backgrounds, including Joannie Green-Turner, a lobbyist, Nadine Ihde-Johnston, a wrestling official, Marcia Neville, a media icon, and Sandy Searcy, from the NFHS. The panel will be moderated by Erika James-Bouwmeester. More information on the individual participants can be found below.

The panelists will talk about their experiences working in male dominated career fields, including politics, wrestling, broadcasting, and how they would encourage young women today to follow in their footsteps.

CHSAA’s Women in Leadership Conference will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 4 at the Evergreen Lake House. Registration for the event is limited and there are still a couple of spots left. Anyone interested in joining, should register now.
 

Panelists

Joannie Green-Turner
Lobbyist and former legislator in Colorado
Joannie Green-Turner is a lobbyist and former legislator with 30 years of political and policy experience in Colorado. During that time, Green-Turner has represented water rights holders for over 20 years across multiple Colorado river basins and joined the Colorado Water Congress, where she still serves on the State Affairs Committee. Green-Turner also became the youngest elected member of the Colorado General Assembly in 1985, where she served two terms.

Nadine Ihde-Johnston
Official: wrestling
Nadine Ihde-Johnston is a wrestling official with decades of experience who has officiated the CHSAA wrestling state championships. Ihde-Johnston also notably became the first-ever female wrestling official to officiate at the famous IAHSAA boys wrestling state championship in Iowa. Ihde-Johnston has previously worked as a special education teacher and for the Iowa Donor Network, an organization that specializes in tissue and organ transplants. She now works for herself, refereeing, educating/recruiting (specifically female) new referees and connecting female referees from across the country with Women Officiating Network (W.O.N.)

Marcia Neville
CHSAA Hall of Famer and media icon in Colorado
Marcia Neville is a CHSAA Hall of Fame member, Emmy-award-winning broadcaster and media icon in the state of Colorado. She covered Colorado’s high school sports and activities for 26 years for Denver’s Channel 4 and FOX31, work that earned her a Silver Circle award from the NATAS Emmy Awards. Neville also serves as a member of the selection committees for Sportswomen of Colorado and the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.

Sandy Searcy
Director of Sports at the NFHS
Sandy Searcy was named a Director of Sports at the National Federation of State High School Associations in August of this year, where she oversees softball, water polo, and swimming and diving. Searcy is also a member of the USA Diving Board of Directors and the USA Swimming Rules and Regulations Committee. In 2019, Searcy won the Contributor Award from the Indiana High School Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame for her work as an assistant commissioner for the Indiana High School Athletic Association.

Moderator

Erika James-Bouwmeester
Dean of Students at Boulder High School
Erika James-Bouwmeester is entering her second year as the Dean of Students at Boulder High School. Before taking on her role at Boulder High School, Dr. James-Bouwmeester served as Project Manager at the Colorado Department of Education and as a classroom teacher and building administrator. During her time at Pueblo South High School, Dr. James-Bouwmeester was a 12-letter athlete across three different sports.