Outstanding Women of Northern Kentucky to be honored at 34th annual luncheon Tuesday

The Outstanding Women of Northern Kentucky will be honored Tuesday at a sold-out luncheon at the St. Elizabeth Training and Education Center in Erlanger.

The program is presented by the Women’s Initiative of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, continuing a tradition that started in 1984. Over the past 34 years, more than 166 women have been honored for their outstanding service, integrity, and leadership.

Alecia Webb-Edgington
Outstanding Women Award

Alecia Webb-Edgington is the President of Life Learning Center in Covington. Formerly, she was a Senior Police Advisor with the United States Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement. In addition to her role at the U.S. Department of State, Alecia was employed in the private sector focusing on public safety, information technology, consulting, and project management. Alecia has a noteworthy career in public safety as retired Major from the Kentucky State Police (KSP).

While at KSP, Alecia rose through the ranks from Trooper to Major serving in multiple capacities. Upon her retirement from KSP, she served as the Executive Director of the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security (KOHS) during the Fletcher Administration. After her tenure at KOHS, she was elected to the 63rd District House seat and served in that capacity for five years.
Alecia currently serves as a board member for several organizations, including Notre Dame Academy, the Parent Board of Centre College, and the Northern Kentucky Workforce Investment Board. In addition, Alecia is an active member of the Kenton County Republican Executive Committee and Women’s Club, Beacon of Hope Advisory Committee, Welcome House’s Outreach Committee, and the Covington Business Council.

Alecia received her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology/Criminology from Western Kentucky University and her Master of Science in Criminal Justice from Eastern Kentucky University. She also attended the Naval Postgraduate School Executive Leadership program in Monterey, California.

Alecia is married to Ted Edgington, Corporate Security Investigator with Convergys and retired Covington Police Officer. They have one daughter Jill, who is a senior at Centre College. Alecia and Ted currently reside in Covington.

Florence Tandy
Outstanding Women Award

Florence Tandy is the Executive Director of Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission (NKCAC), an eight-county human services organization with an annual budget of $13 million in federal, state, local, and private funding. Under her leadership, the organization has grown in size, complexity, and accomplishment. It is accredited by the Better Business Bureau and is a Best Practice Partner with the Kentucky Nonprofit Network (KNN). Within the past year, the organization received KNN’s 2017 Innovative Nonprofit award, and an Impact 100 award, and was a finalist for the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Community Champion Business Impact award.

Florence has more than 30 years of experience in nonprofit leadership roles, including human services, healthcare, and technical assistance organizations. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kentucky and a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University. In 2017, she completed the Women on Boards: Succeeding as a Corporate Director program at Harvard Business School. Florence is a 2007 graduate of Leadership Northern Kentucky and a 2013 recipient of the Distinguished Nonprofit Leader award from KNN. She is active in regional and statewide organizations, including the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce (Board of Advisors), Covington Rotary, Community Action Kentucky (Board of Directors), and the Northern Kentucky Workforce Investment Board (board member).

Florence has been married to Tom Tandy for more than 35 years and blessed with two grown children. She is an avid gardener and a University of Kentucky basketball fan. She will retire from NKCAC at the end of May and looks forward to new ways of serving the Northern Kentucky region.

Julie Metzger Aubuchon
Outstanding Women Award

Julie Metzger Aubuchon, O.D. is the owner of Metzger Eye Care. A graduate of the University of Houston, where she attained a Doctor of Optometry degree. Metzger Eye Care is a full-service eye care provider with offices in Florence, Ky. and Covington, Ky. and recently celebrated its 60th year in business. Dr. Aubuchon currently serves as the team Optometrist for the Cincinnati Cyclones minor league hockey team

As a leader in her profession, Dr. Aubuchon served as the Kentucky Optometric Association president from 2010-2011. In that role, she was instrumental in the passage of legislation that expanded access to eye care for Kentuckians.

Dr. Aubuchon credits the Jaycee organization for development of her leadership skills. After serving as president of the Kentucky Jaycees, she was elected to serve as the 2005 United States Junior Chamber National President. During her tenure, Dr. Aubuchon traveled nationwide, to inspire young people to improve their communities.

She is currently Vice-Mayor of Florence and has served on the Florence City Council since 1999. She has represented the City on numerous boards and committees such as Boone County Success by Six and the Northern Kentucky Health Department.

Dr. Aubuchon, her husband Patrick, and son Brady reside in Florence. She is an avid fan of the Florence Freedom, Cincinnati Cyclones and her son’s sports teams.

Kathy Bryant
Helen Carroll Champion of Education Award

Kathy Reutman Bryant is the Executive Director of Student and Community Services for Boone County Schools and has been in education for 44 years. She began her career teaching as a Special Education Director. Through her work teaching mentally disabled children and children with emotional, behavioral disorders, she developed a passion for reducing all barriers for children with special needs. Through her diligent work, the Boone County School District’s Special Education Department became known around the Commonwealth as a top-tier program.

Kathy’s current passion project has been creating an Early Learning Childcare Center for inner-city Boone County preschool students, which she has worked in partnership with Children’s Inc. to bring this to fruition. The Early Learning Childcare Center is now in its first year serving students to prepare them for kindergarten.

Recently, Kathy led the Boone County School District in a collaborative relationship with the Children’s Home of Northern Kentucky to design a pilot facility-based educational program that offers residents wrap-around therapeutic mental health services throughout their educational day. This new tier of service, negotiated by Kathy, addresses students’ needs holistically. It was a major undertaking to give these students a chance to reduce barriers to their educational success.

Kathy’s interest in student empowerment and leadership has served Boone County students well as she facilitates the Boone County Schools Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council. This student-led group fosters student voice and participation in school, and district and community decision-making processes.

Kimberly Poore Moser

Henrietta Cleveland Inspiring Women Award

Kimberly Poore Moser received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing, served many years as a Registered Nurse in Neonatal Intensive Care and flight nurse for the University of Kentucky Neonatal Transport Team. Additionally, Kim attended the University of Kentucky College of Architecture and worked as a medical consultant for hospital design and other construction projects.

Kim is proud to serve as the president of the American Medical Association (AMA) Alliance. She has served in multiple leadership positions for the AMA Alliance, including national director for the last three years. She is the past-president of the Kentucky Medical Association Alliance and the Northern Kentucky Medical Society Alliance. She has spent years volunteering in her community and children’s schools on health care initiatives in support of alliance efforts. She was the recipient of the AMPAC Belle Chenault Award for exemplary political service in 2015.

Kim was elected chair of the Kentucky Physicians’ PAC as the first non-physician to ever chair a Physicians’ PAC in the nation. She currently serves Northern Kentucky as the director of drug control policy, working to eliminate the scourge of heroin and substance abuse. She has served on the Coordinating Council of the Northern Kentucky Heroin Impact Task Force as legislative liaison and was instrumental in passing legislation to combat the heroin epidemic.

Kim is passionate about Health Care and Medical Legislative issues and has been an effective advocate on local, state and national levels. She was elected to the State Legislature in 2016 and serves in the 64th House District in the Kentucky General Assembly. She sits on the Judiciary, Licensing and Occupations, Education and Health and Family Services Committees, and chairs the Kentucky Medicaid Oversight and Advisory Committee.

Kim is a resident of Taylor Mill with her husband Neal of 33 years. They have five sons and two grandchildren. Kim and her husband love traveling, boating and family adventures. They are avid hikers, having climbed to Mt. Everest Base Camp in Nepal and Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

Sr. Mary Ethel Parrott
Judith Clabes Lifetime Achievement Award

Sr. Mary Ethel Parrott considers herself one of the luckiest women around. She is the first of eight athletically and/or academically talented children of Mae and Edgar (Shorty) Parrott. Her good fortune included pre-college education with Benedictine, Divine Providence, and Sisters of Notre Dame (SND).

Upon entering the SND community after graduating from Notre Dame Academy (NDA), Sr. Mary Ethel attained her physics degree at Thomas More College (TMC). While there, she was mentored by the unsurpassable Sr. Eleanor Fox at a time when TMC was recognized as one of the top five undergraduate physics programs in the United States. She enjoyed graduate courses at many universities and was awarded her master’s in physics from the University of Kentucky.

For most of her career, she lived and ministered with a very supportive SND community at NDA. On most days she experienced NDA as a “teacher’s paradise,” and was privileged to partner with outstanding students, parents, and colleagues. Receiving one of the early Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science Teaching has opened up a world of networking opportunities for her. She was attracted to intense national involvement and leadership with the science fair and physics teaching communities.

Sr. Mary Ethel has been blessed with participation with SNDs nationally and internationally. Every day she discovers more of God’s goodness and hopes she can convey some of that experience to one person at a time.

Kristen Smitherman-Voltaire
Emerging Leader Award

Kristen Smitherman-Voltaire is the Director of Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement at Gateway Community and Technical College. In this role, she leads a comprehensive effort to ensure that equality and inclusion continue to be prioritized and emphasized in Gateway’s organizational processes.

Kristen earned a dual bachelor’s degree in Spanish and International Studies from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and Master of Science in Executive Leadership and Organizational Change from Northern Kentucky University. She is also a certified project manager and proud alum of Leadership Northern Kentucky, class of 2015.

As a daughter of two physicians who have devoted their entire careers to treating the uninsured, she is in her element when she contributes her time to supporting and advocating for improved health and well-being of those who are vulnerable, underrepresented, and often forgotten. To align her community work with her personal passions, she serves on the Women’s Crisis Center Board and the City of Cincinnati Human Services Advisory Council.

Kristen lives in Cincinnati with her husband, Emilio, newborn daughter, Arya, and two rescue dogs, Bart and Gio.

Kimberly Masco
Nancy Janes Boothe Scholarship

Kimberly Masco began her studies at Northern Kentucky University in 2014 and completed her Associate in Arts degree online. In the fall of 2017, she returned to Northern Kentucky University where she is currently studying for her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Organizational Leadership. Kimberly was on the Dean’s List from 2014-2017, the President’s Honors List in the fall semester of the 2017-2018 school year, and is a current member of the Alpha Chi Honor Society.

Kimberly and her husband have been married for six years and have four daughters. Over the years she has volunteered at and participated in events such as Macy’s United Way Campaign, Santa’s Helpers, Freestore Foodbank, ArtsWave, and Bag Hunter. She plans to use her knowledge and experience to inspire others to do great things and never give up on their dreams.

Marsha White
Nancy Janes Boothe Scholarship

Marsha White wasn’t always sure about what she wanted to do with her life. It wasn’t until losing her youngest son Connor to leukemia in 2014 that she found her calling. She challenged herself to become a distance runner while raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through their program TEAM in Training. Since running in the Cincinnati Flying Pig in 2015, she has raised nearly $10,000 in memory of her son.

During that time Marsha struck her first arc and found her calling to become a woman welder. She enrolled in the welding program at Gateway Technical and Community College, where she has excelled ever since. Marsha quickly mastered various types of welding, which allowed her to rise to the top of her class and land a spot on the Dean’s List. She currently works as an aerospace welder and mother to her oldest son Sionn. She hopes to continue inspiring others to chase their dreams, not give up, and encourage other females to join the trade.

Mirtha Vasallo
Nancy Janes Boothe Scholarship

Mirtha Vasallo always dreamed of being a college graduate but life had other plans for her. She came to the United States from Cuba at the age of seven and had to put school aside to help support her elderly parents. Even without a degree, her strong work ethic and personal drive have lead to successful careers in retail, banking and the insurance industry. Mirtha is an employee of Protective Life Insurance, where she has held several successful positions over the last nine years.

She is a mother of two and an active advocate for mental health awareness through the International OCD Foundation. Mirtha also volunteers at the Grant Us Hope Foundation, an organization recently created in Cincinnati to bring suicide prevention programs to local high schools.

One of the main motivators for going back to school was to learn new skills that would help her be more effective with her work in the mental health community. The other driving forces are her children, Matt and Olivia, and the lesson she wants to pass on to them that it is never too late to go after your dreams.

Sponsors of the luncheon are St. Elizabeth Healthcare, Baird, Thomas More College, Toyota, Gateway Community & Technical College, Northern Kentucky University, and the Northern Kentucky Tribune.