Deborah Gomez Named State BPW President.

• Author: MCCORKLE, VERN
• Position: Business and Professional Women - Brief Article

Deborah Gomez becomes president of the Alaska Federation of Business and Professional Women's clubs this month. She is no overnight success, even though anything she has ever done has the mark of success all over it.

As important on the local scene as it is nationally, the BPW organized in Alaska in 1945 but had been on the national scene since 1919. During its early years in the Last Frontier, the Kenai club was instrumental in persuading Washington State Sen. Warren G. Magnuson to propose a fish management act. It passed Congress as the Magnuson-Jackson Fish Management Act that gave birth to the North Pacific Fish Management Council and the 200-mile coastal waters limit.

The clubs' mission is to advocate for the working woman, with special emphasis on women who are returning to the work force. Younger generations benefit from various mentoring programs provided by the clubs' senior members. Leading the nine local chapters of the Alaska federation is a job for which Gomez is eminently qualified, as her credentials attest.

She joined the BPW in 1993 and has "gone through the chairs," as one might say of her local club leadership. She has also been very active in statewide BPW committee work. Growing out of such activities, Gov. Steve Cowper appointed her to serve as commissioner on the Alaska State Human Rights Commission and Mayor Rick Mystrom called upon her to become a commissioner on the Anchorage Women's Commission.

"I have always been active in community work," Gomez confesses. "I have worked with the Girls Scouts, Cub Scouts and PTAs. Presently I serve on the YWCA board of directors and on its Racial Justice Committee." And as if that were not enough, Gomez chairs the Anchorage Women's Commission and is a board member of the Alaska Women's Network. For good measure, throw in vice president of the Toastmaster's Club and it can clearly be seen that the new president of the Alaska Federation of BPW clubs has worked in the trenches and paid her dues. "BPW is the thread that ties together all of my community work and efforts to improve the quality of life for women and their families," Gomez insists.

From a Cabin in Glennallen

An inspiration to all women who strive for upward mobility and achievement, Gomez holds a bachelor's degree in liberal arts from the University of Alaska and has completed all of the requisite course work for a master's degree in speech communications from the University of Washington. But she began her business...