Shirley A. Ward
Meet Shirley Ward, WACSC Board Member
I was born in New York state, but lived most of my early years in Dallas, Texas. After graduating with a master’s degree from Texas Tech in Lubbock, I moved to Houston and began working in Human Resources, first at Foley’s Department Store and then at Rice University. In 1976 my husband and I moved to San Mateo, California where I worked as Director of Employment for Hughes Airwest Airlines. In 1983 I joined Bank of America in San Francisco where I worked for 15 years. My final position was as an Executive Vice President in the Corporate Human Resources division. In October 1998, when the bank merged with Nation’s Bank, I decided to retire from working, and I moved from San Francisco to Sebastopol.
In 2004, I moved into a home in the Fountaingrove area of Santa Rosa. Sadly, that home burned down in the 2017 Tubbs fire. I now live at Varenna, the senior independent living community in Fountaingrove.
I have served on many boards in the past, including AAA Northern California, the San Francisco Education Fund, Sebastopol Rotary, Santa Rosa Rotary, Blood Bank of the Redwoods, and the Varenna Residents’ Council.
Currently, I am on the board of the Santa Rosa Junior College Foundation and the Providence Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. I am a member of several other local nonprofits – Impact 100 Redwood Circle, WHAM (Women’s Health at Memorial which raises money for women’s and children's programs at Memorial Hospital), and the Santa Rosa Symphony League.
In my spare time, I enjoy volunteering at the Schulz Museum, taking Varenna excursions to interesting places, lunches with friends, playing bridge, attending symphony performances, and serving on several Varenna committees.
I was very happy to join the World Affairs Council, and I thoroughly enjoy the variety of speakers and the opportunity to learn more about what is happening in the world.