The San Diego LGBT Community Center will host the honorees for the 7th Annual Women’s Night, to be held on Saturday, April 18, from 6 to 11 p.m. at Paradise Point Resort & Spa in Mission Bay.

Annual Women’s Night is a celebration of San Diego’s lesbian, bisexual and transgender women’s community – the only event of its kind in all of San Diego!

Don’t miss the evening when men and women come together to recognize local women who have had a positive impact on San Diego’s GLBT community, including our Women of the Year.

The evening will feature a silent auction, DJ and dancing, casino games, a delicious assortment of tasting stations, live entertainment from Roxy Blue and the Handful, and a special performance by Liv Isaacs-Nollet and Veronica M. Lamm of Jean Isaacs San Diego Dance Theater. Tickets are $150 for dinner and $75 for dessert and show only.

All proceeds will benefit The Center’s Women’s Resource Center, which serves more than 1,000 LBT women every year.

For more information, contact Sarafina Scapicchio at 619-692-2077, ext. 247, or sscapicchio@thecentersd.org, or visit www.thecentersd.kintera.org/awn2009.

Julie Warren’s passion for art started at a young age – she drew all through childhood and was selling her graphic designs while still in high school. She studied both commercial and fine art at Michigan State University, where she petitioned the University for funding and founded an art magazine, publishing four issues before graduating.

Warren sold her first painting through an art dealer in 1979, after which she was commissioned to paint large scale wall graphics and banners for a clothing store in Lansing, Mich. In 1983, she moved to San Diego, where she landed a job in graphic design within a week. Her favorite graphic design job was as Art Director for the now defunct San Diego Gayzette.

Warren has been exhibiting her prints and paintings on a regular basis since the early ’90s. Her work is in many private collections and is shown frequently at Diversionary Theatre and India Street Gallery in Little Italy. She also teaches graphic design at San Diego City College.

Warren lives in North Park, where she shares her life and love with Christine Kehoe.

Pam Clifford is Executive Vice President and Division Manager for Wells Fargo’s Wholesale Customer Strategies & Marketing. She is responsible for overseeing the market and determining customer needs as they relate to delivery of wholesale products and services.

A 34-year veteran of the company, Clifford assumed her current role in 2003. Previously, she was an Executive Vice President in Treasury Management. After joining Wells Fargo in 1975, she held a number of management positions in cash management sales, customer service and operations.

Graduating from the University of San Francisco, she earned her bachelor’s degree in Information Systems. A Los Angeles native, Clifford’s community involvement has long been a significant part of her outside activities. Her community service work has included work with the elderly, abused children, cancer patients and the GLBT community. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Human Rights Campaign, the San Diego LGBT Community Center and the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center.

Clifford lives in La Jolla with her partner, Lorrie Webb.

Bonny Russell and Jan Garbosky were very active as media spokespersons for the “No on Prop 8” campaign. Both had worked for marriage equality as part of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego’s social justice activities and on the “Decline to Sign” campaign.

In 1995, Russell and Garbosky were instrumental in the founding of the San Diego chapter of GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, & Straight Education Network), Garbosky serving as co-chair for four years.

Both retired educators, Russell and Garbosky served the San Diego County education community for a combined total of 72 years. They met and fell in love working in San Diego Unified School District’s Integration Support Services Department, where they helped implement the court-ordered monitoring of schools to ensure racial and gender equity. They were married on Oct. 4, 2008, after more than 20 years together.

The San Diego Association of Administrative Women has honored Russell, and she has received San Diego Dialogue’s Civic Excellence Award in Education, Phi Delta Kappa’s Leadership Award and the Unitarian Universalist of the Year Award.

Garbosky was a founding member and chair of San Diego Unified School District’s Superintendent’s Committee on LGBT Issues in Education. She was named Woman of the Year by San Diego Pride, received GLAAD San Diego’s Outstanding Community Service award and the San Diego Democratic Club’s Gloria Steinem Award for Communication. Currently serving as President of First Unitarian Universalist Church and on the California UU Legislative Ministry’s Marriage Equality Leadership Team, she also served as the Faith Sub-Committee Chair for No on Prop 8.

Sue Reynolds has led Community HousingWorks as President and CEO since 1997. Under her leadership, this San Diego nonprofit has become a nationally recognized affordable housing developer and homeownership lender, and an innovator in community-based programs. In that time, Community HousingWorks has also quadrupled in size and in the number of apartments it has developed and homeowners it has assisted. In 2008, Community HousingWorks completed the repair of Alabama Manor, affordable apartments in North Park, housing seniors in an GLBT-friendly environment with the support of The Center and other service organizations.

Reynolds holds a Master of Urban Planning degree from Columbia University. Reynolds sits on the Federal Home Loan Bank Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, the Torrey Pines Community Reinvestment Advisory Board and the LGBT Senior Housing Steering Committee. She also serves on the Boards of the California Rural Housing Coalition and the Center for Policy Initiatives.

In October of 2008, Reynolds joyously married her partner of 19 years, Allison Rossett, a professor at San Diego State University.

Susan Atkins has 20-plus years of experience in life sciences, technology and investor relations. She was responsible for launching biotech’s first product and for launching the highly successful “Maalox Moment” campaign on Wall Street. Atkins served as vice president, corporate officer and member of the management committee for the Rorer Group (now Aventis) and Ligand Pharmaceuticals, group vice president at Ketchum Public Relations and as director of corporate communications at Genentech and Stanford Research Institute. She founded Atkins + Associates in 1999 and sold it to Porter Novelli in 2005.

Atkins is a member of the Library Commission of San Diego and served as president of the Diversionary Board of Directors for five years. She has been active in politics, serving as co-coordinator of the Democratic GO Team of La Jolla and assistant manager of the La Jolla Democratic Headquarters during the last election as well as early involvement in Marriage Equality efforts in San Diego. Vice Chair of the Victory Fund Board of Directors and a Founder’s Circle member of “Run Women Run,” a PAC devoted to getting San Diego women elected to public, she is also a longtime supporter of The Center.

Commissioner Sandy Berry became the first openly gay member of San Diego’s GLBT community to be a judicial officer when she was sworn in, in March 1987. The Senior Commissioner of San Diego Superior Court after 25 years in the Court, Berry earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Michigan State University, and her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Akron. She spent several years in the U.S. Attorney’s Office both in Columbus, Ohio, and San Francisco, prior to becoming a court commissioner. She is a past recipient of the Tom Homann Law Association Co-President’s Award for Community Service.

During her time in San Diego, Berry has volunteered for Shirtails Productions, Paradigm Bookstore, San Diego Pride and The Center, sponsored a softball team called “In Contempt” in America’s Finest City Softball League and displayed her acting talents with Labrys Productions and Diversionary Theatre.

On National Coming Out Day, Oct. 11, 1993, Berry was the first judicial officer in San Diego to come out publicly as a proud member of the San Diego GLBT Community.

Berry lives with her wife and partner of 11 years, Donnie Smith, and their alpha dog, Keke, a toy poodle.

Joyce Marieb, Ph.D., has for the past nine years served as chief executive of the Greater San Diego Business Association (GSDBA), San Diego’s GLBT chamber of commerce. As head of the organization, she has increased significantly the number of GLBT and GLBT-friendly member businesses by offering programs and opportunities for networking, professional development and social support. She enhances the visibility of the GLBT business community both in the GLBT community and the wider San Diego county business community. In her position as chair of the Pacific Region of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, she has participated in the development of GLBT chambers throughout the country.

Marieb believes that economic parity leads to social equality and, based on that belief, works diligently for business equality. She is a proud and active member of the San Diego GLBT community and believes in and supports the work of community nonprofit organizations. In August of 2008 she married her life partner of 35 years, Party A, Dr. Linda Barufaldi. Marieb recently announced that she will retire in June after the celebration of GSDBA’s 30th Anniversary.

Art/Theater:

Julie Warren

Business:

Pam Clifford

Education:

Bonnie Russell & Jan Garbosky

Health/Social Services:

Sue Reynolds

Philanthropy:

Susan Atkins

Politics/Law:

Hon. Sandra Berry

Woman of the Year:

Joyce Marieb, Ph.D