Point Loma’s Vice Admiral Nora Tyson and Debra Turner were among luminaries honored during Girl Scouts San Diego’s Cool Women of 2016 celebration. The recent awards luncheon and ceremony took place at Coasterra on Harbor Island.
Joye Blount of Point Loma (a Cool Woman of 2013) and Girl Scouts San Diego board member Julia Brown (a 2005 Cool Woman) co-chaired the 16th annual event.
During the program, a Cool Woman alumna introduced each awardee.
Retired Rear Admiral Ronne Froman introduced Tyson, a Girl Scout alumna. Last summer, Tyson became the first female fleet commander in U.S. Naval history. She oversees 58,000 sailors and civilians and 50 million square miles of the Pacific Ocean. The Memphis native earned her wings as a naval flight officer and served at NAS Patuxent River in Maryland and Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. She led the USS George H.W. Bush Strike Group on its maiden deployment. When the law changed to allow women on naval combat missions, Tyson became navigator of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. Her illustrious career includes two Persian Gulf deployments and leading the Navy’s disaster relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina.
Author and philanthropist Jeanne Jones of the Cool Women Class of 2012 accepted the award on behalf of Turner, who was unable to attend. A former Girl Scout, Turner serves on The Old Globe and La Jolla Music Society boards of directors, and chaired the 2015 American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women luncheon. She is a member of the KPBS Hall of Fame. The wide ranging philanthropy of Turner and her life partner, Conrad Prebys, has benefitted every sector, from the arts and scientific research to healthcare and public television. They provided key funding for the hit PBS Masterpiece drama, Downton Abbey. The couple also supports other organizations, including the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, San Diego Opera, SDSU, UCSD and Charter 100.
Girl Scouts San Diego began its Cool Women program in 2001.
“Our Cool Women’s personal and professional lives make them consummate role models for girls,” said Jo Dee C. Jacob, chief executive officer of Girl Scouts San Diego. “We’re proud to honor these exemplary women for their extraordinary leadership and community service.”
Jacob, a former U.S. Navy captain, retired in March after nearly 15 years at the helm of Girl Scouts. She was a surprise inductee into the Cool Women Class of 2016.
Other Cool Women of 2016 are: Betty Beyster (philanthropist and community volunteer) and her daughter Mary Ann “M.A.” Beyster (film producer and president of Foundation for Enterprise Development), Martha Dennis, Ph.D. (technology entrepreneur), Darcy C. Bingham (self-described “philanthropreneur”), Anne S. Fege, Ph.D. (forester, educator and nature advocate), Debra L. Reed (chairman and CEO of Sempra Energy), Lelya Sampson (retired teacher and community volunteer who inspired U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera), Erica Ollmann Saphire, Ph.D. (Ebola researcher, The Scripps Research Institute), Susan Shirk, Ph.D. (Chair, 21st Century China Program, UCSD) and Ashley Nell Tipton (fashion designer who won Project Runway).
Rancho Buena Vista High School senior Elizabeth “Lizzy” Hosie was named Cool Girl of 2016. She earned her Girl Scout Gold Award by creating an online magazine with positive messages for girls about body image, diversity and activism. A delegate to Girl Scouts’ national convention and member of Girl Scouts San Diego’s CEO Girl Advisory Board, Lizzy will enter the U.S. Naval Academy this summer.
Cool Women/Cool Girl event proceeds help support program outreach for girls in schools in low-income neighborhoods, homeless shelters and the Girls Rehabilitation Facility.
To learn more about Girl Scouts San Diego, including opportunities for local girls in grades K-12 and adult volunteers, visit www.sdgirlscouts.org or call Christa Browning, [email protected], (619) 610-0706.