Governor Barbara Roberts

Forward Stride is proud to honor Governor Barbara Roberts as recipient of the inaugural Cowgirl of the Year Award. Her coronation will take place at The Cowgirl Ball on October 1, 2005. The Cowgirl of the Year is awarded to an outstanding Oregonian who demonstrates unfailing fortitude, uncommon gumption and a good dose of true grit. Our ideal cowgirl is a woman who has the vision to make the West a better place and enough pluck to roll up her sleeves and get the job done. As Oregon's first woman Governor, she stands heads and tails above the rest. Governor Roberts has been a strong voice in her work on behalf of individuals with disabilities. While her political accomplishments dazzle us, her contributions to our community humble us.

In November of 1990, Barbara Roberts was elected as Oregon's first woman Governor. During her four-year term (1991-1995), Oregon was recognized by financial World Magazine as the 7th best managed state in the nation in 1993. The National Alliance for Business also recognized Oregon as State of the Year in 1991 for its workforce and education innovations. In 1994, the state won the prestigious Innovations in Government Award from the Ford Foundation and the Kennedy School of Government in recognition of the nationally acclaimed Oregon Benchmarks program. She is recognized and respected nationally as a government re-inventor.

After five and half years, former Oregon Governor Barbara Roberts recently retired from her position at the Hatfield School of Government's Executive Leadership Institute at Portland State University as Associate Director of Leadership Development. Prior to her association with Portland State University, Governor Roberts had a five-year association with the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University serving as Director of the Harvard Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government and later as a senior fellow to the Women and Public Policy Program.

Roberts formerly served on the board of trustees for the Oregon Hospice Association, Women of the West Museum in Boulder, Colorado, Central City Concern, 1000 Friends of Oregon, and the Human Rights Campaign, in Washington D.C. She is also a member of the Advisory Councils for the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, Compassion in Dying, and the board of directors of Population Action International in Washington D.C.

A descendant of Oregon Trail pioneers and a fourth generation Oregonian, Barbara Roberts was born in Corvallis, Oregon on December 21, 1936. She was married to the late State Senator Frank Roberts and has two adult sons, Mike and Mark Sanders, two grandchildren ages 15 and 13 and eight step-grandchildren ranging in age from 4 years old to 25 years old.

Governor Roberts is an active public speaker, focusing on issues of leadership, women in politics, environmental stewardship and death and grieving. Her first book "Death Without Denial; Grief Without Apology," was released in February of 2002 and came out in its Japanese translation in August 2004.