The Center has had several distinguished guests and this year is no exception we are pleased to announce our special guest speaker  Arkansas State Representative, Kathy Webb. Below you will find her bio.

Kathy Webb represents District 37 in the Arkansas House of Representatives, comprised of much of mid-town Little Rock. Webb serves on House Revenue and Tax; Rules; City, County, and Local Affairs, and Joint Budget Committees. She currently serves as Vice Chair of Joint Budget Committee, Chair of Economic and Tax Policy and Chair of Special Language Committee. Webb is the first woman to serve in any of those roles. From 2008-2009, Webb served as Co-Chair of the Sustainable Building Design and Practices Task Force and Co-Chair of the Governor’s Commission on Global Warming. Webb was recently appointed House Chair of the Joint Committee on Economic and Tax Policy. Her fellow members of the House Democratic caucus elected her Vice Chair (Whip) of the Caucus. In 2007, Webb co-founded the Legislative Hunger Caucus and served as Co-Chair for two years.

Webb received the Rising Champion Award from Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, Kids Count 2009 Champion from the AR Kids Count Coalition, Pioneer Award from the National Association of Women Business Owners, Elected Public Official of the Year from the Sierra Club, National Pacesetter Award from WAND/WiLL, Hero Award from Citizens First Congress, Acting Out Against Hunger from the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, Elected Public Official of the Year from the Arkansas Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, Imagine Justice Award from the Black Methodists for Social Renewal and the Steel-Millar Award from Hendrix College for Religion and Social Awareness. In 2007, Webb attended Senior Executives in State and Local Government at the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and represented the Arkansas House of Representatives at the Inaugural Class of the Center for the Advancement of Leadership Skills (CALS), sponsored by the Southern Legislative Conference. In 2008, Webb was selected to be a delegate to the National Democratic Convention.

Webb is the co-owner of Lilly’s Dim Sum, Then Some, an Asian restaurant, named “Best Asian Restaurant” by the ARKANSAS TIMES for the last three years. Webb has been a small business owner for almost 15 years. Prior to that, Webb was Vice-President of Bruegger’s Bagels Chicagoland, and served as a regional manager and manager for Domino’s Pizza. Webb was the first woman to receive a national manager of the year award in the 6,500 unit chain.

Currently, Webb serves on the boards of Arkansas Foodbank Network, Arkansas Hospitality Association, Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, and the Board of Visitors of the UAMS College of Medicine. She is a member of the Missions Committee at First United Methodist Church, in Little Rock, and chair of The Green Team. Webb is a member of the Pulaski County Democratic Women, Pulaski County Democratic Committee, and the State Democratic Committee. Webb was founding President of the Chicagoland Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure and is past President of Stonewall Democrats of Arkansas. Webb graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College with a BA in Political Science and attended graduate school in history at UCA.

But wait there's more. We also have several community awards that we will be presenting at this year’s event including…