Tempe woman holds high office on national board

Mary Ellen Laister of Tempe has been elected first vice president of the more than 100,000-member General Federation of Women's Clubs and will serve a two-year term on its national board and executive committee.

She is in line to move up two seats to serve as the GFWC's international president for 2012-14, when she would live in an apartment at the international headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Laister was elected at the 117th convention June 28 to July 1 in Chicago, which attracted 1,300 on the theme "Empowering Women, One by One."

She was Arizona president of the international group when it held its 106th convention in 1997 in Phoenix. To date, Laister has held many positions with the international, including treasurer and chairman of the budget and finance committee (2002-04), recording secretary (2004-06) and second vice president (2006-08). She has also served on the international hostess committee and membership committee.

Laister is past president of the Las Noches Women's Club in Tempe, where she has been a member since 1976, and served three terms as GFWC-Arizona junior mentor. A native of Beaver, Pa., she has a degree from Walsh College. Her Women's Club work, which spans 42 years, includes Junior Women's Club work in Florida and Pennsylvania and in Scotts-dale for three years. She established the GFWC-Arizona Past President's Tree Grove in Tempe.

Laister, who has worked in the insurance trade since 1963, has been a licensed agent in Arizona since 1977.

She and her husband, Mel, moved to Tempe in 1970 and have a son and granddaughter. She is active with King of Glory Lutheran Church in Tempe, Zonta International of the East Valley and is a past president of Profit Executive Club. She is past president of The Governors, which raises funds for health charities, and is a trustee of St. Luke's Health Initiative.

"Mary Ellen is an exemplary service leader," said Rose Ditto, current international president. "Her record of community service and knowledge as a businesswoman provide a unique and valuable perspective to our efforts to lead this organization into its third century of work."

The General Federation of Women's Clubs is one of the world's largest and oldest women's volunteer community service organizations. Founded in 1890, it has members in a dozen countries and raised nearly $20 million through about 68,000 projects in 2007. Projects focus on arts, conservation, education, home life, international affairs and public affairs.