WNBA Nashville Board Members 2022-2024
Chapter email: nashville@wnba-books.org
Executive Committee:
President: Kathleen Dietz
Past President: Jodi Hughes
Vice President: Ami McConnell
Treasurer: Barbie Chadwick
Secretary: Tori Ross
Committee Chairs:
Membership: Marjorie Kaup Haines
Southern Festival of Books: Allison Stewart
Coffee With Authors/NGRM: Genetta Adair
Programs: Erin Cox
Book Club: Kayla Stierwalt
Webmaster: Nancy Dickinson
Social Media: TBD
Sunshine/Hospitality: Libby Simons
Lee Fairbend
Chapter email: nashville@wnba-books.org
Executive Committee:
President: Kathleen Dietz
Past President: Jodi Hughes
Vice President: Ami McConnell
Treasurer: Barbie Chadwick
Secretary: Tori Ross
Committee Chairs:
Membership: Marjorie Kaup Haines
Southern Festival of Books: Allison Stewart
Coffee With Authors/NGRM: Genetta Adair
Programs: Erin Cox
Book Club: Kayla Stierwalt
Webmaster: Nancy Dickinson
Social Media: TBD
Sunshine/Hospitality: Libby Simons
Lee Fairbend
Meet our board members
Barbie Chadwick, Treasurer, is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and has a Bachelor of Arts in English. She has worked in the nonprofit field for 30 years before retiring from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Middle Tennessee in 2019.
Barbie has been actively involved in Gamma Phi Beta Sorority at both the local and international levels since her graduation. She currently serves as Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees of Gamma Phi Beta Foundation. She recently retired from the role of President of the National Panhellenic Conference Foundation.
Barbie lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and spends much of her retired time gardening, reading, playing bridge and mah jongg, and planning her next overseas trip after COVID.
Barbie has been actively involved in Gamma Phi Beta Sorority at both the local and international levels since her graduation. She currently serves as Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees of Gamma Phi Beta Foundation. She recently retired from the role of President of the National Panhellenic Conference Foundation.
Barbie lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and spends much of her retired time gardening, reading, playing bridge and mah jongg, and planning her next overseas trip after COVID.
Tori Ross, Secretary, is a retired Nashville Public Library Children's Librarian, who now enjoys reading aloud to two grand-girls. She first joined WNBA Nashville Chapter when she oversaw the library's Children's International Education Center (CIEC) collection of books, donated in large part by WNBA members. Tori served on the WNBA Board 2005-2007 and re-joined the Board as Secretary in 2018.
Kayla Stierwalt, Book Club Chair, has the joy of teaching students all over the country and the world as an English educator who specializes in creative writing. She continues to learn as a reader, writer and runner, taking in life's details.
Kayla grew up in Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri and moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky after opening a business for bird watching enthusiasts in Houston, Texas. Most of her career since graduating from Truman State University has involved teaching English language learners and creative writers. Right now, she is also working on a memoir and writes fiction as well.
Kayla grew up in Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri and moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky after opening a business for bird watching enthusiasts in Houston, Texas. Most of her career since graduating from Truman State University has involved teaching English language learners and creative writers. Right now, she is also working on a memoir and writes fiction as well.
Nancy Dickinson, Webmaster, is a retired elementary school librarian who grew up in Nashville but moved to Florida as soon as she graduated from college. There's no place like home so she moved back to Tennessee after 20 years in the hot and humid Sunshine State and then moved back to Nashville after retirement. This is her fifth year serving on the WNBA Nashville board, having been Membership Chair for four years. Nancy spends most of her time reading, volunteering, lunching with friends, and traveling when possible.
Lee Fairbend is the retired Executive Director and a founder of Book'em, a children's literacy organization in Nashville. She has been a member of the Nashville chapter of the Women’s National Book Association since 1990, serving as chapter president from 1993 – 1995 and 2008 – 2009. She chaired what became Nashville’s yearly National Reading Group Month event, Coffee with Authors during the Southern Festival of Books from 2008 – 2013. In 2010, as chair of the national WNBA Award, she travelled to New York to oversee the biennial presentation.
She is also a long-time member of the League of Women Voters and the Worcester Hahnemann Hospital Alumni Association. Lee has served on several boards and volunteered for organizations throughout Nashville. She was an active volunteer in local Girl Scout councils in four states, owing to the fact that she had three daughters!
A native New Englander, Lee has lived in Brentwood since 1983.
She is also a long-time member of the League of Women Voters and the Worcester Hahnemann Hospital Alumni Association. Lee has served on several boards and volunteered for organizations throughout Nashville. She was an active volunteer in local Girl Scout councils in four states, owing to the fact that she had three daughters!
A native New Englander, Lee has lived in Brentwood since 1983.