SPEAKER: Char Griffin,
Co-President League of Women Voters/Tri-County
After graduating from Miami University with a mathematics degree, Char was hired by IBM as a Systems Engineer. At that time, she was one of the few women in the computing field. During her career she installed systems in hospitals, universities, insurance companies, retail chains and manufacturing. She later earned a master’s degree and became a professor and department chair at Aquinas College, while working for a PhD at Michigan State University. She had a consulting business where she developed Expert Systems and data warehouses. She is a proud Nerd!
The League is her passion because she believes in its mission of voter empowerment. She originally joined to work on their voter guides, which she has used since she turned 21 and voted for the first time. Currently, she is the Co-President of the League of Women Voters of The Villages / Tri-County (LWVTRI). She has been a member of the Speakers Bureau since 2019 and has developed several of the presentations currently offered by the LWV of Florida.
TOPIC: Election Security vs Access: A Delicate Balance: We will examine how election integrity involves balancing fraud prevention and voter participation, using quotes from both liberal and conservative groups to highlight the shared goals of reducing fraud and increasing turnout. It reviews recent election security laws and their effects on participation rates.
Join us for lunch afterwards. Location to be announced at the meeting.
Michelle Boshears aspired to an Army career at a young age. She was in the first ROTC class open to women at her high school and the first class of women to graduate from New Mexico Military Institute where she received her commission as an Army Quartermaster Officer in 1979. Her career included: contingency logistics at SHAPE HQ, Belgium; company commander at Fort Lewis, WA; Logistics Executive Officer at Army Materiel Command HQ in Alexandria, VA; Director of Logistics in Korea, and Director of Training at the Army Food Service School, Fort Lee, VA where she retired as a Major. Michelle met her husband Steve while they were both attending military training at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Together they served a combined career of 50 years in the Army. Steve and Michelle have three children and four grandchildren. They moved to the Villages in 2018.
Retired Major Michell Boshears will talk about women in the military today as well as the history of women in the military and how it has changed since the time she first entered the service. She will also share some of her personal experiences as a woman in the military, one who has three children.
Ash Marwah will speak to us about his campaign for the Florida State Senate.
Lunch Out After the Meeting
After the meeting, please join us for lunch. It’s always fun and a great way to meet members you do not know. Location to be announced at the meeting.
HANDOUT: Assault on Voting: Then & Now