For decades, Roberta Gassman has performed volunteer community leadership work and public service at the highest levels of local, state and federal government well beyond what was required by her paid employment. Since her youth, she has been motivated by the values of the civil rights movement, her own family’s personal experience with religious persecution and the principles of her Jewish faith – seek justice, heal the world, do good deeds. As Allan Koritzinsky, nominator of Roberta Gassman for this award, says, “In multiple ways, she has demonstrated a commitment to opening doors for all, whatever their color, religion, sex or income level and building bridges, working across the aisle, furthering public/private partnerships and advocating for social justice and against intolerance.”
Within the Madison area, she has served on many boards, often in leadership roles, including for major civic organizations such as the Madison Community Foundation, United Way of Dane County, Edgewood College, Overture Center, Madison Equal Opportunities Commission, Temple Beth El, Jewish Federation of Madison, UW-Madison School of Social Work Board of Visitors, Downtown Madison, Inc., Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison Repertory Theatre, Chancellor Becky Blank’s task force to address history of bias at UW; and, the Rotary Club of Madison where she is a Paul Harris Fellow and has chaired multiple major committees including Fund Drive, Program, Public Relations, Classification and Swarsensky Humanitarian Service Award.
Gassman has won numerous honors over the years and has been active in mentoring young women.
She served in Washington, D.C., in President Barack Obama’s administration at the U.S. Department of Labor as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training; in Governor Jim Doyle’s Cabinet as Wisconsin’s longest serving Labor Secretary; as Governor Tony Earl’s Policy Advisor on Employment and Women’s Issues; as a top aide to a Madison mayor & a Dane County Executive; as Senior Vice-President of Marketing and Community Investment at Home Savings Bank; and, as Senior Fellow at the UW-Madison School of Social Work teaching macro practice and public policy to advanced graduate students from multiple departments.
Gassman and her husband Lester Pines have two grown daughters and three grandchildren.
Congratulations to Roberta Gassman on receiving this year’s Manfred E. Swarsensky Humanitarian Service Award.
If you missed our meeting this week, you can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8cYj7v1awc.
Rotary Club of Madison, Wisconsin 