The Junior League of San Francisco’s annual Women at the Center Honors (WATCH) recognizes two outstanding women at the center of philanthropy, community and civic service in the Bay Area. Nancy Bechtle and Kimberly Wright-Violich were chosen as the 2009 – 2010 honorees based on their lifelong commitments to volunteerism, community leadership and vision.
Nancy Bechtle is the president of the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center, past president of San Francisco Symphony and the citizen chairman of the National Parks Board Foundation. She currently serves on the boards of directors for UCSF, the Scleroderma Research Foundation and San Francisco Symphony’s Board of Governors. On the professional side, Bechtle serves as chair of the Sugar Bowl Corporation, on the boards for the U.S. Ski Team and Charles Schwab Corporation and as a trustee of the Helen & Charles Schwab Foundation.
Kimberly Wright-Violich is a past president of the Junior League of San Francisco, and currently serves as the president of the Schwab Fund for Charitable Giving. Wright-Violich’s leadership roles include, among others, KQED Public TV-FM, San Francisco Volunteer Center and Youth in Arts.
The San Francisco Business Times named Kimberly Wright-Violich one of the Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business in 2006. That same year, Wright-Violich led a group of international executives in the founding of an orphanage in Kenya for children whose parents died of AIDS.
The Junior League of San Francisco Women at the Center Honorees:
2007 – 2008: Barbara Callander and Louise Renne
2006 – 2007: Chris Hellman and Leslie Luttgens
2005 – 2006: Delia Ehrlich and Charlene Harvey
2004 – 2005: Katie Cardinal and Dede Wilsey
