Former New Jersey Governor and EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman was a special guest speaker at a recent meeting of the Rotary Club of Scottsdale.
 
Introduced by Rotarian Barry Kaplan during the club’s January 8 meeting at the McCormick Ranch Golf Course Pavillion, Whitman shared her thoughts on a variety of issues, including climate change, the high cost of seeking public office and the nation’s changing relationship with its most trusted allies.
 
Gov. Whitman currently serves as president of the Whitman Strategy Group, a consulting firm that specializes in energy and environmental issues.
 
Whitman served in the cabinet of President George W. Bush as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from January 2001 until June 2003 and was the 50th governor of the State of New Jersey, serving as the first woman governor from 1994 to 2001.
 
She serves on the board of directors of Texas Instruments Inc. and United Technologies Corporation and formerly served on the board of S. C. Johnson and Son Inc. Whitman serves on a number of nonprofit organizations, including chairman of the American Security Project and vice chair of the Trustees of the Eisenhower Fellowships.
 
 
Whitman addressed a wide variety of topics, such as the impact of poor voter turnout at primary elections; the high cost of getting elected; the country’s changing relationships with allied countries; impacts of climate change – especially the recent California fires and Puerto Rico rebuilding; the need for young people and women to step up to serve within the greatest democracy in the world; impacts and challenges of social media; being the only elected state official in New Jersey with a cabinet/staff of appointees; and more.
 
Whitman talked about her involvement with the “No Labels Problem Solvers” coalition, a growing national citizens’ movement of Democrats, Republicans and independents unlike any other organization in America to make government work.
 
She stated she was elected to serve the people she represented—not “a particular political party.”
 
For more information about Rotary Club of Scottsdale upcoming speakers and programs, visit scottsdalerotary.org.
 
Dr. Honora A. Norton