 I was born in Junction City, Kansas, which is near Fort Riley, and my father was with the Department of the Army, and my mother had been a nurse during World War II, so she met my father there at Fort Riley. He was a civilian with the Department of the Army, and we moved to Alaska, and we thought from there we'd go on to Washington, D.C., next, but unfortunately my dad died, and my mother had five children, five small children, so we moved back to Kansas. I was in Kansas for most of my young life until I reached my senior year in high school, and that summer beforehand my mother decided she wanted to move closer to her family in Alabama. We moved my senior year, and I went to school at Tuscaloosa County High School in Northport, Alabama, right near Tuscaloosa, and as a result of that, you know, my roots now are in Alabama. Because my mother was a widow with five children, she couldn't pay for my education, so it was my job to go figure out how to pay for my education. Being right there in Tuscaloosa, near the University of Alabama, of course that was where my sights were because I had a job, and I needed to work full-time and go to school. The University of Alabama had a tremendous reputation. I was interested in the business school, which had an outstanding reputation, so everything worked. It was a natural fit for me. Well, it was great to be at the University of Alabama. First off, we had a superb football team as we do today, so that was exciting. I was in the business school and very interested in what my opportunities would be there, and just being in campus life was wonderful. I enjoyed going to football games and basketball games, interaction in the Greek life there, even though I wasn't in a sorority. So I met my husband James at the University of Alabama. We were both students, and that really was the start of our life together. We actually married at the University of Alabama at Gorgas House, and I went on to graduate school at the University, so we spent a lot of our early days at the University of Alabama. It really is the roots and the basis for us for the long-term life that we've had together. I had an undergraduate business degree and then a master's in economics, and I had the good fortune of great faculty at the University of Alabama that pointed me to my first job, and that was as an economist with the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington, D.C. In the course of that, I did some studies on the defense industry and other industries, and my next position that I interviewed for was at Lockheed in Marietta, Georgia, and took a position there as a senior industrial engineer. So my background in economics, my business degree all matched well. Building on my business background and my great education from the University allowed me then to move up through the organization at Lockheed, and now Lockheed Martin. What was important to me was to do the best I could on today's job, but when there were opportunities for training, to serve on special assignments, I would assess that along with my family and make those choices to get out of my comfort zone to build on my experience base, and that's what I often tell students and young people, look for ways that you can continue to build your collection of experiences, broaden your base of expertise so that you can continue to grow. For me, that's what happened at Lockheed Martin. Over the course of my 30-plus years with the company, I've had 20 different leadership positions and operations and running companies and running large programs, and through that, built on that experience, so when I face a new problem, it may be new problem, but I can draw on that collection of experiences for me to address that problem or that opportunity that comes to bear. Well, for my husband James and I, the University of Alabama is where everything started for us, and because of that, we view that as sort of the basis for our professional success as well as our personal success as a family. When we are given the opportunity to give back and looked around at where we could make a difference, we wanted to give back to the University of Alabama. We looked at what could make a difference, and if you look at the 21st century and all the needs, there's a lot of changes in big data, data analytics, data science, cybersecurity, so our first entry point was in giving a gift for the labs and the graduate assistantships and professorships in data science and cybersecurity. We gave our gift for Houston Hall because we think that's a place where the students of today and the future are going to be able to blossom and achieve their desires in life, but also support research to help others. At the University of Alabama, there are so many opportunities to get engaged in a range of things. I'd say put your education first, but be a well-rounded person that engages in community activities. Always be looking for the opportunity to broaden yourself, so get out of your comfort zone. Maybe you're an engineer, but broaden into other areas. Maybe you're an economist like I was, broaden into other areas, but look for ways that you can build that collection of experiences and get out of your comfort zone and take advantage of opportunities that come along so that you're constantly broadening your expertise and experience that can contribute to the organization where you work.