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Women Who Move the City - 2007

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WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE THE FIRST? To do what no one before you has done? To be the first female to lead in predominantly male fields requires a pioneering spirit, tenacity and a bit of savvy. The following six women are each trailblazers in their own right. While they have reached the top in vastly different areas of expertise, tenacity, ambition and a drive to improve their community are values they all share. Some of these tremendous leaders and pioneers have assumed tarnished positions that need to be turned around, yet all do exemplary work, and all are certainly models of inspiration for both men and women—and will continue to be for many generations to come.

Bonnie Dumanis

Bonnie Dumanis, the first woman to serve as district attorney for San Diego County, has many talents, not the least of which is tireless determination—certainly a characteristic that was needed upon her arrival in 2003.

Upon stepping into office, she immediately faced trial by fire: In particular, she inherited a $14 million budget deficit. She tackled this problem both with a sophisticated new fiscal strategy and by restructuring the office, an undertaking that had not been done in more than three decades.

Dumanis’ career began in the office of the San Diego County district attorney as a junior clerk typist. At the same time she studied law in the evenings, earning her juris doctorate degree from San Diego’s Thomas Jefferson School of Law in 1976. She then worked for 12 years as a prosecutor under former District Attorney Ed Miller, during which time Dumanis tried more than 50 felony jury trials and led the multi-agency Metropolitan Homicide Task Force that investigated and prosecuted several defendants for the murders of dozens of young women in San Diego in the early 1980s.

Dumanis was elected to the Municipal Court in 1994, where she worked for the next four years. During that time she also created one of the first Drug Courts in San Diego, which has since been recognized as a national model. She was elected to the San Diego Superior Court in 1998. Dumanis then helped launch the Domestic Violence Court, which has proven to reduce relapse among perpetrators. It also further cemented her reputation as a team builder and organizational strategist.

After local law enforcement groups asked her to campaign for the district attorney’s office, she took an unpaid leave of absence from the bench beginning July 2001. Her new leading role came as she won a grueling—at times nasty—election, with a staggering 72 percent of the vote. She now leads an office that is responsible for prosecuting all felonies in the county of San Diego and all misdemeanor crimes in the county, except those in the city of San Diego and the city of Poway. She also heads a staff of more than 290 attorneys, more than 150 investigators and more than 600 support employees.

These far-reaching accomplishments would be enough for most, but not for Dumanis. Other activities have included serving as president of the Lawyers Club of San Diego and serving on the board of directors of the San Diego Bar Association. She also taught ethics at the University of San Diego School of Law. A strong supporter of community and civic organizations, Dumanis served on the board for the Big Sister League and was a member of the Eagle Scout Review Board. She was also a liaison to the Juvenile Delinquency Commission and served as a board member of the Golden Hill Mediation Resource Center.

Still, after her many achievements, Dumanis has never forgotten her early roots in the district attorney’s office. She keeps a plaque in her office that reads, “The clerk helping in your division today may be your boss tomorrow.”

Marye Anne Fox

Marye Anne Fox was chosen to be chancellor of the University of California, San Diego because of her accomplishments as a world-renowned chemist. It just happens that Fox is also the first female chancellor of the internationally acclaimed university.

Fox is among the nation’s most creative physical organic chemists, having published more than 350 refereed papers, six books and nearly 30 book chapters. Direct applications of her work can be found in materials science, solar energy conversion and environmental chemistry. She is a member in the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association of Advancement of Science.

Born in Canton, Ohio, Fox has a Ph.D. from Dartmouth College and seven international honorary degrees. In 1988, she received the Francis P. Garvan–John M. Olin Medal from the American Chemical Society, which recognizes distinguished service to chemistry by women chemists. The following year she was named an Arthur C. Cope Scholar by the same group, which recognizes and encourages excellence in organic chemistry.

After being confirmed to the National Science Board by the U.S. Senate in 1990, she served as its vice chairman from 1994 to 1996 and chaired its Committee on Programs and Plans. She has served on editorial boards of 14 scientific journals and as president of Sigma Xi, a national scientific honorary society. She has also been called upon to provide congressional testimony on science education and science policy issues. And in what must surely be a first for UCSD chancellors, in recognition of her service as an ad hoc research advisor to the Southern Governors’ Association, Fox was named a Kentucky Colonel.

But in a city where the university means so much to the local biotech industry, perhaps Fox’s most crucial attribute is her drive to encourage industry-university partnerships. While chancellor of North Carolina State University prior to joining UCSD, Fox was responsible for the growth of the North Carolina State Centennial Campus, a 1,200-acre research park housing more than 60 private businesses aligned with or derived from university intellectual property.

When one considers that Fox is the mother of three sons and two stepsons and is married to a UCSD chemistry professor, it’s a wonder she has time to attend to such pursuits. But it’s clear that Fox is no ordinary person and that in appointing her as chancellor of UCSD, the university found a candidate who is more than accomplished. That she is the first female to hold the position only makes her role more significant.

Ronne Froman

Ronne Froman is not only the first woman to be the city of San Diego’s chief operating officer, she is also the first person ever to hold the position. But from the beginning, she wasn’t intimidated.

“If there are people that want pay raises, then they can find a job someplace else,” Froman famously said of city employees as she assumed the role of second-in-command to Mayor Jerry Sanders.

Thankfully, overseeing a significant number of employees and resources was nothing new to Froman. She is a retired Navy rear admiral and former commander of Southern California’s naval bases, or “Navy Mayor of San Diego,” as the post is known. She was also chief executive officer of the local American Red Cross chapter immediately prior to taking the position alongside Sanders, who was on the board of the American Red Cross himself.

Froman’s position, from which she resigned at the end of June, as planned, was created under San Diego’s new “strong mayor” form of government, which gives the mayor almost total administrative authority, as opposed to the more ceremonial role of past mayors. Froman took over many of the responsibilities of former city manager Lamont Ewell. As Froman and Sanders each inherited positions to which predecessors had brought shame, not to mention a city in financial ruin, each knew that platitudes alone would get them nowhere.

“I’ve been keeping lists of all the things that Jerry’s said and promises that are made . . . and by golly, we’ll fulfill those or we’ll explain why we can’t,” Froman said upon beginning her job. “My role is to implement, but my role is also to go in and tell him when he has spinach between his teeth.”

Froman assisted Sanders in his mayoral campaign, in which his platform as a no-nonsense efficiency expert won over the electorate. It’s a label he’s stuck with, although it might be an even more appropriate label for Froman.

Prior to her work with the American Red Cross, she served as chief of business operations for the San Diego Unified School District. She has more than 30 years of service as a naval officer and has been awarded the Department of Defense Distinguished Service Medal.

Fittingly, her recent boss speaks highly of Froman. “Having worked with Ronnie since when I was the chief of police and she was [Navy mayor], I really admire her,” says Sanders. “Then when I had the opportunity to work with her at the Red Cross, I thought she was the smartest person around.”

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