2024 Recipient: LB Savitz

LB joined the League Board to “help” with the website.

During her tenure, she has done more than help; she has fundamentally created the www.lwvgreenwich.org site. Adopted in 2020, the ClubExpress digital platform has expanded the League’s outreach to thousands in the Greenwich community, expanding attendance to events and debates, educational efforts, and youth outreach. It ties our membership and nonmember database to our email system and to the website itself. LB created the website’s look and feel and updates its pages regularly in collaboration with others.

As LWV Greenwich transitions to computer technology, we can learn from LB’s intellectual self-confidence. Learning the intricacies of our new digital platform required a positive mindset. Committed to learning something new, she takes the initiative to expand her knowledge base by involving others.

In addition, LB is one of a few Board experts knowledgeable about the recent Transformation discussions led by LWV US. She also does all the back-office work for the Essay Contest. Her contribution to Board discussion is unfailingly positive and informative.

LB came to LWV Greenwich with an extensive background in volunteer work elsewhere in the community. She is a past President of PTA Council, North Street School PTA, and Yale Alumni Association of Greenwich. She has also served on the Connecticut PTA, Central Middle School PTA, CT Association for the Gifted, Soldiers Field Park Children’s Center, and YaleWomen boards. She has volunteered for Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities, School Readiness Council, Yale Alumni Association, Yale Alumni Schools Committee, and as a youth baseball coach, in addition to numerous roles at North Street School, Central Middle School, and Greenwich High School.

LB prefers to work behind the scenes. However, her invaluable contributions to the League but to the Greenwich community over the past 23 years have more than qualified her for recognition provided by the Mary Award this year. Kudos, LB.

2024 Recipient: Deirdre Kamlani

Deirdre Kamlani joined the LWV Greenwich board nearly 10 years ago and began her service as a member of the Program Committee. Her interest in public policy education led to her early efforts to open the League’s valuable programming to the whole community. By creating a close working partnership with the Greenwich Library, large format events became a regular feature of the League’s calendar. Deirdre has spearheaded nearly two dozen programs on topics as varied as money in politics, economic development, ranked-choice voting, civility in politics, affordable housing, and climate change.

Deirdre fostered the League’s collaboration with the Case Method Project at Harvard Business School with the goal of bringing this innovative civics program to high schools in Greenwich and across the country. Surveys show that students learning US history and civics with the case method are more likely to vote, be politically aware and engage more constructively with those having different political views. So far, teachers at Greenwich High School, Greenwich Academy, Sacred Heart, and Rye Country Day School are all using these cases in their classrooms. By leveraging the League’s national platform, Deirdre also helped bring this civics course (at no charge) to 33 states through 120 local League chapters. It is now in all 50 states.

Keeping in mind that LWV Greenwich is a democracy multiplier, she  has reached out to other non-partisan organizations to establish collaborative connections, not only as a way for the Greenwich League to expand its reach and program offerings, but also to help strengthen civic trust in our democracy more broadly. Deirdre has been the Greenwich League’s point person for collaboration with Connecticut Public, our statewide PBS and NPR affiliate, the National Institute for Civil Discourse and Braver Angels, among others. 

Deirdre has been a delegate to both state and national League conventions, and she presented at the national League’s 2018 convention in Chicago on the Harvard Business School-incubated civics project. Deirdre informs Board decision making with judgment and thoughtfulness. She is a sought-after adviser.

Deirdre is also a board member of the Case Method Institute for Education and Democracy and a founding board member of the Institute for American Ideals. She also serves as a member of Connecticut Public’s Fairfield County Advisory Committee, the LWV/National Institute for Civil Discourse Network Planning Committee, and the International Women’s Forum of Connecticut. Deirdre is a past recipient of the League’s Mary Award (2019) and the YWCA’s Women Who Inspire Award (2021). Deirdre and her husband, Suneel, have lived in Greenwich for nearly 25 years.