ABOUT BARBARA

bwlBarbara Larson is a native of Montgomery, Alabama. She worked for several years with Blount Incorporated in Montgomery, and then joined the Alabama Shakespeare Festival after the theater relocated to Montgomery in 1984. She spent five years there as the Development Director for the Shakespeare Festival Theater and helped establish a significant statewide presence and strong financial base for the theater. Barbara was recruited to be the first Executive Director of Leadership Alabama when it was founded in 1989.  She will retire from that position in May 2018.  In addition, through Barbara Larson Consulting, Barbara assists non-profits with board/staff relations, fund development, executive coaching, and team building with Emergenetics Inc.

 
Barbara became involved with community leadership when she participated in the first class of Leadership Montgomery. She was a founding member of Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform (ACCR) serving on the original steering committee for more than eight years. Barbara served seven years on the Board of Directors of Voices for Alabama’s Children, and she was on the initial Advisory Committee for the Leading Edge Leadership Program for college women and was a frequent presenter to the class participants in this program. Barbara also served on the original steering committee of Envision, the Montgomery community’s process for strategic planning.

 
Barbara has been on the Board of Directors of the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama for the last twenty years, frequently bringing PARCA and Leadership Alabama together to present research findings to Leadership Alabama members and members of the Alabama Legislature. She was a founding board director of the A+ Education Foundation, and she continues to serve on the Board and Executive Committee of the A+ Education Partnership.