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| Affiliation | Democratic |
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| Name | Linda Ketner |
| Address |
, South Carolina , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | [Link] |
| Born |
Unknown |
| Died |
Still Living
(2025 years) |
| Contributor | RBH |
| Last Modifed | Servo
Oct 27, 2008 01:38pm |
| Tags |
Lesbian -
|
| Info | Linda Ketner is not your typical candidate for political office. A pragmatic, successful businesswoman with an independent voice, she has worked successfully across party lines on the citizen side of politics for decades. But our country has reached a tipping point, and there is now simply too much at stake. In Congress, Linda will fight to bring common sense solutions, fairness and compassion back to our country.
A Bipartisan Problem-Solver Willing to Take on Tough Fights
Linda formed South Carolina Citizens for Housing in 1991 after learning that thousands of South Carolinians had no plumbing and more than 800,000 lived in dangerous housing. It troubled her to see working people with children, the elderly and frail, living in these conditions. Linda and her group saw the problem and came up with a unique partnership to solve it; one which included private businesses, public works, Democrats and Republicans. She led this coalition of business leaders, elected officials, community groups and every-day citizens to bi-partisan passage of the Housing Trust Fund Bill, signed into law by Governor Carroll Campbell. This solution continues to bring affordable housing to tens-of-thousands of working families, Veterans and elderly as well as providing thousands of new jobs and millions in sales to South Carolina businesses. Linda will continue to bring the same practicality and principled leadership to represent the people of South Carolina's First District in Congress.
A Doer with Faith and Energy
"In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, I watched as thousands of desperate people lost everything they had. I knew that ‘there but for the grace of God' went the South Carolina coast. So we rounded up supplies, got in our car and showed up to help. I believe that's what Americans do when neighbors are in trouble."
Linda spent the first part of her life in a little town called Faith, North Carolina, population 500. A town where "we watched out for one another and everybody mattered," says Linda. She was blessed with a loving mom and dad who taught Linda and her brother, Robert, to work hard and smart, love and be loved by God, and that it was their privilege and responsibility to give back. Her much adored grandmother taught her that "God doesn't work through elves at night!" She said, "He works through you and me! So, if you see something wrong on this earth, you just figure out what needs doin' and get at it!" Linda's life has been a reflection of those values.
Whether she is setting up a "grocery store" of donated goods in Pass Christian, Mississippi for Katrina victims, working with homeless Veterans, or planning management strategies with clients, Linda brings the same values, energy and can-do approach. She identifies a problem, analyzes it, finds effective, compassionate solutions; and then works to touch something in people that makes them want to act to make change happen. These are the very traits and approach so lacking in Washington these days.
A Proven Leader
In 1980, Linda formed KSI Corporation, a firm specializing in leadership and management development. Prior to KSI, Linda was an executive with SmithKline Corporation and the Center for Creative Leadership; the Director of Organization Development for Food Lion, Inc. (the company founded by her father); and a public high school teacher. She has been an adjunct professor at the College of Charleston, in the Sociology and Women's Studies programs teaching Complex Organizations and Leadership.
Linda has been a small business owner and a leader here in South Carolina for 25 years. In her early career, she worked with Fortune 500 companies on planning, management and leadership. For the past 14 years, she has taught management skills to nonprofit organizations, providing them the tools to apply business solutions to South Carolina problems and opportunities.
Some of Linda's leadership positions include: President of The Coastal Community Foundation, President of Charleston Interfaith Crisis Ministries, Chair of the Mayor's Council On Homelessness and Affordable Housing, Chair of the S.C. Housing Trust Fund, Founder of South Carolina Citizens For Housing, Founder of Alliance for Full Acceptance, Founder of Charleston Affordable Housing and South Carolina Equality Coalition. She has served on the boards of the Hollings Cancer Center, Health Sciences Foundation, YWCA of the USA, Riley Public Policy Institute, and the College of Charleston Women Studies program. Linda attended Leadership America, Leadership South Carolina and is a frequent and enthusiastic participant at Renaissance Weekend. Having established the Women's Fund, Ketner Fund and Fund for Social Justice at the Coastal Community Foundation, she oversees grants to community organizations working on South Carolina opportunities. She also established four scholarships for young leaders at the College of Charleston.
Linda earned her B.A. in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and an M.A. in Sociology from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. She has an honorary Doctorate in Sociology from Columbia College and lives in Charleston.
A Record of Service to the Community
She has been recognized for her service with the National Salute to Citizenship Award, South Carolina Woman of Valor Award, Girl Scout Woman of Distinction Award, and the South Carolina Housing Achievement Award. Also: The Malcolm D. Haven Award for Community Service, African American Life and History Trailblazer Award, SCHA Woman of the Year, YWCA Lifetime Achievement, Center for Women and Florence Crittenton Foundation Awards. She was awarded the NAACP J. Arthur Brown Award for Outstanding Service; NAACP Friend of Distinction Award, the Urban League Arthur J. Clement Award for Race Relations. Linda is a member of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Charleston.
What Linda Will Do
"I have an arcade of Live Oaks on some land I own in the country and to me those oaks are living art. Their roots have been in that soil for 250 years, their newest shoots came out last spring; roots of tradition, shoots of growth, both in balance. It seems to me, that health for an individual, or a community, or a nation is found in achieving that delicate balance between continuity and change."
Linda will lead a new era in South Carolina, an era where our roots will be firmly in the best of our traditions, while our shoots respond to a new environment. That means ushering in new business and industry, more and better jobs, smart growth that maintains our matchless beauty and quality of life. It means affordable, accessible health care and an education system which provides excellence for every child in South Carolina.
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