Patricia Kempthorne

Patricia Kempthorne has dedicated her work life and her life’s work to building a family-consciousness in her family, workplace and community. After graduating with a degree in business management from the University of Idaho and as a young mother she chose to build her career in the not-for-profit sector and community service work. In 1988 she founded the Family & Workplace Consortium with several other professional women and men looking for flexibility in the workplace, quality childcare and influence with the leadership and decision making process in the workforce.

For eleven years the Family & Workplace Consortium hosted an annual Executive Breakfast focused on educating corporate decision makers on work-life issues and developed training opportunities for management and employees. At the same time she owned a consulting business called Companycare —“Helping companies where families matter” in Idaho. In 2000 Mrs. Kempthorne joined Business Psychology Associates, in Boise, as the Director of Work-Life Initiatives. At BPA, Mrs. Kempthorne worked as part of a team developing work-life solutions for employers. Subsequently, she partnered with her colleagues from BPA to form a non-profit organization, the Center for Emerging Futures, where she was Vice President of Relationship Development.

In 2005, The Twiga Foundation, Inc. was created as a non-profit corporation dedicated to inspiring, promoting and maintaining a family-consciousness in the family, the workplace and the community. The Twiga Foundation is currently working in partnership with the Families and Work Institute of New York and the Institute for a Competitive Workforce, an affiliate of the US Chamber of Commerce, to promote the Alfred P. Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility in communities across the country. In addition the Twiga Foundation, Inc. is participating in Workplace Flexibility 2010 project with the Georgetown University Law Legislative Clinic to help create a dialogue of political consensus in the area of workplace flexibility. Twiga lead a study with the Center for Aging and Work at Boston College called States as Employers-of-Choice focusing on career stages in the public sector workforce. Twiga also partnered with the Women’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor to help expand the number of employers who adopt workplace flexibility programs and policies in Idaho. See www.twigafoundation.org for more information.

As the first lady of Idaho from 1999 to 2006, Patricia Kempthorne volunteered her time to ensure that Idaho is the best place to raise a family. As part of the Governor’s Generation of the Child initiative, she served as the co-chair of the Governor’s Coordinating Council for Families and Children and worked tirelessly for the establishment of the Office for Families and Children in Idaho. Through her efforts, Mrs. Kempthorne brought greater awareness to erasing the stigma of mental illness, breaking the cycle of child abuse and domestic violence, preventing underage drinking, and increasing the rates of immunization and literacy among the youngest Idahoans.

A leading advocate for family and children’s issues, Mrs. Kempthorne continues to work with a number of programs with a special focus on the prevention of substance abuse in communities. She serves on the Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free Foundation Board of Directors, a unique coalition of Governors’ spouses and emeritus spouses, federal agencies, and public and private organizations dedicated to prevent the use of alcohol by children ages 9 to 15. In 2003 President Bush appointed her to the Advisory Commission on Drug-Free Communities to which she was then elected as Co-Chair. Under Congressional mandate commission members advise and make recommendations to the Director of the Office on National Drug Control Policy for activities related to community coalitions and the Drug-Free Communities Program. Mrs. Kempthorne also served as co-chair for Access to Recovery-Idaho, an alliance and federal grant initiative working to provide substance abuse prevention and treatment services to underserved and at-risk populations in Idaho. She was recognized in February 2006 by Idaho’s Tribal Nations for her work to ensure recovery choices are available to the Nez Perce, Shoshone Bannock, Shoshone-Paiute and Coeur D’Alene Tribes.

Mrs. Kempthorne also serves on the Parents as Teachers National Board of Directors, St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital Board of Directors, University of Idaho College of Business and Economics Advisory Board, and the Republican Women’s Federal Forum Advisory Council in Washington, DC.

Mrs. Kempthorne has a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Business Management from the University of Idaho. She and her husband, Dirk, were married in 1977, have two grown children and two grandchildren.