This week, Working Mother  recognizes heroines, Dale Ryan and Anne Reed, who selflessly support education locally and globally, teaching children and young women the importance of volunteering in their communities. 

Dale Ryan
Staff Software Engineer, Lockheed Martin

Dale Ryan is a Staff Software Engineer at Lockheed Martin.  As her community of Clarksburg was expanding, Ms. Ryan was instrumental in raising money to develop new schools to reduce overcrowding, and working with state and local officials to push for newly designed schools. She has served as PTA President at Clarksburg, Rocky Hill and Richmond Montgomery schools.

She coordinated Lockheed Martin’s Junior Achievement program and recruited colleagues to teach the curriculum at schools throughout the county.  As a 4-H Club Leader, she has grown the club and encouraged children to volunteer in their own communities. Ms. Ryan served as superintendent of the Home Arts Building for the Montgomery County Agricultural Center and recruited more than 3,000 exhibitors during her time in office.

Anne Reed
President and Chief Executive Officer, ASI Government

Anne Reed is President and Chief Executive Officer of ASI Government. During frequent trips with friends to Honduras, Ms. Reed saw a need to support education for girls and young women in Honduras, where poor families don’t have access to public school education beyond the sixth grade. So in 2006 Ms. Reed helped found La Beca Women’s Scholarship Foundation, which takes it name from the Spanish word for scholarship. Now serving as its treasurer, Ms. Reed raises money and travels to the Caribbean, Central America and South America to visit with current scholarship recipients and prospective applicants. “If you educate women, they will educate their children,” says Ms. Reed. “That extends the impact of an education and has potential over time to transform a society.”

These and other women will be honored for making a difference in their community at the March of Dimes 10th Anniversary Heroines in Technology Gala on November 12th. Click here for a full list of finalists.


--Katie Tedrow is a marketing and corporate communications professional experienced in the professional services, technology and regulatory industries. Tedrow is Mid-Atlantic Marketing Manager at Womble Carlyle; and  an active member of the Legal Marketing Association Capital Chapter. Follow her on Twitter: @KTedrow.