Changes

Gail Simpson Owen, the 52nd President of Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity, 2018–present(2018–22), was initiated at into Alpha Deuteron Chapterat Monmouth College in 1971. Gail was instrumental during her presidency in collaborating with her Fraternity Council to establish the Leadership Education and Development Committee and the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. She also helped launch the Fraternity Housing Corporation, facilitated the change in the Fraternity’s philanthropic focus to mental health and well-being, and installed four new chapters to grow and enrich our sisterhood. Gail also led the Fraternity into its sesquicentennial celebration in 2020. “It was an honor to be in a position where I could help people look back at what women did in 1870 at Monmouth College, and then be able to look ahead toward where we needed to go so we can continue to be a viable, important organization for women in their lives.”  Gail started volunteering for Kappa back in the late 1970s as a local alumnae association volunteer and officer. Then in 1985, she began serving the Fraternity as Province Director of Chapters with subsequent roles as Director of Personnel, and Chairman of Field Representatives. Before being elected President, she served as a founding member of the Board of Trustees, Director of Programs and Education (2014–16), and Vice President (2016–18).  Gail also began serving as a Leadership Academy facilitator in 2004, a role she continues today. She continues to serve on the Fraternity Housing Corporation Board of Directors as well as being a member of the Fraternity Governance Task Force.  Professionally, Gail worked as the regional superintendent of schools in Mason, Tazewell, and Woodford counties in Illinois before retiring in 2016. She spent her 32-year career as an educator at all levels. She also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for Monmouth College , where Kappa Kappa Gamma was founded.  Outside of Kappa, Gail loves to volunteer to support other women’s organizations, travel to new places, visit her two sons in 1971Hawaii, watch her third son coach her grandson’s soccer matches in Washington, workout, read novels, and just enjoy life.  After growing up in Hawaii, selecting a college at a place previously unknown to her — Monmouth College — meeting and marrying her husband, Timothy, and raising three sons, Gail and Tim moved recently to Vancouver, Washington, to be closer to family.