Becky Bebber-Wells Named WDCTA Member of the Year

Becky Bebber-Wells was named the 2023 WDCTA Member of the Year. She was nominated by Mary Hanneman and the board approved. Here’s what Mary wrote about Becky:

Becky deserves to be acknowledged for her contributions to WDCTA for the following reasons:

When WDCTA’s Southwest Chapter had no one step up to take over the role of chapter president beginning Dec. 1, 2020, after our long-serving president retired, chapter members thought it would have no other recourse but to dissolve the chapter.

This would have been unfortunate in many ways, but primarily because the chapter had signed a contract with Olympian Laura Graves and paid a substantial down payment for her to teach a dressage symposium during the fall of 2020. The symposium was postponed due to the COVID pandemic. Dissolving the chapter would have meant breaking the contract with Laura and losing the chapter’s deposit. Thankfully, Becky stepped up to take the reins as SW Chapter President.

Becky also took over as Event Chair in order to get the post-pandemic Laura Graves Symposium moving forward. It occurred May 20–21, 2023. Becky took charge of communications with our small team of volunteers, communications with Laura Graves and handled all the details with the venue – the Alliant Energy Center (no small task, I might add). Becky did an outstanding job watching our event budget and the contract details with both the Alliant Energy Center and Laura Graves. Her attention to detail and negotiation skills saved the chapter quite a bit of money.

For three years, Becky led the SW Chapter, reinstating in-person meetings (some with educational demos) and the chapter holiday party.

Without Becky stepping forward to lead the SW-Chapter, the chapter would have dissolved at the end of 2020, losing the chapter’s down payment. The Laura Graves Symposium would not have happened.

As the SW Chapter President, Becky also sat on the WDCTA State Board for three years, where she contributed insights during our discussions.

Finally, Becky professionally handled chapter discussions and communications leading to the decision to dissolve the SW Chapter at the end of 2023.

Note: Becky was grateful for the acknowledgement and wrote after being presented with the award: "I so appreciate and was surprised to learn that I was elected as the 2023 Member of the Year. Since I was out of town for the annual meeting, I just recently learned about this honor. I was presented with this beautiful plaque, which I have proudly displayed in my home. Thank you to all for recognizing my work on behalf of WDCTA."