Linda Ketner

Infobox Congressional Candidate
honorific-prefix =
name = Linda Ketner
honorific-suffix =


state = South Carolina
nominee = U.S. Representative for South Carolina, 1st District
incumbent = Henry E. Brown, Jr.
opponent = Henry E. Brown, Jr. (R)
election_date = November 4, 2008
date of birth=birth date and age|1950|5|12
place of birth = Faith, North Carolina
date of death=
place of death=
spouse =
partner =
party = Democratic
residence = Charleston, South Carolina
alma_mater = University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
occupation = President/Chief Executive Officer, KSI Corporation
profession =
religion = Episcopalian
website = [http://www.lindaketner.com/ www.lindaketner.com]

Linda G. Ketner is a civic leader, business consultant, and charitable donor in Charleston, South Carolina. She is currently President and Co-founder of [http://ksileadership.com/ KSI Leadership & Management Development.] [ [http://ksileadership.com KSI Corporation] ] She was born in Salisbury, North Carolina and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1972 with a B.A. in English and holds a Masters Degree in Sociology from
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is the daughter of Ralph W. Ketner, founder of the Food Lion chain of grocery stores, and Ruth Hope of Georgetown, South Carolina.

In February 2008, she announced her candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina's 1st congressional district, challenging Republican incumbent Henry E. Brown, Jr. [Robert Behre, [http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/apr/04/ketner_kicks_off_bid_congressional_seat36029/ Ketner kicks off bid for congressional seat] "The Post and Courier", April 4, 2004] She is the first openly gay person to run in the 1st District (SC) race. [ [http://www.metroweekly.com/gauge/last_word/2008/06/linda-ketner-first-gay-south-c.html Linda Ketner: first gay South Carolina candidate for Congress] "Metro Weekly", June 11, 2008] Recently Linda Ketner was endorsed by The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund as one of their "100 openly LGBT candidates". [www.victoryfund.org/home] If elected she will be the first women elected to Congress from South Carolina in 15 years. Seeing that Ketner has stated her support for abortion to be legal at all times, legalized gay marriage and a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, a victory on the November 4th election would be a significant change for this historically conservative Congressional District. [www.votesmart.org/npat.php?/can_id=105084]

Civic leadership

*The Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Institute for Urban Affairs and Policy Studies (current board member)
*Rangers Disaster Relief (current board member)
* [http://www.ccfgives.org Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina] (former President)
* [http://www.charlestonhomeless.org Crisis Ministries] (former President)
* [http://www.charlestoncity.info/dept/content.aspx?nid=712&cid=1253 Mayor's Council on Homelessness and Affordable Housing] (former Chairwoman)
*S.C. Housing Trust Fund (former Chairwoman)
*South Carolina Citizens For Housing (Co-founder)

Career

*President, KSI Corporation [ [http://ksileadership.com KSI Corporation] ]
*Director of Organization Development for Food Lion Stores
*Director of New Product Design with the [ [http://www.ccl.org/leadership/index.aspx Center for Creative Leadership]
*Manager of Organization Development for GlaxoSmithKline
*Adjunct Professor (Complex Organizations and Leadership) at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the College of Charleston
*English Teacher – Sophrinia M. Tompkins High School in Savannah, Georgia

Charitable donor

Having established the Women’s Fund, Ketner Fund and Fund for Social Justice at the Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina, she oversees grants to organizations working for solutions to community problems.

Honors and awards

*Renaissance Weekend participant
*Leadership America graduate
*National Salute to Citizenship Award
*South Carolina Woman of Valor Award
*Girl Scouts of America Woman of Distinction Award
*Friend of Distinction – Charleston, SC Branch of the NAACP
*South Carolina Housing Achievement Award
*The Malcolm D. Haven Award for Community Service
*SCHA Woman of the Year
*YWCA Lifetime Achievement Award
*Center for Women Foundation Award
*Victory Fund Olivia Leadership Award

Board service

*Hollings Cancer Center
*MUSC Health Sciences Foundation
*YWCA of the USA
*Alliance for Full Acceptance
*S.C. Equality Coalition
*Lowcountry Allocations Committee for Hugo Relief

References

ee also

*United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 2008
*South Carolina's 1st congressional district

External links

* [http://www.lindaketner.com/ Linda Ketner for U.S. Congress] official campaign website
* [http://opensecrets.org/races/summary.asp?ID=SC01&Cycle=2008 Campaign contributions] at OpenSecrets.org