Her Story
About Diane
My career journey has been quite unique - people look at it and wonder how in the world I did that, but there's actually a logical progression. I'm a physical therapist by background and have had my license for 50 years. I was always active in the community and active politically, which eventually merged when I went to Kinetic Concepts as Director of Public Affairs - it kind of merged the medical background with the public involvement and the political involvement. I served on volunteer state boards from the mid-'80s, including the Physical Therapy Board and the Texas Rehab Commission. Then I went full-time in government from 1996 through 2008 at the Texas Workforce Commission, where I'm most proud of being able to create a new agency by merging 28 programs from 10 different agencies, and serving for almost 12 years to really transform it from one that was traditionally thought of as not being balanced and very pro-labor to one that was really regarded as very balanced. During that period, Texas really led the country in development of comprehensive workforce programs to prepare workers for existing jobs with employers - having an employer-driven workforce system was fairly unique, and many states then followed our model. After the Senate wasn't confirming anybody, I went to work for ResCare out of Louisville, a publicly traded corporation that operated in a non-profit space, and led their Workforce Development Division operating in 30 states. I was back in government from 2014 until 2023. Now I'm retired as of December 2023, but I'm still doing consulting to help veterans get their VA benefits, working with them on musculoskeletal diseases. I think what I've loved most is really the ability to impact and help people's lives - in physical therapy it was helping folks achieve their full physical potential, and at Workforce Commission and ResCare it was really helping people attain their full potential economically and educationally. It really was the value of bringing a private sector mentality to governmental programs.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Diane
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I think it really is to be committed to excellence. You really have to deliver, you have to perform, because you never know when a door is going to open or take you in a different direction. If you have really produced results and performed very well at every opportunity, then it's surprising sometimes what directions your career can go. It's really based on, I think, the excellence in performing. I would also say that people don't appreciate the importance of volunteer activities and how they can impact and gain your professional career also. It all comes down to networking, and a lot of times people really don't appreciate that.
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