Our Leadership Team

Committee Leaders

Leslie O’Loughlin, President

Leslie is a relatively recent transplant to La Plata County; previously she lived in Idaho where she was involved in community service and served on the boards of the Boise School District, Garden Valley Hospital Taxing District and Wish Granters to name a few. Prior to being elected as President, she served on the LWV La Plata Board as a member-at-large.

She is a retired business owner and was the Executive Director of Buy Idaho, a state-wide non-profit promoting Idaho goods and services. Her passions are all things outdoors, adventures, new opportunities, dogs, reading, baking bread and community.
Educating and informing people about the issues and candidates of the day means our voices can be heard; Leslie is a firm believer that our voices can be best heard through the power of our votes.

Leslie is excited to work alongside LWV La Plata members to continue to share this message. (She’s the “short” person on the left!)

Nicole Garland, Vice-President

Nicole has a BA in Mass Communications and an MA in Journalism; she was PTSA president at Lincoln Elementary in Denver 2013-2015, and oversaw a board and 100+ volunteers. She has also previously run a successful small business. In addition to volunteering with the local League, Nicole has been serving on the LWV CO Grants Committee for the past two years.

Nicole recently brought back an Observer Corps for the League and is delighted that we have observers in public meetings across the county. Nicole is also an election judge for La Plata County and is extremely passionate about democracy, its preservation, and the crucial role voting plays in ensuring its survival.

Martha Mason, Secretary

Martha is the board secretary, the chair of the committee for Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, and a member of the League’s Observer Corps. She spent the last 40 years as a disability rights activist. She has lived in La Plata County since 1986. She lives in Hesperus with her husband, Tim, and their dogs.

Martha is also involved with the Governor’s Statewide Independent Living Council, the Lieutenant Governor’s Disability Funding Committee, and the 6th Judicial District’s Access to Justice Committee.

Madeline “Mady” Miraglia, Treasurer

Madeline Miraglia is excited to be a part of the LWV-La Plata County Board. She began volunteering with LWV as soon as she moved to Durango in Spring of ‘22 by tabling at the farmer’s market, participating in several Climate Group activities and assisting with the city council candidate forum in March, ‘23.

Her background is in political activism and teaching high school social studies, so it is a fun new challenge to be learning the role of treasurer.

Tara Keine, Member at Large

Tara Kiene, MTS started at Community Connections in 2001, shortly after moving to Durango to live in her great-grandmother’s home. She served in the case management department and as the Director of Case Management before becoming the President/CEO in 2016. Over the past few years, she has been leading her organization through major transitions, including an organizational redesign that involves divesting programs into a new 501(c)(3). In her spare time, she writes, plays ukulele, and harasses her pet rabbits. Her goals in life are to publish a truly awful novel that no one reads during her lifetime but becomes a posthumous cult classic and to create a world where people with disabilities fully belong, contribute, and thrive.

Tara has been actively involved with the Leadership La Plata program since 2007 and is currently serving on the Diversity Committee for LLP. In addition to League of Women Voters, she also currently serves on the Board of Directors for Alliance Colorado, the Early Childhood Council of La Plata County, United Way of Southwest Colorado, and iAM MUSIC.

Siggy Palmer

This is the second time that Siggy Palmer has lived in the Durango area. When she got to choose, she returned and has never regretted her decision. She has been involved with the LWV LaPlata for several years, serving as treasurer for almost two years, but her real joy is encouraging people to vote, to actively express themselves by choosing to be informed and to help elect the folks who will truly represent them in our various levels of government.

Laurie Meininger, Immediate Past President

Laurie retired to Durango in 2017 after nearly 30 years overseas in countries as diverse as The Marshall Islands, Cameroon, Romania, Iraq, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone. A voter since she was 18, Laurie has never missed casting her ballot, no matter where she was in the world.

After completing two years as the President, Laurie’s role on the Board is to help guide the leadership team in “all things League”. Laurie also serves on the City of Durango’s Ethics Commission and the Southwest Community Foundation Board of Directors while she’s not busy gardening, watching her grandkids play hockey or lacrosse or listening to the call of the sea.

Diane Goodchild, Membership Chair

I’ve been honored to have served the League in several capacities for the last four years until my current iteration as Membership Chair. I’m a first-generation immigrant born in London, England and obtained citizenship in 2002 in order to exercise my right to vote!

I have a BSc in Business Management and spent almost 30 years in the financial services industry much of it in Las Vegas, NV and graduated from Leadership Las Vegas in 2012. I spent two years on secondment in Manila, Philippines as well as several months in Andhra Pradesh, India.

I’ve been fortunate enough to twice join Earthwatch as a citizen scientist in Kenya and travel has taught me that breaking bread with our fellow humans is the first step to understanding cultures that differ from our own.

My husband and I have the best job in the world as grandparents to our two grandchildren. We dote on our miniature poodle who also loves life here in La Plata County!

Jan Phillips, Chair Healthcare Committee

Jan Phillips is a longtime resident of La Plata County, and mother of three adult children who grew up in beautiful Durango. She has over 40 years of experience as a health educator and is a retired small business owner. For the past decade she has continued to be involved in advocating for healthcare reform and improvements.

She is the chair of the LWV healthcare committee and vice chair of the LWV initiative, La Plata Healthcare Improvement Coalition (LPHIC), collaborating with local stakeholders working toward improving healthcare delivery in La Plata County.

Gale Zander Barlow, Chair Climate Education Committee

Photo and bio coming soon!

Madison Eckard, Fort Lewis College Intern

Hello democracy lovers! My name is Madison Eckard, and I am your LWV intern for the 2023–2024 school year! I am a first-year biochemistry major at Fort Lewis College and just moved here to Durango from Philadelphia. I know what you may be thinking… a biochemistry major? Rest assured that I am incredibly passionate about politics, democracy, and community engagement. I chose biochemistry as my major to follow my passion for science and neurology, but those are not the only topics that interest me. While I may not be pursuing political engagement as a career (for now), I plan on organizing communities and inspiring activism for the rest of my life.

I look forward to getting to know everyone and working to prepare for the big year of 2024! We will have a wonderful year, and I’m sure I will learn a lot over the next eight months!