NOW Names Kane New Action Vice President

At its June 27, 2000, meeting NOW's National Board selected Loretta Kane, by acclamation, the organization's new Action Vice President. The office was vacated in April when Elizabeth Toledo accepted a position as Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
In her new role, Kane is responsible for the development and implementation of NOW's action programs; the direction of demonstrations of up to hundreds of thousands of participants; the supervision of key issue programs and field projects; and the coordination of grassroots actions by NOW's 500 chapters throughout the nation.

After her appointment, Kane expressed her enthusiasm: "I am excited and honored to serve as NOW's Action Vice President. I look forward to the challenges and opportunities we face this fall."

Kane brings a wealth of experience to NOW's team of officers. For the past 12 years she has worked on staff in the national Action Center, most recently as NOW's Chief of Staff for Field and Communications. Kane is a seasoned organizer who has worked with NOW members in cities and towns across the nation to organize clinic defense projects and train hundreds of people in the techniques of non-violent action. She has traveled the country to aid NOW activists with organizing efforts following terrorist attacks at women's health clinics.

Kane conceptualized NOW's Women-Friendly Workplace campaign, which aims to impress upon companies that discrimination is not only bad business, it is bad for business. She has coordinated actions to protest harassment and discrimination in workplaces from brokerage firms on Wall Street to automotive assembly lines in the Rust Belt.

No stranger to electoral politics, Kane has worked in NOW/PAC campaigns to elect feminists from coast-to-coast. She has participated in a number of referendum and ballot measure projects-including the successful campaign to defeat Maine's proposed abortion procedures ban just last year.

Kane has worked-as a volunteer or staff member-on every national, mass action organized by NOW since 1986. She served as the deputy director of the 1992 March for Women's Lives and as the director of both the 1995 Rally for Women's Lives and the 1996 March to Fight the Right. Additionally, she has organized countless "zap" actions, rallies, protests and pickets in Washington, D.C., and has worked with activists across the country on demonstrations in their communities.

Kane is also a dedicated local activist. During her two terms as president of Capital City NOW, the chapter doubled its membership and budget. She has served as her chapter's vice president, treasurer and secretary. She finished her second term as the secretary of 51st State NOW this June.
In addition to her NOW experience, Kane is a business professional with 20 years of management experience. As a market trainer for a Fortune 500 company, she developed and implemented the entry-level management and crew training for 21 stores. She was also a store manager with fiduciary responsibility for a high-volume restaurant with a staff of 125 people and annual net sales of $1.7 million.

Born in the Bronx, Kane is now a devoted Washingtonian who is committed to the struggle for D.C. Statehood. An out lesbian, she shares her Capitol Hill home with her partner of 12 years and their four companion animals.

Kane is excited about leading NOW's field team as they build for the World March for Women 2000 on October 15.

"The World March of Women 2000 will kick-off the final weeks of organizing for the elections. It will be the springboard for feminist victories in November," Kane promised.