Hello, Everyone!

My name is Mary Tipps.

My position? I am the executive director of the Idaho Public Employees Association. You can tell my location from that title – I live in Idaho. You can also determine where I am professionally. I am at the top of my agency, so the degree I’m pursuing is not for a promotion or a job change. It’s to be a good example to my kids, and to say “So there!” to the people who told me I would do nothing with my life when I became a teenaged mother. Somehow it’s hard to forget what I haven’t done despite what I have done. I have reached the pinnacle as a nonprofit administrator. I’ve served on boards of directors. I’ve been in the media, I’ve been quoted, I’ve been recognized. Still, I’m really excited about this organizational leadership degree from Penn State. This has been a great long-term goal.

Leadership? We started from the bottom, now we’re here . . . a little Drake . . . no? Okay. I did start from the bottom though. When I was seventeen, pregnant, and fairly hopeless, I started volunteering at my local women’s center. I figured pitching in might eliminate a little bit of the heartache of needing help. I’ve always been independent, and it was so much easier on the ego to be the helper, than to be the one receiving the help. While I was there, I fell in love with the place, and the people, and the work. I never left. I was there twelve years and went from weekly volunteer to staff member. The organization paid for some of my college education, they sent me to the University of California for my perinatal education teaching certificate. I went back to the University so I could become a lactation educator as well. I was hired into two hospital systems with those teaching certifications, and as part of the clinical education staff, helped myriad families and worked alongside my coworkers to develop curriculum. After I was working as a clinical educator, I continued to serve at the women’s center at the same time. I never left. I taught the clients for free, because they needed the classes and couldn’t afford the hospitals’ prices. Eventually I was added to the board of directors. I went to trainings and conferences, and then led trainings and conferences. Leadership for me has been a process of learning from good leaders, emulating the goodness, continually growing, and hoping to be the best possible example to the people coming in behind me.

I do not have a favorite leadership quote. The quote on my desk right now is from the Bible. It is “For no word from God will ever fail.” Luke 1:37, NIV. It reminds me that when things feel impossible, or too hard, or overwhelming, they’re bound to work out if I just stay faithful, because I believe that I am supposed to be right where I am, right now.

Do I have children? Yes. Five amazing children, whom I adore, children who are my heart. They are everywhere in their own lives, from college down to third grade. I also have a grandchild, he’s two years old and gorgeous. His mama is getting her teaching degree so they live at home, which makes me happy every single day. I have a husband who is my best friend. Currently he is in the kitchen making lasagna so I can be here. His leadership style is just what I think leadership should be – he is a servant leader. He keeps everything running through simply doing whatever needs to be done, as soon as (or before) it needs to be done. Leadership for both of us is about service.

My interests include short road trips, farmers markets, hotel stays, good music, bad comedy, and keeping our house as organized as possible, because, yeah . . . five kids and a grandbaby.

That’s it for me! No unusual hobbies. Just usual ones . . . thrift store shopping for my next Kate Spade or Via Spiga (because who wants to pay full price?), enjoying Starbucks hot chocolate during the nine cold Idaho months of the year, and making plans to build tiny homes for my entire family.

What about you? I’m looking forward to learning all of this about you, next!