Jacquie Easley McGhee
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Jacqueline Easley McGhee truly exemplifies the term “lifelong learner” in both traditional and nontraditional ways. At the early age of 13, she worked on Des Moines attorney Nolden Gentry's successful school board campaign, and in her high school years, she was already job-shadowing attorney Alfredo Parrish and several judges at the Polk County Courthouse. Jacquie attended Carleton College in Minnesota, and later worked in the human services profession where she realized she could effect change and have a positive impact on the lives of the people she worked with. Today she is still learning and also creating opportunities for others in her role as the Division Director of Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for MercyOne Iowa.
For more than three decades now, however, Jacquie’s impact and influence has stretched far beyond her work at MercyOne and continually touched the everyday lives of many Iowans. Former Iowa Gov. Culver appointed her to the newly reorganized regional workforce investment board, where she served as the inaugural chair. Jacquie has chaired every board or commission that she has been elected or appointed to including:the Des Moines Planning and Zoning Commission,the Des Moines Metropolitan Transit Authority, (now DART) YWCA of Greater Des Moines, Willkie House Community Center, I'll Make Me a World in Iowa African American Festival and the Greater Des Moines Partnership’s Diversity Council. She is currently Vice Chair of United Way of Central Iowa where she leads the Early Childhood cabinet. |
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In April, Jacquie was inducted into the Iowa Volunteer Hall of Fame for her efforts to provide education and information about covid vaccines as the health chair of the Iowa Nebraska NAACP. In keeping with her commitment to lifelong learning, Jacquie ran for the Des Moines School Board. When she was elected in 1990, she was the first African American woman to be a member of the Des Moines school board and within a few years, she became the board President. Although she left the school board in 2000, not surprisingly, Jacquie’s interest and involvement in education did not end. She went on to serve on the Des Moines Schools Graduation Study Committee, which studied and reported on the district's dropout problem. Jacquie also helped get the Forest Avenue branch of the Des Moines Public Library built. And today, she is the Health Chair of the Iowa-Nebraska NAACP.
Jacquie’s dedication to helping others and to working to enrich lives, along with her ability to connect with and lead others has been recognized and honored time and again. To name only a few of her many awards: Jacquie was inducted into the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Iowa African American Hall of Fame in 2012. She was given the Judge Luther Glanton Award for Outstanding Public Service and the Junior League of greater Des Moines’s Outstanding Community Member award. She was a 2009 Women of Influence winner, and has also been named a YWCA Woman of Achievement, a Des Moines Citizen of the Year, the Iowa Junior Chamber of Commerce’s Iowan of the Year and a Des Moines Business Record Woman of Influence. In 2015, she received the Des Moines Civil and Human Rights Commission’s Mary Louise Smith Award.
Jacquie’s story is an inspiration to many and a true example of how lifelong learning can help change the world.
Jacquie’s dedication to helping others and to working to enrich lives, along with her ability to connect with and lead others has been recognized and honored time and again. To name only a few of her many awards: Jacquie was inducted into the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Iowa African American Hall of Fame in 2012. She was given the Judge Luther Glanton Award for Outstanding Public Service and the Junior League of greater Des Moines’s Outstanding Community Member award. She was a 2009 Women of Influence winner, and has also been named a YWCA Woman of Achievement, a Des Moines Citizen of the Year, the Iowa Junior Chamber of Commerce’s Iowan of the Year and a Des Moines Business Record Woman of Influence. In 2015, she received the Des Moines Civil and Human Rights Commission’s Mary Louise Smith Award.
Jacquie’s story is an inspiration to many and a true example of how lifelong learning can help change the world.