Raise Your Hand Texas
Apr 08, 2021 12:00 PM
Missy Bender
Raise Your Hand Texas

Missy joined Raise Your Hand Texas as the Regional Advocacy Director for Collin and Denton counties in October 2019. She served for 13 years as a Trustee on the Plano ISD Board of Trustees with 3 years as the Board President. Over the course of her elected service, she promoted future-focused strategic planning efforts, the transformation of instructional and learning strategies, and the addition of a full day early childhood program in Plano ISD. With an interest in statewide legislative advocacy, Missy partnered with other Trustees and Superintendents to inspire statewide Trustee colleagues to move away from solely compliance-based governance to a visionary view that enables each student to maximize their personal potential. Over the course of 7 legislative sessions, Missy led legislative accountability and school finance advocacy efforts and convened educational, non-profit, and business organizations to find common legislative ground.

Missy currently serves on the Chairman’s Council for Texas Health Resources Plano, the Southern Methodist University Simmons School of Education Counselor Preparation Advisory Council, Simmons School of Education New Teacher Preparation Program Advisory Council, the Board of Directors for the Plano ISD Education Foundation, and as a Sustaining Advisor to the Junior League of Collin County.
She received the Outstanding Leadership Award from Texas Association of School Boards, was recognized as a “Girl Boss” by Plano Magazine, received the Distinguished Leadership Award by Leadership Plano and was named as Citizen of the Year by the Plano Chamber of Commerce.

Before her extensive investment in civic engagement and service on several non-profit boards, Missy was a management consultant specializing in developing strategic planning and technology solutions with manufacturing clients at IBM and earned the Golden Circle designation.

Missy may be the first in her family to graduate from college, but her mother was the second. She earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Marketing from Southern Methodist University and married her college sweetheart, Doug. Their daughter, Madison, just graduated from Southern Methodist University.

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Meeting ID: 823 0445 4818
Passcode: 089262