Martha McGill
More than 40 years ago, I was first introduced to Heisey by a family friend, who told me about a special kind of glass that was marked with an H in a diamond. Little did I know then that it would become a lifelong passion.
A native of Arlington, Virginia, I have lived in the San Diego area since 1975. I am a graduate of Middlebury College and the University of San Diego School of Law. I was admitted to the California bar in 1980 and practiced law for almost 35 years, until my retirement in 2014. I have been a member of HCA since 1981 and a member of the Heisey Club of California since 1989, serving as the club’s treasurer from 1997 to 2006 and its president since 2021. Since 2006, I have also been the editor of the HCC newsletter, the Pony Express.
When I was elected to the board in 2019, I couldn’t have imagined what the next four years would bring. Covid was a major challenge, but it wasn’t the only one. As a board and as an organization, we have been challenged to change. And we are changing. We’re no longer doing things merely because “we’ve always done it that way.”
In the past four years, we have made progress in many areas, including a much-needed facelift of the museum buildings, along with improvements in the appearance and safety of the grounds; the establishment of a “Members Only” section of the website to provide members with easy access to minutes and other organization records; improvements in the content and overall quality of our newsletter, Heisey News; the initiative that members will vote on this June to open up voting rights to all HCA members and make us a more inclusive organization; developing essential policies, such as nondiscrimination and privacy policies; and providing competitive compensation for our museum staff.
It has been a privilege to participate in bringing these initiatives to fruition as a board member these past four years. But there is more work still to be done, including further improvements to our website, developing needed policies and procedures and updating existing ones, continuing to improve Heisey News, and strengthening our fundraising efforts. I would welcome an opportunity to continue this work as a member of your HCA Board of Directors.
