Chautauqua Womens Club

This will be the fourteenth consecutive season Barbara Vackar will be in residency at the Chautauqua Institution, and this is the fifth year you will find her lodging at the Club House of the Chautauqua Women’s Club as that organization’s President.

Barbara Vackar first experienced Chautauqua eleven years ago and felt she had found her second home. Barbara, who lives in Austin, Texas, joins the historic leadership of the Chautauqua Women’s Club as the second President from Austin. Mrs. Percy V. Pennybacker , also from Austin, left her unforgettable mark as CWC President from 1916 until her death in 1938. She brings a uniquely suited set of valuable skills and experiences to the Presidency of the CWC. Her professional and organizational experiences include:

Special assistant to the White House during the Carter Administration, Director of Catering for the University of Texas and Director of Special Events for the Office of the President of the University of Texas at Austin for fourteen years.

In the business community, Barbara was President and owner of Adams Vackar Caterers, her primary clients being Mrs. Lyndon Baines Johnson and the LBJ Library along with many other notable clients. She was also part owner of Vackar Development, planning and designing growth properties in Austin.

She is a member of the National Advisory Board for the National Women’s History Museum in Dallas and as the 2003-2004 Curriculum Chair for Leadership Austin, Barbara developed nine months of leadership curriculum, with planning and coordination of speakers, presenters, and panelists. She is founder of the Austin Women’s Network, an organization designed to facilitate business opportunities for women.

To aid families in Austin, she also established the Austin Consumer Counseling Services for Child and Family Services and has also served on the boards of numerous non-profit and for-profit organizations.

As coordinator of the Texas Equal Rights Amendment efforts, Barbara testified before the Texas legislature and organized statewide coalitions. She has extensive experience lobbying local, state and national levels. Elected Democratic County Chair in Austin, she served as official spokesperson on all countywide party matters.

She has received awards such as being named to Outstanding Young Women of America, the Women in Communication award for Outstanding Community Service, to name but a few.

Barbara’s career to date demonstrates well rounded involvements and accomplishments in community service, commerce and governmental affairs. She has worked for many years to help improve and enrich peoples’ lives at all levels, especially women’s. These are the qualities that find the Presidency of the Chautauqua Women’s Club in such good hands this summer of 2009. As head of an organization with a long history and noble mission, Barbara Vackar is a match for the challenge.