Deborah Pryce Joins the Foundation's Board of Trustees

(DUBLIN, OH) July 1, 2009 – The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption elected Deborah Pryce to its board of trustees at its June 12 meeting.

Pryce represented Ohio's 15th District in the U.S. House of Representatives for 16 years (1993-2008), where she earned a reputation as a top Congressional Republican leader and a champion of economic development and public health. She was also a lead congressional advocate for adoption, promoting legislation to break down racial barriers to adoption, ease the financial burden of adoption, and improve the foster care system.

After leaving Congress, Pryce joined the law firm of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC. She practices with Womble Carlyle’s Federal and State Government Affairs Team in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office.

"We are so pleased to welcome Deborah to our Board," said Rita Soronen, executive director of the Foundation. "She brings great expertise, energy and an incredible personal passion for helping foster care children find permanent, adoptive families, and we believe she will be a wonderful asset in furthering our mission."

"I have always admired and respected Dave Thomas,” said Pryce. “He was an adroit business leader and a community-minded corporate citizen, but it was his love for children that touched my heart. We shared a mutual interest in adoption and what it meant to so many kids without homes and without love in their lives. He inspired me in much of my work in Washington and I'm grateful for an opportunity to help carry on the good things he set in motion during his life. "

Rep. Pryce served as the House Republican Conference Chairman (2003-2006), making her the fourth-highest ranking Member of Congress and the highest-ranking Republican woman in the history of the House. In this role, she presided over the meetings of the conference, developed communications strategies, built coalitions, and formed strategies for advancing the legislative agenda. Rep. Pryce was known for taking a common-sense, consensus-building approach to governing, leading Business Week magazine to dub her The Peacemaker.

Pryce received a B.A., 1973, Ohio State University, cum laude; J.D., 1976, Capital University School of Law, Order of the Curia and was accepted to the Ohio Bar, 1976.

The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption is a non-profit 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to dramatically increasing the adoptions of the more than 140,000 children in North America’s foster care systems ready and waiting to be adopted. Created by Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas who was adopted as a child, the Foundation spearheads programs such as Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, with adoption recruiters in 50 states, the District of Columbia and Canada to find permanent, loving families for children in the foster care system, and Adoption-Friendly Workplace, which encourages employers to offer adoption benefits to their employees. The Foundation also works with adoption advocates and officials to streamline the adoption process and make adoption more affordable. As the only foundation dedicated exclusively to foster care adoption, we are driven by Dave’s simple value: Do what’s best for the child. To learn more about the Foundation’s work, please visit www.DaveThomasFoundationforAdoption.org

CONTACT:
Rita Soronen, Executive Director
614-764-8482
rita_soronen@davethomasfoundation.org