The May 5 Blood & Tissue Center Foundation Board meeting saw a strong turnout of longtime board members eager to celebrate more than 15 years of dedicated service by Foundation Manager Mary Dial, who will be retiring at the end of May.
Mary was recognized by Foundation Chairs David and Meredith Alvarez and was showered with gifts and flowers by board members and staff, including a special heart-shaped bowl made by Ginny Garcia, the glass artist who has worked closely with the Foundation for more than a decade, and a special retirement card designed by Sarah Garza in Corporate Communications.
Always preferring to work behind the scenes, Mary provided a note that she was, “grateful for and humbled by this Board and their generous, giving hearts throughout the years.”
Her note shared a few highlights from her time with the Foundation, including supporting visits to Austin to secure legislative support for the Texas Cord Blood Bank, a meeting involving staff and Board members with a young bone marrow transplant recipient from Germany, and witnessing the installation of equipment funded by the Foundation into South Texas Blood & Tissue bloodmobiles.
“We greatly appreciate Mary’s deep commitment to the Foundation, especially her dedication to building close relationships with each of our board members and her careful guidance of the Foundation’s important work to raise awareness and funds for the lifesaving mission of BioBridge Global,” said Foundation Executive Director Mary Uhlig. “We’re fortunate that she will continue to be available to support Ashley Frolick over the next few months as she transitions into the Foundation Manager role.”
Ashley has been a member of the BioBridge Global communications team for seven years, most recently as Manager of Digital Services, and has worked closely with Foundation staff to support outreach and fundraising events.
Mary looks forward to connecting with additional Board members over the coming weeks and encourages everyone to help welcome Ashley into her new role.
