RNC Co-Chairman: More Women in Politics!

“The best way for women to be better represented in America is to have more women representatives—from the town council, to the governor’s mansion, to the Senate floor, to the White House,” said Leadership Institute 2001 graduate and now Republican National Committee Co-Chairman Sharon Day.

“Party politics aside, I like seeing more women involved,” Co-Chairman Sharon Day continued. “We want more women in the political process. More importantly, we need them…we need their voices—whether in elective office or as activists.”
 
Sharon Day, the Texas-born Indiana businesswoman turned Florida political activist and grandmother of five, was elected in January 2011 as co-chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) to serve with Chairman Reince Priebus.


In January 2011, they were both reelected for a second term to lead the Grand Old Party (GOP).

“People should get involved with Republicans to advocate for smaller government, less regulation for small businesses, less spending and less taxation, and for school choice,” Sharon shared with me. “No child’s education should be based on their zip code or their economic status.”



Before politics, Sharon and her late husband Larry built several businesses in the insurance and marketing industry and created jobs for hundreds of individuals and families.

“The first business I created was out of convenience and being able to set my own hours,” Sharon shared with me. “As a mom, I wanted to have more time with my son and to be a hands-on mom.  So, in order for me to spend as much time as I could with him as a young person I created a job that allowed me to do just that.”

The businesses that Sharon and Larry created – Stop Loss International and SLI-Re – were created for two separate reasons.

“Stop Loss International was created because we saw a need for small businesses to have the same opportunity as large businesses to self-fund their health and life insurance as well as give insurance companies as an opportunity to broaden their insurance possibilities,” Sharon said. 

“Our second business was created to control our destiny and growth. So, we formed and built our own re-insurance company, SLI-Re, enabling us to set our rates, successfully underwrite, and adjudicate our block of business as the lead underwriter,” she said. 

“We saw an opportunity to build an important niche market,” Sharon shared with me, “and then as many entrepreneurs do, we decided to fill that need.”

Since then, she’s been using her success in the private sector to advance conservative principles.  

Before her leadership role with the RNC, Sharon served the Party in various capacities.

For the past 20 years, Sharon has worked to advance the Party’s grassroots efforts in Florida – where she calls home.

Since 1994, she has been a member of the Broward County Republican Executive Committee and, since 1996, she’s been the state committeewoman from Broward County. Sharon was appointed as chairman of the Broward County Housing Authority and has served as commissioner of the Florida Commission on the Status of Women.

In 2004, she was elected Florida’s national committeewoman to the RNC.

In 2006, Sharon was elected as one of eight members of the Site Selection Committee for the 2008 RNC Convention, for which she was also selected as chairman of the Convention’s Special Events. She was appointed to the Committee on Arrangements for 2008 and was instrumental in getting the 2012 Convention in her home state of Florida.

From 2009 to 2011, Sharon served as secretary of the RNC.

Sharon has recruited many victorious candidates and worked closely with party activists and supporters to spread the conservative message.

“I learned about the Leadership Institute (LI) through the activist grapevine,” Sharon shared with me. “With all the great work LI does, it seems almost impossible to not know about the Institute. Everywhere I go it seems everyone brings up the great work that LI does.”

In January 2001, Sharon took the Leadership Institute’s Grassroots Activist School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Reflecting, she said: “The Leadership Institute helped provide me with a foundation to build my political activist career on. The whole training from the Leadership Institute was fantastic and taught me things I use every day as a political activist and co-chair of the RNC. I most enjoyed how LI’s training put me in a room with like-minded activists and reminded me that I am not alone in the fight for a better America.”  

Come surround yourself with “like-minded activists,” as Sharon states it, so we can build a better America. Learn how to win campaigns and be an effective activist from the Leadership Institute.

Register for LI training here.

“The Leadership Institute provides people with an opportunity to learn for professional and personal growth, and is an organization that can assist with your success,” Sharon said.

Please congratulate Sharon Day on her work to advance conservatism across America, and please applaud her for receiving the Leadership Institute’s Conservative Leader Award.

To nominate a Leadership Institute graduate or faculty member for the Conservative Leader Award or Conservative Leader-In-Training Award, please contact LI's Director of External Affairs Lauren Day, at Lauren@LeadershipInstitute.org.