Doris Slay-Barber – Trustee Chairman

Doris joined the Business and Professional Women of San Antonio in 1987 at the insistence of a co-worker. Although she was not a business owner however the co-worker felt that Doris had an important skill that she could share and even teach to other members of BPW of San Antonio. Doris’ skill was public speaking and professional training. She also was recognized for her ability to train adult professionals to use computer software. Since then she has served as the local organization President twice, District Director and Regional Director as well as all other elected offices in the local organization.

At the state level Doris served as TBW Inc. President 2018 – 2020 and previously served as a member and chair of several special committees such as Webmaster, Texas Women to Watch, Legislation, Premier Program Development and Historian. She has also served in other elected TBW state level offices – Secretary, Vice President and President Elect. Serving on the Texas Business and Professional Women’s Foundation has been a goal since Doris joined BPW and TBW. TBPWF offers scholarships and provides support for training two of Doris’ primary goals and missions in life.

Professionally Doris has completed 41 plus years in public education and professional training for educators in Texas. Working for public school districts in the San Antonio area allowed Doris to provide instruction for students but also for teachers and administrators. Employment with the Education Service Center, Region 20 allowed Doris to train educators in the field of educational technology as well as help develop software for school districts. Doris earned a Bachelor of Arts from St. Mary’s University and a Masters of Education from Trinity University. She is a member of the 2019 class for Leadership Texas and in 2019 was inducted into the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame in the category of Education K-12. Since 2020 she has served on the Advisory Board for the LBJ Women’s Campaign School.

Doris continues to share her leadership skills and technical training skills with several community organizations including the Children’s Ballet of San Antonio. She has also served on the Board of Trustees for St. Mary’s University for ten years.

Doris has been married to H. Gene Barber for 30+ years and has 3 wonderful sons. Doris and Gene enjoy traveling and have visited more than 47 countries.

The hats are Doris’ trademark in San Antonio and throughout Texas. The trend started when she was installed as a District Director for BPW and wanted to draw attention away from an ugly cast on her broken foot – wearing a large purple hat which she had purchased as part of a fundraiser at a BPW State Convention was the perfect way to draw the attention up and away from the ugly cast! And so the tradition began…..