Guilford County Commissioner Carlvena Foster, who represents the High Point area, has been selected as the new president of the Women of NACo (the National Association of Counties).
NACo is an association that helps unify and connect county officials across the country and works to educate them in best practices and increase their national political power through strength in numbers.
The Women of NACo brings together female county officials and aims to help make them “effective leaders in all arenas of the political process.”
In the past, county politics has been dominated by males to a large extent, and, though that’s changing and more and more women are becoming county managers and top elected county officials, there’s still a predominance of men at NACo conferences and in many county governments across the country.
The group that Foster will now lead attempts to increase the prominence of woman in county government positions and help them be effective at their county jobs.
Interestingly, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners that Foster now serves on became a female-majority board for the first time in history after the November 2020 election.
Foster said this week that she’s thrilled to be “part of the national conversation.”
She said one of the big things she’s learned over the years by being a Guilford County Commissioner is this: “We have to work with all levels of government and that includes the national level.”
She added, “What happens at the national level has a direct impact on counties.”
Foster also said she intends to help promote NACo’s message that “counties are relevant and counties matter.”
Foster, who’s one of the least talkative commissioners on the board, has served on the Guilford County Board of Commissioners since 2014.
