Idaho Business Review’s 2013 Women of the Year

The Idaho Business Review has selected Idaho State University development associate, Shari (Gearhart) Fernandez, as one of its 50 “Women of the Year.”

She is a 1996 graduate of Gar-Pal High School.

Honorees will be celebrated at an awards dinner Feb. 26 at Boise’s Riverside Hotel, where one woman will be named outstanding honoree and Woman of the Year. Fernandez, who works in the ISU Foundation’s Boise office, joined the university in 2007. In 2001, she raised approximately $100,000 for campus programs and scholarships, including the Dr. Brenda Williams Memorial Scholarship for ISU-Meridian accelerated nursing students, ISU-Meridian’s Toddler Early Listening and Learning Program, and the ISU Center for Sport Concussion.

“I am very proud of the impact my role has on programs at the university – sometimes those $1,500 or $3,000 gifts mean the difference between offering a program or not.”

Fernandez holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from WSU and went to a year of law school at California Western School of Law. She will complete a master’s degree in public administration at Boise State University this spring.

Fernandez is a member of Boise Young Professionals and Boise State’s Gama Beta Phi honor society. The mother of two young daughters, she is also a board member of the Downtown Boise YMCA Parent Advisory Committee.

Fernandez moved to Boise with husband Dave in 2005.