BCU Announces New Members to Board of Trustees

SIOUX CITY, Iowa, Feb. 26 -- Briar Cliff University issued the following news release:

Briar Cliff University is pleased to announce that Deborah Durham, Jim Roth and Charese Yanney have joined the BCU Board of Trustees.

Durham, Sioux City, is the director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority, a post she was named to by Iowa Governor Terry Branstad.

Previously, she was president of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce and director of the Miami Chamber of Commerce.

Durham has served on Boards of Directors for the Chamber Alliance, Siouxland Unidad Latino, Siouxland Heritage Foundation, Orpheum Theatre Preservation, Girls, Inc., among others. She is the recipient of the Key Way Award from the Downtown Rotary Club and a member of the Junior Achievement Hall of Fame.

Durham holds a bachelor's degree in business administration, marketing and management from Missouri Southern State University, Joplin. She and her husband, Joel, have two children Beau and Jordan.

Roth, St. Anthony, Minn., is a 1985 graduate of Briar Cliff, where he majored in business administration. Currently, he is a Medicare marketing representative for UCare, an independent nonprofit health plan provider of health coverage and services to nearly 300,000 members in Minnesota and Western Wisconsin.

Roth's career in health care insurance spans nearly three decades, including Mutual of Omaha, as a group health underwriter; National Benefits Resources, as a group health stop loss underwriter and PreferredOne, where he was director of PPO sales and service.

A native of Sheldon, Iowa, Roth is serving a second four-year term on the City Council for St. Anthony, Minn. He formerly served on the Board for the Minnesota Association of Health Underwriters.

Yanney, Sioux City, is a partner in Guarantee Roofing, Siding and Insulation Co., where she has helped operate the business for nearly 40 years. Yanney holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

She serves on Boards for Vision Iowa, Iowa Department of Transportation and Siouxland Foundation. Previously, she served in leadership roles for Junior League, Siouxland Chamber of Commerce, Junior Achievement, Tax Research, United Way and Briar Cliff.

Yanney was appointed by Iowa Governor Terry Branstad to the Blue Ribbon Committee, Department of Economic Development, among other state posts.

Yanney, her father, Jim, and mother Do (posthumously), received the 2010 Briar Cliff Medal. She was inducted into the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame in 2010.

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