KELLY RAMIREZ
Leadership with Integrity
Kelly Ramirez is a long-time Gilroy resident. She moved here the night before her freshman year in high school. She is a graduate of Gilroy High School, Gavilan College and San Jose State University. While attending SJSU, she ran into her future husband at the Gilroy Garlic Festival. Together with her husband, Pete, they have raised three children in Gilroy, Melisa, PJ and Kaitlin, and are grandparents to four grandchildren, Stevie, Shiloh, Annmarie and Peter.
After graduating from San Jose State University, Kelly began her teaching career. She taught at St. Mary’s School, Eliot School, and twelve years at Gavilan College where she taught English. Every semester that Kelly taught at Gavilan included teaching English 250 which was the bridge course between ESL and English 1A, providing her ample experience supporting Spanish- speaking students.
While teaching at Gavilan, one of Kelly’s community volunteer activities was to bring the first ever American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life to Gilroy. This was no small feat! Kelly had to reach out to various community leaders, including those at the school district and city, to convince them to allow a 24-hour event to take place. In addition to that, she successfully pulled together a committee of strong, committed members who worked collaboratively to bring this event to Gilroy. She chaired the event for the first 3 years and was then recruited by the American Cancer Society to bring the event to Morgan Hill and manage other events in the region. This kick-started her career in the non-profit world.
Kelly continued to grow her career in the non-profit world. She served as the Chief Development Officer at the YWCA Silicon Valley. In this capacity, she raised funds that supported their sexual assault, domestic violence and counseling services. She also managed a multi-million dollar federal grant that provided a credit recovery program that served high school seniors at four high schools in East San Jose.
She retired from her non-profit career after serving as the Executive Director at the Mt. Madonna YMCA. One of her key responsibilities in this role was to raise funds through their annual campaign to provide scholarships that allowed local youth of all backgrounds and income levels to participate in the youth sports programs.
Kelly has been an avid volunteer in the community her entire adult life. In addition to supporting the school programs her children were involved in and her volunteer work with the American Cancer Society, she has volunteered for the Gilroy Garlic Festival for decades, including being the Retail Chairperson and currently serves as the Treasurer on their board of directors. She has been active in her Rotary Club for 10 years, leading the community service efforts. In that capacity, she has identified local non-profits and school organizations that have benefited from the support of the Rotary Club of Gilroy. Kelly also sits on the scholarship committee focusing on supporting equal opportunities for all students. She has served on their board of directors the past six years and is currently the president-elect. Kelly also currently serves as a Gilroy Planning Commissioner, dealing with complex land use and development issues.
Kelly Ramirez’s 30-plus years of work in both the education and non-profit worlds have provided her with invaluable experiences in listening to, and learning from perspectives from various stakeholders, working in collaboration with diverse groups, and leading teams in a variety of capacities.