REP. VICKY RIBACK WILSON

91st General Assembly

 

Rep. Vicky Riback Wilson, a Democrat, represents the eastern portion of Columbia and Boone County (District 25) in the Missouri House of Representatives. 

 

Elected to her first two-year term in 1996, Rep. Wilson is a member of the Children’s Services Commission, serving as secretary and co-chairing the Commission’s Task Force on Children of Incarcerated Parents, and she is on the Board of Trustees of the Missouri Investment Trust. Rep. Wilson was selected as a 1999 Flemming Fellow and, in 2000, a participant in Harvard University’s Kennedy School for Government program for senior executives in state and local government.

 

Rep. Wilson served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda in 1969 and 1970 and worked in Indonesia in 1973 and 1974, where she taught English and co-edited a guidebook on Indonesia.  Rep. Wilson has also taught Head Start, high school, college, and community classes and has worked as a community arts administrator.  For more than 10 years, Wilson worked for the University of Missouri as an administrator and leadership educator for youth and adults throughout the state.

 

Rep. Wilson’s state and national awards attest to her work for social justice, community development, and diversity awareness, and her legislative action on behalf of women, children, families, and mental health.  In 2001 she received the Mildred Bringewatt Social Justice Award, Athena Award, Missouri Bar Association Award, Missouri Women’s Council Rose Kemp Public Service Award, NAMI 2001 Hero of the Year award, Distinguished Friend of the MU Sinclair School of Nursing Award, the People First of Missouri Legislator of the Year award, Missouri Recovery Network’s “Taking Action” Leadership Award for supporting youth and communities, and was inducted into a university honorary society in recognition of her commitment to the University of Missouri.  In 2000 she was honored by receiving the Phoenix Program Award, the 2000 Human Rights Award of the University of Missouri, the Betty Saunders Award for Outstanding Democratic Elected Official, and the DOVE Award for her work against domestic violence. 

 

Rep. Wilson has held local and statewide leadership positions in arts, school, service, business, professional, and neighborhood organizations.  Currently, she is a member of three boards associated with the University of Missouri: the Friends of Peace Studies Board, the advisory board for the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, and the Alumni Board for the College of Education. She is an honorary board member for Columbia SAFE KIDS Coalition and serves on the Columbia Entertainment Company Community Advisory Board, the steering committee for the Columbia Chamber of Commerce’s Junior Leadership-Columbia, and local Advisory Committee for Habitat for Humanity.

 

Born in Columbia in 1946, she is a 1964 graduate of University High School. She received a bachelor of arts degree in English from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968 and a master’s degree in higher and adult education from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1981.

 

Self-employed as a property manager and financial officer, Rep. Wilson resides in Columbia with her husband, Willy.  They have two adult children.