Star Profile
Linda Salane of the Alliance for Women at Columbia College
Photo and story by John Temple LigonTemple@TheColumbiaStar.com

Linda Salane

Born in Cumberland, Maryland, Linda Salane moved to Rock Hill about 1950, when her father opened the new plant for Celanese. By her Rock Hill High School senior year she was a serious actress. Her favorite role was the queen in The Mouse that Roared.

At USC's Columbia campus, she majored in sociology and minored in economics. She met her husband Tom their junior year, a little before he ran for student body president.

Married almost immediately after graduation, Linda worked as the first young housemother on the USC campus. She managed Columbia Hall, the old Columbia Hotel at the corner of Sumter and Gervais.

Also almost immediately after graduation, Tom Salane was drafted into the U.S. Army. After Tom's basic training at Ft. Jackson, the Salanes moved to Columbus, Ga., where Tom was assigned as a finance clerk at Ft. Benning.

Linda stayed in Columbus and worked in social work when her husband was sent to South Vietnam. The couple moved back to Columbia after Tom's two-year stint in the military, as he was accepted to USC's law school, and she enrolled in graduate school.

After graduation from law school, Tom took a position with Spartanburg's Donald Russell, a federal judge living in Spartanburg but based in Richmond. While in Spartanburg, Linda put together a leadership program at Converse College.

Back in Columbia in 1975, Linda began work on her doctorate in education, and Tom took the career track with the law firm Turner Padget Graham & Laney. About the same time, the Salanes had their first child, Jeff.

Jeff is a rocker drummer and free-lance editor in New York City. Their second son, Matt, works in Jacksonville, Fla., as a law firm manager while he threatens to go back to school for his MBA.

Around 1990, Linda left her position as USC's VP for student affairs to become the chief financial officer at Columbia College. Her doctorate in education carried credentials in commerce, so she also had an "embedded MBA," readily applicable to the CFO's responsibilities.

Answering to Peter Mitchell, president at Columbia College, Linda fully utilized her planning background. By 1998, she was their vice president for strategic planning.

Upon the arrival of Caroline Whitson as the new president of Columbia College, Linda organized the Leadership Institute and became its first executive director, where she continues.

Always recharging her batteries, Linda is a routine three-mile runner. She lives conveniently close to the gym at Woodhill Mall, where she is often seen in a workout. She is vice chair at Cooperative Ministries, which is returning to its core mission of helping the working poor, preventing homelessness instead of managing homelessness. And she is one of Columbia's Women in Philanthropy.

Columbia College's Alliance for Women, organized by Linda, began in 2004. The three main areas of interest for the Alliance for Women are (1) economic automony, (2) women's health and well-being, and (3) increased numbers of women in policy-making positions in both public and private sectors.

The Alliance's connection with the SC Commission on Women, a natural pairing, never fully consummated because Governor Sanford cut the commission's funding. Nevertheless, the Alliance for Women is a regional force, a Southeastern institution.