Linda Ketner

Former Site of Ketner For Congress

Together, we can change the ‘same old,’ dysfunctional ways of doing things in Washington and in South Carolina!

Let’s cultivate a new type of leadership and citizenship that transcends party and politics as usual. With our state and nation at
a crossroads, now more than ever, your mind, your heart and your participation in government are needed.

About Linda

About Linda Ketner

As a donor activist in her community, Linda Ketner has served as President of the Coastal Community Foundation, President of Crisis Ministries (now One80 Place), founder and Chair of the Mayor’s Council On Homelessness and Affordable Housing, Chair of the S.C. Housing Trust Fund, Co-founder of South Carolina Citizens for Housing, Co-founder of Charleston Affordable Housing and served on the boards of the Hollings Cancer Center, Center for Women Advisory Council, Health Sciences Foundation, the International African American Museum, Social Justice Racial Equity Council, Palmetto Project, and the YWCA of the USA. She is co-founder and past President of Alliance for Full Acceptance and S.C. Equality Coalition; on the advisory boards at the College of Charleston Riley Center, Women and Gender Studies Advisory Council, President’s Diversity Review Committee, Presdent’s Strategic Initiative Committee and the Dean’s Council for the School of Humanities.

As the 2008 Democratic nominee for United States Congress, District 1, South Carolina, Linda took over 48% of the vote, narrowly losing to a 4-term incumbent in a District which had been Republican for the previous 34 years.

Linda is President of KSI Leadership and Management Development. Prior to co-founding KSI, she was Director of Organization Development for Food Lion Stores, responsible for New Program Design with the Center for Creative Leadership; and, Manager of Organization Development for Smith Kline Corporation. She has been adjunct professor at UNC-G and the College of Charleston, teaching Complex Organizations and Leadership.

An enthusiastic Renaissance Weekend Participant, she is a Leadership America graduate and has been honored with the following awards: National Salute to Citizenship, South Carolina Woman of Valor, Girl Scout Woman of Distinction, South Carolina Housing Achievement, and the Homeless to Hope Award for Enduring Contributions to Alleviating
Homelessness. Also: The Malcolm D. Haven Award for Community Service, SCHA Woman of the Year, We Are Family Founders, YWCA Lifetime Achievement, Center for Women Foundation, Alliance for Full Acceptance and S.C. Equality Founders, SCGLPM Volunteer of the Year and SCGLBG Trailblazer awards. Committed to anti-racism work, she has received the NAACP: J. Arthur Brown Award for Outstanding Service, Lifetime Achievement and Friends awards; and, the Urban League Arthur J. Clement Award for Race Relations.

She holds a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; M.A. from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro and attended both Duke and Emory Universities working toward an unfinished Ph.D. Linda is the recipient of honorary doctorates from Columbia College and the College of Charleston.

Your solutions and action are needed…

…particularly in areas where South Carolina lags behind other states: education, employment, environment, small business, poverty, smart growth, health care, sensible taxation, transportation, regional planning, affordable housing, crime, domestic violence, women in politics, sexual orientation and gender equality, race relations, attracting growth industries. If you are weary of being at the top of the list for the bad – and the bottom for the good – use this site as your own to educate and organize South Carolinians for action.

Learn About The Issues

Help spread the word that this is the place to look more deeply into issues, share thoughts, ideas, and action.

This is the place to expose political corruption and waste.

This is the place for information and resources.

This is the place to begin to create a responsive and responsible government.

Very Best,

“WHO THE HECK ARE YOU AND WHY AM I ON YOUR DISTRIBUTION LIST?”

That’s a darned good question and one I got this week from an out-of-stater to whom someone had emailed our link.

Below is my bio but the Readers Digest version is that I ran for Congress in the First Congressional District of South Carolina in 2008 and almost won with over 48% of the vote. “Almost” didn’t give me a seat in Congress but the reasons I ran – a deep and abiding love for this state coupled with the frustration that we are failing miserably in some vitally important areas both regionally and nationally – lead me to invite supporters from the campaign to stay connected and active in returning government to principled leadership.