About Willa Powell

Willa has lived in Rochester all her adult life with her husband and four children.  She has served this community since 1983, first as an Army Reservist, then as a School Board member.  She is dedicated to sensible reform, sustainable progress, and equal opportunity for all.

Willa was raised in the Southern Tier, graduating from Hammondsport Central High School in 1980.  She received her Associates degree in Business Administration in 1982 from Tompkins Cortland Community College and went on to earn her Bachelors degree in CPA Accounting from Rochester Institute of Technology.

While still attending college at RIT, Willa launched both her professional and military service career.  She started working at Chase Manhattan Bank where she worked her way up to Senior Programmer/Analyst.  She also joined the Army Reserves in 1983.  She served as a Drill Sergeant for six years as a Staff Sergeant with the 98th Division.  She was then accepted into Officer Candidate School, and served the second half of her career, first in the Quartermaster Corps, then in the Engineer Corps.  She served as a Company Commander prior to her retirement as a Captain in 2004.

Willa first ran for public office in 1997, and earned a place on the Rochester City School Board with the highest number of votes in the general election.  She served one full term, then declined to seek re-election in 2001.  In 2003 she was appointed back to the Board of Education to fill a vacancy, and ran for and won election that same year.  She ran for re-election in 2007, and is now serving her 12th year.  She currently chairs the Finance Committee, and has in the past chaired the Policy Committee and served as Vice President of the Board.  She represented Rochester on Commissioner Mill’s School Board Advisory Committee.  She also represents the Rochester City School Board on the Big 5 Schools Association , and is currently serving as President of the Big 5.

 Willa counts among her biggest achievements to the Rochester City School Board:

  • Overhauling the Board Policy manual in her first 6 months as Policy Chair,
  • Approving Universal Pre-Kindergarten for Rochester City School District,
  • Securing full-day kindergarten for all schools and securing the funding to pay for it,
  • Updating and amending the Parent Involvement Policy,
  • Chairing the Ad-hoc committee on School Choice  and spearheading the policy,
  • Selecting Interim Superintendent Bill Cala Superintendent Jean Claude Brizard, and interim Superintendent Bolgen Vargas,
  • Represented Rochester on the Big-5 School District Executive Committee, which addresses needs of urban districts across the state; served terms as Vice President and President,
  • Served as member of Commission Mill’s School Board Advisory Committee, again demonstrating state-wide policy leadership.

Willa counts among her biggest achievements during her military career:

  • Distinguished Honor Graduate of NBC Defense NCO/Officer School,
  • Selected as Battalion Drill Sergeant of the Year,
  • Nominated as Reserve Officer Association Junior Officer of the Year,
  • Served as Company Commander of a Drill Sergeant Company.

Willa’s affiliations:

  • President of Citizens for Midwifery, a national consumer organization advocating the Midwives Model of Care,
  • Past Vice President of the Rochester Chapter of National Organization for Women,
  • Cofounder of the Rochester chapter of International Cesarean Awareness Network and the Rochester Area Birth Network, a chapter of Birth Network National,
  • Member, Covenant United Methodist Church,
  • Finger Lakes Trails Conference, Finance Committee member