Becky Sykes is the President and CEO of the Dallas Women’s Foundation, a public foundation that promotes women’s philanthropy and raises money to support community programs that help women and girls realize their full potential.
A life-long Dallasite, she graduated from Austin College in Sherman, Texas with degrees in French and Government. She taught high school Civics and French for several years, “retired” to raise two children and do volunteer work, then returned to full time employment at Greyhound Lines, KERA television and radio, and the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University.
Most of her work through the years has involved public policy, non-profit management, strategic planning and fundraising. She has served on a number of community boards, including Dallas City Plan commission, the Junior League of Dallas, the YWCA, the Dallas Summit, the League of Women voters and the Women’s Council of Dallas County. She is an Elder at First Presbyterian Church of Dallas. She has received several awards, including the Maura Award (“women helping women”); the Susan B. Anthony Award,; the Executive Director of the year award from the Women’ Resource Center of North Texas Legal Services; the League of Women Voters’ Myrtle Bales Bulkley Award; the Women of Excellence Award given by the YWCA and Women’s Enterprise magazine; and the Athena Award given by the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce/Women’s Business Initiative.
In 1985 she joined with 18 other women to start the Dallas Women’s Foundation and served as its first board chair for three years. She returned to the Dallas Women’s Foundation in October of 1998 as executive director. The Dallas Women’s Foundation is one of the oldest and largest of the 110 women’s foundations in the U.S.