TFRW Woman of Distinction – July 2020
Toni Anne Dashiell is our TFRW Woman of Distinction for July 2020.
Toni Anne Dashiell, our TFRW Woman of Distinction for July 2020, has been active in politics, grassroots advocacy, and leadership training for more than 50 years. She is a leader among leaders, who was awarded the 2009 Ronald Reagan Leadership Award by the National Federation of Republican Women for her distinctive performance as president of the Texas Federation of Republican Women. She is an empowering personality who added women from Nigeria, Bosnia and Burma to the long list of leaders she has empowered by training in campaign management, leadership development, and communication. Toni Anne co-authored (with Rachel Woods) the book Leading for Freedom: Leadership Skills for Republicans.
In 2013 Toni Anne was elected RNC National Committeewoman for Texas and was reelected in 2016. She was appointed Chair of the RNC Committee on Arrangements for the 2020 National Convention by Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, and in January 2019 she was re-elected to the RNC Budget Committee.
Toni Anne’s service as a volunteer grassroots leader dates back to 1968 when she worked on a presidential campaign as a member of Teenage Republicans. Since that time she has been a consistent leader in numerous Republican campaigns including presidential, senatorial, congressional, statewide, city and county races.
Her combined experiences as a grassroots leader and a leadership development trainer have given Toni Anne insight into developing political organizations and mobilizing teams of grassroots activists to accomplish their goals. She fine-tuned these skills while serving as Kendall County Chair from 2010 to 2013. Prior to that, while she was president of the TFRW in 2008 and 2009, Toni Anne mentored 165 local club presidents by instituting monthly conference calls and implementing the use of new media tools including e-newsletters and social networking sites. During her tenure, TFRW membership grew to more than 10,000 members. Also during this time, she mobilized TFRW’s members to support Voter I.D. legislation, which was eventually passed by the Texas Legislature. She has presented in numerous campaign management schools, Get-Out-the-Vote workshops, and leadership seminars. It is this distinguished service that led Toni Anne to receive the Ten Most Outstanding Award from TFRW in 2011. Locally, Toni Anne has served as president, first vice-president, and PAC treasurer of Kendall County Republican Women, and she was named the Kendall County Republican Party Volunteer of the Year in 1999.
She was elected as a delegate to numerous Texas Republican State Conventions and served as a delegate to the 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Republican National Conventions. She was appointed the Texas Community Service Leader at the 2004 National Convention in New York City, and organized the other delegates to clean up a stretch of river bank in New Jersey. Most recently she served on the 2016 Rules Committee at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
Toni Anne believes in the importance of community service. She has demonstrated this value by serving as a leader in her hometown including the Boerne Chamber of Commerce, Government Affairs, the Boerne ISD Budget Committee, Kendall County Sheriff’s Community Advisory Board and the Boerne Community Theatre. She served on the Texas Prepaid Higher Education Tuition Board from 2011 until 2018 and she is a member of the Kendall County Economic Development Committee serving on their budget committee.
Toni Anne holds a B.A. in Recreation Therapy. She worked as a licensed nursing home administrator and established an Alzheimer’s day care center before changing careers. Currently she holds two licenses for insurance and real estate. Together, she and her husband, Tom, are small business owners, working in both real estate and insurance. She is president of Dashiell Properties, Inc., a property management firm.
