Ms. Toombs is the Immediate Past President of the Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA) and currently chairs the Public Policy Committee. As President from 2002 to 2004, she led LDA in adoption of Project XXI, a three-year strategic plan to position LDA for leadership in the 21st century. Ms. Toombs has been active on local, state and national LDA boards and committees since 1975. Parent of a son with learning disabilities, Ms. Toombs formed a coalition of parent and advocacy organizations in Missouri to establish Missouri Parents Act (MPACT), a state-wide parent training and information center for parents of children with disabilities, for which she served as Executive Director from 1988 to 1995. Ms. Toombs has served as a member and chairman of the Missouri Special Education Advisory Panel, as well as member and chairman of the Missouri Vocational Rehabilitation Advisory Council. Ms. Toombs has worked as Coordinator of Emergency and Volunteer Services for Catholic Social Services in Jackson, Michigan and as the Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and Virginia Regional Editor of TV Guide. Ms. Toombs has a degree in social work from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan and has done graduate work at the University of Michigan as well as Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. Ms. Toombs resides in Springfield, Missouri and commutes to France where she has a second home in the south.
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