RLM Board Confirms Ms. Listing’s Hand-Selected Successor, Amber Roseboom, as Next President
Grand Rapids, MI – Today, Barbara Listing, Right to Life of Michigan’s (RLM) president since 1980, publicly announced her retirement after 43 years leading the organization. Mrs. Listing is widely recognized for successfully building a prolife powerhouse and the largest grassroots organization in the state. Her retirement is effective at the end of this month.
During her time as President, Mrs. Listing directed RLM’s educational, legal and political priorities. As such, she has co-managed three successful statewide legislative initiative drives and two successful statewide referenda votes including ending taxpayer-funding of Medicaid abortions in Michigan, defeating the legalization of assisted suicide and preventing insurance coverage of abortion through health care reform. Beyond leading successful prolife efforts in Michigan, Mrs. Listing has provided ongoing counsel and guidance to her counterparts across the country. She is sought as a state and national expert on life issues and strategy and has been quoted by virtually every major statewide publication and a variety of national media outlets.
Mrs. Listing began her time with RLM as a volunteer in the mid-1970s and served as an affiliate president for five years. Mrs. Listing has received honorary doctoral degrees in law and humanities in recognition of her leadership. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Central Michigan University with a Bachelor of Science in Education. In the days ahead, she will continue to serve the organization as a member of the RLM Board of Directors and RLM PAC Board. See photo here.
“It has been an honor to serve as the president of Right to Life of Michigan working alongside of so many dedicated volunteers whose only goal is to encourage their fellow citizens to legally recognize the inherent value of all human life, including the unborn child. Our history as a nation is built upon the right to life and not its deliberate destruction. With compassion and respect for all, our organization will continue its mission through legal means to encourage all to make the choice for life.
Succeeding Mrs. Listing is Amber Roseboom. Mrs. Roseboom has served as Vice President of Operations for RLM since July of 2022. She transitioned to the role, moving back to her home state of Michigan, following more than 20 years in the nation’s capital. Mrs. Roseboom has served in a wide variety of senior management and strategic and crisis communications roles, including as a political appointee in President George W. Bush’s Administration, as a Senior Bush-Obama Transition Official, and as a communications and strategic planning expert at non-profit organizations and private sector endeavors. Having first joined RLM in the late 90s, she assisted the organization’s efforts to defeat a ballot initiative to legalize physician assisted suicide in the Jack Kevorkian era.
Mrs. Roseboom is a native of SE Michigan and an honors graduate from Michigan State University. She has been quoted by Fox News, CNN, The Washington Post, and The New York Times Magazine, to name a few. She and her husband of 28 years, Tim, reside in Grand Rapids. See photo here.
“Barb’s steadfast leadership and bold vision have led to historic victories on behalf of women and the unborn in Michigan and across the country. I am honored to call her a friend and mentor and will continue to rely on her wise advice and counsel,” said Mrs. Roseboom. “There is no question that the days ahead present new challenges to the cause for life with threats to women, parental rights and children of all ages, including the unborn. Our objective at Right to Life is to ensure women who face a possible abortion are presented with the information, tools and practical support that enable them to courageously make another choice – the choice for life.”
Mrs. Roseboom assumes her new role January 1, 2024.
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Right to Life of Michigan (RLM) is the state’s oldest and largest non-profit organization dedicated to advocating a choice for life for the youngest and oldest members of our human family. Since our founding in 1972, we have remained steadfast in our mission to educate the public on life issues, support legal protections for women’s health, the elderly, disabled and unborn children and support prolife candidates. RLM has 80 affiliates across the state and more than 282,550 members. The organization achieved 172 electoral victories in 2022 alone. With more than 50 life-affirming protections passed into law, RLM estimates more than 269,633 lives have been saved by just one legal protection. For more information, visit RTL.org.
For more information:
Grace O’Briem, Media Relations & Digital Director, (248) 946-2929, [email protected].