Moderator 2024

Mary Hjorth SHRM-SCP '92 Aggie Women Network President-Elect, is an accomplished People Executive in various industries and business sectors, including financial services, technology (software), private equity, consulting, multi-family real estate, transportation, and multi-location retail and convenience stores.

Ms. Hjorth is currently employed with BlueForge Alliance, a non-profit program integrator positioned to meet the intense and urgent demand to build capacity for the defense industrial base.

Mary, '92, and her husband Tyler, '91, live in San Marcos, Texas. They are passionate Texas A&M sports fans and support both men's and women's athletics in the BCS area, cheering for the Fighting Texas Aggies as they BTHO of every opponent.

Panelists 2024

Susan Ballabina, Ph.D. is the chief of staff to the President of Texas A&M University. In this role, she spearheads the delivery of the president’s vision, working in concert with the cabinet and guiding staff of the Office of the President.  Previously, she served as external affairs officer and senior vice president for academic and strategic collaborations, leading strategic partnerships and community impact programs and initiatives for the university.  Dr. Ballabina is active in the community and has chaired the University’s State Employee Charitable Campaign for the past two years. She serves on the Salvation Army Board and the Friends of Chamber Music BCS Board of Directors.  Dr. Ballabina began her career with AgriLife Extension in 1994, serving as a county extension agent in multiple counties before serving as a regional program leader. She also served as deputy vice chancellor and chief operating officer for Texas A&M AgriLife.  Ballabina was named a Regents Fellow by The Texas A&M University System in 2014 and has received the Superior Service Award from AgriLife Extension four times. Tarleton State University’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources has recognized her as a distinguished alumna.

Dr. Valerie Hudson, University Distinguished Professor, joined the faculty of the Bush School in 2012 as the holder of the George H. W. Bush Chair. An expert on international security and foreign policy analysis as well as gender and security, she received her PhD in political science at The Ohio State University and comes to Texas A&M University from a senior faculty position at Brigham Young University. Hudson directs the Bush School’s Program on Women, Peace, and Security.

In 2009, Foreign Policy named her one of the top 100 Most Influential Global Thinkers. Her coauthored book Bare Branches: Security Implications of Asia’s Surplus Male Population, and the research it presents, received major attention from the media with coverage in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times, Washington Post, BBC, CNN, and numerous other outlets. The book also received two national book awards. Another coauthored book, Sex and World Peace, published by Columbia University Press, was named by Gloria Steinem as one of the top three books on her reading list. Another award-winning book, with Patricia Leidl, is The Hillary Doctrine: Sex and American Foreign Policy, published in June 2015. Her newest coauthored book is The First Political Order: How Sex Shapes Governance and National Security Worldwide (Columbia University Press, 2020). She was also named a Distinguished Scholar of Foreign Policy Analysis as well as a Distinguished Scholar of Political Demography and Geography by the International Studies Association.

Dr. Hudson has developed a nation-by-nation database on women, the WomanStats Database, that has triggered both academic and policy interest (the latter includes its use by both the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee and various agencies of the United Nations). Using this data, Hudson and her co-principal investigators from the WomanStats Project have published a wide variety of empirical work linking the security of women to the security of states, with research appearing in International Security, American Political Science Review, Journal of Peace Research, Political Psychology, and Politics and Gender.

Dr. Hudson offers courses on women and nations (the foundations course for the Women, Peace, and Security concentration), foreign policy analysis, and a capstone on Women, Peace, and Security. Throughout her career, Dr. Hudson has demonstrated a strong commitment to collaboration with other scholars both in her own field and in other disciplines and has received significant research grants, including grants from the US Department of Defense’s Minerva Initiative and the National Science Foundation, to support her work in international affairs. Her research and teaching experience is also complemented by three major teaching awards and numerous research awards, and she was awarded an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship. She was also a Fulbright Distinguished Chair at the Australian National University in early 2017.

Hudson served as vice president of the International Studies Association for 2011-2012. She is a founding editorial board member of Foreign Policy Analysis, and also serves or has served on the editorial boards of The American Political Science Review, Politics and Gender, the American Journal of Political Science, and International Studies Review. More information can be found on her professional website vmrhudson.org.

Tamra Walderon is the loudest and proudest member of the fightin’ Texas Aggies undergraduate class of 2021 and graduate class of 2022. Mrs. Walderon graduated summa cum laude with her bachelors degree in education in 2021. Additionally, she graduated summa cum laude with her masters degree in curriculum and instruction and received the Distinguished Graduate Award for her cohort in 2022. Currently, she is pursuing her doctoral degree in Educational Psychology (EPSY) with an emphasis in Bilingual/English as a Second Language (ESL) education. She has also worked as a part-time Graduate Assistant Teacher in that department. Mrs. Walderon worked as the Curriculum Development Coordinator during her undergraduate studies and a Graduate Assistant Researcher upon entering graduate school at the Center of Research & Development for Dual Language & Literacy Acquisition (CRDLLA) and the Education Leadership Research Center (ELRC) at Texas A&M University where she was employed for nearly five years. Mrs. Walderon lives with her family in Thorndale, Texas. She is a mother of five children and grandmother to two little girls. Her hobbies include reading, watching movies, and spending time with her family.

Leah Shaw '25 is a senior communication major at Texas A&M with a double minor in Business and Urban Planning. She is from the small town of Lexington, Texas, about an hour from College Station, and was born into an Aggie family, making her an Aggie since birth. Since coming to Texas A&M, she has been involved in several organizations and held leadership positions in Freshman Leaders Establishing eXcellence (FLEX), an on-campus women's organization called Ryllies, served on the executive cabinet in the Student Government Association as the Vice President of Communications, and perhaps her favorite role has been being a Fish Camp counselor. This year, she has the honor of serving in Fish Camp as a chairperson for Camp Ariss, welcoming the class of 2028 to this great university we call home.

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