Mary T. Roche, Mayor - Elected 2000, Current Term of Office 2008
The City of Indian Wells set a historical precedent on Thursday, December 6, 2007 when Mayor Pro Tem Mary T. Roche was sworn in as Mayor for her second one-year term. Mayor Roche is the first woman mayor to serve two terms, and the city’s second woman mayor since the city was incorporated in 1967. (The city’s first woman mayor was Artie G. Henderson who served from 1998-1999.) Mayor Roche was elected to Indian Wells City Council in 2000 and served her first one-year term as mayor from 2003-2004.
In addition to serving as mayor of the City of Indian Wells, Mayor Roche is a member of the city’s Branding Standards Committee, Development committee oversight for both Miles Crossing and the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort expansion, Grants In Aid Committee, Community Activities Committee as well as the Golf Course Strategic Planning Committee, which recently spearheaded a phenomenal transformation of the Indian Wells Golf Resort. She is the city’s representative on the Riverside County Division of the League of California Cities, having served as President of this group in 2005. She currently serves the city as a board member for several valley-wide organizations including: Coachella Valley Association of Governments (CVAG) Executive Committee and CVAG’s Energy & Environment Committee, Coachella Valley Conservation Commission, and California Joint Powers Insurance Agency. Other board positions include Shelter From the Storm and College of the Desert Foundation. Her previous
board affiliations are many and varied; they include Riverside County Transportation Commission, Desert Town Hall–Indian Wells, The Living Desert, Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument, Coachella Valley Animal Campus, and McCallum Theatre for the Performing Arts.
A trailblazer in the Indian Wells community, Mayor Roche founded the Indian Wells Historic Preservation Foundation and the Homeowners/Residents Association of Indian Wells. She was founding president of Desert Horizon’s Women’s Club, as well as past president of Desert Horizons Homeowners Association.
In June 2001, Mayor Roche founded and served as president of Women Leaders Forum of the Coachella Valley (WLF), a 350-member organization whose mission is “to provide leadership opportunities and education to women of all ages, to connect women leaders locally, regionally, nationally and globally, and to enhance the lives of all women in our community.” She was instrumental in developing a Leadership Academy for WLF, which is held annually to help local women develop and hone their leadership skills. Additionally, a mentoring fund named in her honor, the Mary T. Roche Seed Fund, provides high school girls a seed fund of $500 to learn investment skills. In November 2007, Mayor Roche was awarded the Women Leaders Forum 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award during The International Alliance for Women (TIAW) Global Partnership Forum, of which she also served as past board member. Other awards and honors include Shelter From the Storm’s Angel of the Year in 2005, Coachella Valley Symphony’s Founder’s Award in 2006 and, Palm Desert Sunrise Soroptimist’s Making a Difference Award in 2007. She was recently named as an Indian Wells Athena recipient for 2008.
An educator and businesswoman, Mayor Roche retired from Los Angeles Community College after 25 years as both an administrator and professor. She founded and served as CEO/President of Linens Unlimited II, a retail bed and bath chain in Orange and Los Angeles Counties.
Mayor Roche earned a Masters of Arts degree in educational administration from California State University, Long Beach and a Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University, Los Angeles. She also attended McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento. She and her husband, Bob, have lived in Indian Wells since 1993.