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Family
Born July 4, 1964, Allison Copening
is a third-generation Las Vegan, whose paternal grandparents
settled in Las Vegas in the early 1920's.
Her grandfather, Archie Mellott,
served on the first volunteer fire department in Las
Vegas and worked as a construction worker on Hoover
Dam. Her great aunt and uncle, Edith and Jake Garehime,
opened the first music and jewelry store in downtown
Las Vegas in the 1920s.
Allison's father was born
in Las Vegas and her mother's family moved to Las Vegas
over 50 years ago. Together, they raised Allison and
her older siblings, Michael and Gina. Today, Allison's
parents and many aunts, uncles and cousins remain in
Las Vegas.
Serving the community
Allison graduated from Bonanza High
School in 1982 and embraced the democratic spirit during
her teens, having served as freshman class council,
sophomore class secretary, junior class president and
senior class senator at Bonanza. Allison also was committed
to serving in the community since her teenage years,
volunteering at the Torrey Pines Convalescent Center
when she was 15.
Allison currently is a two-term trustee with the Desert
Research Institute Research Foundation and is the past
president and current board member for Child Focus,
an organization that serves children in living in the
State foster care system. Allison also volunteers with
Child Focus' academic success program.
In June 2000, she graduated from
the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Las Vegas
program, and co-chaired the Class of 2000's community
outreach campaign "My Hometown," a grassroots
community outreach campaign promoting pride for Southern
Nevada through volunteerism and registering to vote.
Allison previously served on the boards of the Juvenile
Diabetes Association, Kids Voting Nevada and Corporate
Volunteer Council, and served on the Las Vegas Chamber
of Commerce Community Council, among other community
outreach efforts.
Allison is a member of Canyon Ridge Christian Church
and volunteers with the Operations ministry.
Career
Allison graduated in 1989 from UNLV
with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies. With
a passion for broadcasting, Allison was hired by KLAS
TV, Channel 8. She stayed with the station for 9 years,
having spent the latter 5 years in the position of Community
Affairs Director. In that position, she had the privilege
of working with hundreds of non-profit organizations,
agencies and community-minded corporations and businesses.
Allison experienced first-hand many of the challenges
facing Southern Nevada and worked with numerous organizations
to address those problems. An entrepreneur at heart,
Allison also launched the first Southern Nevada motorsport
racing publication, High Performance Magazine, while
she worked at KLAS TV.
Soon after bidding a fond farewell to KLAS TV, Allison
spent a brief period as the director of marketing for
a start-up software company. She then tapped into her
entrepreneurial spirit and launched a full-service marketing
and public relations agency, Spotlight Creative (originally
named AliKat Creative Services). Allison was named a
"Top 40 Under 40" recipient in 1998 by the
Las Vegas Business Press in recognition of her business
success.
After 4 years of business ownership, Allison was offered
a job with Pulte Homes/Del Webb as Director of Public
Affairs. During her 4 years with Pulte Homes, Allison
focused on resolving major issues for the company and
its more than 30,000 homeowners in Southern Nevada.
Allison served as president of the Sun City Aliante
Community Association board of directors and was credited
by residents for leading the community association through
a smooth and successful transition from developer-controlled
to resident-controlled.
She left Pulte Homes to help open the Las Vegas Springs
Preserve, a 180-acre cultural and historical attraction
celebrating the birthplace of Las Vegas. Having grown
up only blocks from the site, Allison had a passion
for the project and embracing her Southern Nevada roots.
After a successful opening of the Preserve in June 2007,
Allison continued on with the Las Vegas Valley Water
District as a public information officer.
Today, Allison is campaigning full-time, talking to
constituents in District 6 and speaking with organizations,
agencies, small business and corporations about issues
and concerns for Nevada. |
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