We are pleased to announce our panel for the final Discussion Over Dinner of 2019 includes Indiana State Senator Karen Tallian and Indiana State Representative Pat Boy.

KAREN TALLIAN
Karen Tallian is a member of the Indiana State Senate from the 4th District (including most of Michigan City, Long Beach, Westville, Chesterton, and Portage.) Senator Tallian has served in the Indiana Senate since 2005.

Before joining the Senate, Tallian served her community in a variety of capacities, including serving as counsel to the Porter County Planning Commission, the Board of Zoning Appeals, the Portage Township Trustee, the Portage Fire Department Merit Board, and the Portage Police Department Merit Board. Tallian was an adjunct professor at Valparaiso University Law School and taught insurance law. She has also served as President and board member of the Portage Parks Foundation, President of the Porter County League of Women Voters, and the Director of the State Board of the League of Women Voters.

In the State Senate, Tallian has focused her energy on issues important to working families, including labor issues, health care, property tax reform, and environmental protection. In 2010, Tallian was awarded the Tommie Blaylock Award for Outstanding Leadership by the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) Local #104. She was also inducted into The Society of Innovators of Northwest Indiana in 2010, having been invited to join the Society after the successful passage of her consumer protection law focused on reducing mortgage foreclosures in Indiana. In 2008, she received the Joan Laskowski Legislator of the Year Award from the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana. She was the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award in 2017 by The American Legion, Department of Indiana, and was honored as a Small Business Champion in 2013 by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.

A 1972 graduate of the University of Chicago with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and psychology, the senator’s postgraduate work includes an associate’s degree from Chicago’s Harrington Institute of Design. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Valparaiso University School of Law in 1990.

Senator Tallian resides in Portage and has three adult children.

PAT BOY
State Representative Patricia (Pat) Boy is a member of the Indiana House of Representatives, serving District 9 (including Michigan City, Westville, Long Beach, and parts of Porter County.) From 2004-2018, Boy was a member of the City Council of Michigan City.

Pat and her late husband, Dennis, owned a small business for nearly 30 years, operating a secretarial/data management business in their home from 1988 until just after his death in 2016. When her husband was seriously injured in a car accident that left him a person with quadriplegia, Pat learned firsthand about the desperate need for safety nets like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Her personal experience with governmental services has given her a unique perspective on how these systems work.

Boy's experience includes budget, economic development, community development, and labor negotiations. She has written resolutions and ordinances, and organized forums and town-hall-style meetings. Rep. Boy worked on the Code Review Committee for several years to overhaul the Michigan City Municipal Code, finding and fixing errors and omissions—a process which should be done every ten years.

Boy has worked with both Democrats and Republicans as a member of the Better Government Study Group, which hosts educational forums on the government in LaPorte County. Boy is a current member and past president of both the nonpartisan League of Women Voters of LaPorte County and the Rotary Club of Michigan City. She has been a supporter and is now a full member of the LaPorte County Chapter of the NAACP.

Pat Boy is a graduate of DePaul University. She has one adult son.