Patricia Mulroy served Las Vegas as the general manager of the Las Vegas Valley Water District from 1989 to 2014. She served the state of Nevada as the general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority from 1993 to 2014. Patricia helped to build the Authority, and saw the state through the devastating drought of the Colorado River. Patricia was born in Frankfurt, Germany on February 24, 1953. As a young girl, she lived in several different countries, but always felt that the United States was her home. Her experiences abroad fed her to develop a fascination with government work and state service. She arrived in Nevada in 1974 to attend UNLV. In 1989, Patricia became the general manager of the Las Vegas Valley Water District. She entered the field at a tumultuous time, facing the drought of the Colorado River and tension within the districts. She pioneered the Water Authority, which revolutionized Southern Nevada’s water rights system and allowed the districts to deal with the issue cooperatively. She worked with other Southwestern states and Mexico to support Las Vegas and Nevada through the drought. Patricia retired in 2014, but has chosen to remain active in politics and business. She is currently working with the World Bank in China on the World Economic Forum. She is also a nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute, a faculty advisor for the Desert Research Institute, and a board member of the Wynn Board of Directors.

From the Roosevelt Fitzgerald Professional Papers (MS-01082) -- Drafts for the Las Vegas Sentinel Voice file. On George Washington and Martin Luther King, Jr. comparisons.