Shirley Sibson, SecretaryShirley (Paulsen) Sibson was born and raised in Eastern North Dakota by her parents Edward and Florence Paulsen, farmers/ranchers for 50 years on the plains of ND, just west of the Red River Valley near the small town of Finley (90 miles northwest of Fargo).
She attended all 12 years of school in Finley and graduated in 1969, Salutatorian of her class. She went on and attended Mayville State University in ND graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1973 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education, majoring in Elementary Education (K-6) and minoring in Foreign Language. She married Al Sibson in 1971, and they resided in Finley until 1976. Her teaching career began in 1973 at Finley Public School in a first grade classroom where she remained until 1976. During her tenure there, she was named Outstanding Young Educator for the state of North Dakota in 1974. After moving to Colorado in 1976, she remained in education for the next 3 to 4 years doing substitute teaching in two school districts in South Suburban Denver. In 1980 she left teaching and began working for Control Data Corporation (an IBM competitor in Englewood, CO). She began as a Secretary for the Engineering Department, supporting 4 District Managers and was promoted to Marketing and Sales Secretary in 1982. She then advanced to Executive Secretary to the Regional Vice President in 1985 and served in that capacity until 1989 when he retired and the position moved to Minneapolis. Shirley moved to a new company in 1990, TCI – Telecommunications, Inc. in Englewood, CO where she began as a Department Secretary. She quickly moved to Executive Secretary to the Executive Vice President of Cable Operations in the US by the end of 1990. Then in 1991 she advanced to Executive Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer of TCI. She held this position until 2000 when TCI was acquired by Media One and eventually merged into AT&T Broadband. She then moved to AT&T Broadband as Executive Assistant to the EVP and COO, where she remained until 2002 when the company was sold to Comcast and moved operations to Philadelphia, ending a 12 year run with this media giant. Her last career move was in 2003 to Quovadx, Inc., a producer of hospital software in Greenwood Village, CO. She began there as Executive Assistant to the CEO and CFO. She held this position until 2007 when she retired and Quovadx was sold and moved to Houston. She moved to AZ with her husband Al in 2014 and resided in Surprise until 2017 when they moved to Prescott Valley. Here in Prescott Valley, Shirley has been an active member of several organizations in the Prescott area during the past 5 years including: Prescott Area Women’s Connection Republican Women of Prescott Stonecroft Ministries and Bible Study Stoneridge Ladies Group Elks Opera House Guild Western Heritage Center Volunteer Guide Member of American Lutheran Church |