Mrs. Cathy McGowin

Cathy Waller McGowin grew up in Birmingham, Alabama and attended Huffman High School. In 1984 she moved to Mobile, Alabama with her husband, Jeff, who was starting his career in orthopaedic surgery.

Mrs. McGowin graduated from the Capstone College of Nursing at the University of Alabama in 1980.  She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society for Nursing.  She has worked in many different areas of medical care in both Jefferson and Mobile Counties.  Her experience includes Emergency, Critical Care, Post-Surgical, and Cardiac Rehabilitation.

Mrs. McGowin has been actively involved in service and charitable organizations in Mobile including the Board of Directors for the Junior League of Mobile.  She also has served on the board of the Medical Alliance for Mobile County.  She has volunteered with Camp Rap-A-Hope, an organization that provides year-round programming as well as a summer camp for children between the ages of 7 and 17 who have or have ever had cancer. Mrs. McGowin has volunteered with Partners in Education tutoring 4^th grade students in mathematics and she served as the president of the PTA at her children’s school.

As an active community volunteer, she has chaired fundraisers for numerous non-profits in Mobile County. Together with her husband, Jeff, she served as Club Leader for the University of Virginia Club of Mobile where she instituted an annual service project for local club members to aid local charities.

She was appointed by Governor Ivey to serve as a Commissioner for the Alabama Women’s Commission in 2017 and has been the Chair for the Commission since October 2020.
Mrs. McGowin has worked on projects with  the Alabama Women’s Commission including the 211KNOW text messaging program, a study with the University of Alabama to determine the effects of parental cell phone usage and the development of preschool children, and the Lunch and Learn program for agency leaders in the state.

Mrs. McGowin is a member of St. Ignatius Catholic Church where she has taught religious education classes for elementary age children.

Cathy is married to Dr. Jeff McGowin, a Mobile native.  They have two wonderful sons and daughters-in-law, and four precious granddaughters.