Mary T. Roche, Mayor Pro Tem - Elected 2000, Current Term of Office 2008
Indian Wells Council Member and Mayor Pro Tem Mary T. Roche was elected to the City Council in November 2000, named mayor in December 2003, and re-elected in November 2004. She currently serves as Indian Wells' representative to the Riverside County Transportation Commission, Coachella Valley Transportation Commission, Coachella Valley Conservation Commission, Coachella Valley Energy & Environment Committee, and Santa Rosa San Jacinto National Monument Advisory Board. Council Member Roche recently served as President of Riverside County Division of California League of Cities. She is a member of the city's Golf Course Strategic Planning Committee and Community Activities Committee.
Council Member Roche has extensive community involvement with an impressive list of additional Board leadership positions. She founded the Homeowners/ Residents Association of Indian Wells and the Indian Wells Historic Preservation Foundation. She continues to serve on both boards as the city council liaison. She was founding President and board member of Women Leaders Forum of the Coachella Valley and founding President of Desert Horizons Women's Club, as well as Past President of Desert Horizons Homeowners Association. Roche also sits on the College of the Desert Foundation Board of Directors, is on the Advisory Boards of the Coachella Valley Symphony and Desert Samaritans for the Elderly.
Active in many community organizations, she is a member and supporter of Indian Wells Garden and Community Club, Indian Wells Rotary, McCallum Muses, Barbara Sinatra Children's Center, The Desert Symphony, La Quinta Arts Foundation, and is a member of Desert Horizons Country Club.
An educator and businesswoman, Council Member Roche retired from Los Angeles Community College District after 25 years as both an administrator and professor. She founded and served as CEO/president of Linens Unlimited II, a retail bed and bath chain in Orange and Los Angeles counties.
She earned her masters of arts degree in educational administration from California State University, Long Beach in 1969, graduating with high honors, and her Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University, Los Angeles in 1958. Later, she attended McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento.
She and her husband, Bob, have lived in Indian Wells since 1993.
