Rebecca Brown
New ACBL Region 9 Director
Rebecca Brown, Lakeway, Unit 207, has replaced the retired Paul Cuneo as Region 9 Director on the ACBL Board of Directors, representing Districts 15 and 16. Her term began January 1, 2025. “Paul Cuneo is an impossible act to follow, but I am prepared to work very hard!” she says.
After Cuneo announced he would not seek another term Rebecca reached out to friends in the bridge world, offering her support if they applied. At some point one of her potential candidates asked her why she didn’t consider running for the position. She thought, “Why not?”
Rebecca grew up in Brooklyn, New York, then moved to the Midwest, finally settling here in Texas almost 30 years ago. She contends she doesn’t retain a NY accent, but the jury’s out on that one. When asked how she managed to get to Texas she says, “I married a Texas Aggie, and it was only a question of where in Texas we would live.” They chose San Antonio for many years where Brown was very involved in community nonprofit activities. During COVID‑19 the couple relocated to the Austin area to be closer to her children and grandchildren.
Rebecca completed her BA in Comparative Literature, an MA in clinical psychology, and attained a law degree. She practiced law in Illinois, Buenos Aires, and San Antonio – beginning in civil litigation and ending in international transactions. She also became a mediator. After retirement, she served as a pro bono attorney involved in child abuse and mental health matters.
Rebecca’s career and community involvement left little time to learn bridge, but once she got “the bug” in 2008, she hasn’t looked back. Brown was active on local unit boards (U172 and U207) and as District 16 President and Disciplinary Chair. As luck would have it, she met Jeffrey Edelstein, ACBL National Recorder, at the Phoenix NABC in 2022, with whom she had dealt by phone. She offered to help, he took her up on her offer, and for the past two years, Brown has volunteered as Adjunct National Recorder, handling conduct matters. In the course of her work with the Recorder’s office, she has had contact with dozens of players plus unit and club personnel. During this time, she was appointed to the Aileen Osofsky ACBL Goodwill Committee and served as co‑chair. She also serves as president of the ACBL Charity Foundation.
In 2024 Brown was certified as a director and teacher, directing monthly at the Bridge Center of Austin, and directing and teaching on bridge cruises.
Despite having been involved in various aspects of ACBL, Rebecca says she needs to listen and learn. With the downsizing of the national board from 25 to 13 members, there will be a lot of work to do. Her area of representation, Region 9 is the largest geographical region in ACBL, consisting of most of Texas, all of Oklahoma and Kansas, western Missouri, northwestern Arkansas and all of Mexico. When asked how she will manage such a big geographic area, Rebecca said, “I’ll be keeping my suitcases close to the front door.”
Rebecca Brown takes her new role as Region 9 representative seriously, and welcomes feedback. Contact her by email at Region9Director@acbl.org