Darla Moore, Augusta National’s New Female Member, Is Used To Tearing Down Barriers

Darla Moore joined Condoleeza Rice in becoming the first female members of Augusta National Golf Club, but breaking across gender barriers is nothing new for Moore.

She is used to being the only girls in a boys’ club in her full-time job as the executive vice president of one of the largest private investment firms in the nation, The Associated Press noted. In 1997, she became the first women featured in a cover story in Fortune magazine, and, for a time, she was the only women on the board of trustees for the University of South Carolina, her alma mater.

The Augusta membership makes another crack at the glass ceiling for Darla Moore, NBCNEWS notes. In her Fortune magazine cover story she was referred to as “a cross between the Terminator and Kim Basinger.”

Darla Moore’s career shot up in the 1980s, when she rose through the ranks at Chemical Bank and became the highest-paid woman in the banking industry. She is now the vice president of the private investment firm founded by her husband, Richard Rainwater, a man with a $2.3 billion net worth.

Darla Moore is also a heavy hitter outside the business world. She has served on a number of boards, both public and non-profit, and gained a reputation for her philanthropy as well. Moore is the largest donor to the University of South Carolina, having given $75 million since 1998.

A South Carolina native, Darla Moore earned her B.A. in political science in just three years at the University of South Carolina. In 1998, she gave $25 million to the university’s business school, which was renamed it the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina.

Despite her storming of the normally men-only world of banking and making a name for herself alongside many of the most important men in the private and non-profit worlds, Darla Moore avoids the spotlight.

”She loves to do her work under the radar. It’s the people around her she wants to highlight and put out there. She doesn’t want it to be about her,” Jim Fields, the executive director of the non-profit Palmetto Institute, told The Associated Press.

Darla Moore has also gained a reputation as someone who can get the job done, The Associated Press noted. Her ability to raise money and make difficult decision in the board room earned her the title of ”the toughest babe in business” from Fortune magazine.