The Whip
Senator Menard currently serves as the Majority Whip of the Massachusetts State Senate, and has done so since 2003 when she was appointed by the President of the Senate.
The Majority Whip is a key leadership position responsible for building support among fellow senators on issues. This is not the first time in her career that Senator Menard has served as the Whip - when she was in the House of Representatives, she broke barriers and became the first woman ever to serve as the Majority Whip in Massachusetts.
The actual title of "Whip" comes to us from England, as it is drawn from the British fox hunting term "whipper in," which would be the person responsible for keeping the foxhounds from leaving the pack. The Whip title was first used in the British House of Commons in the late 1700s to describe the members of Parliament responsible for "mobilizing votes."
For more information about the history of the Whip, please visit the United States Senate's "Learning about the Senate" website.