By Curt Detjen
President and CEO

I have some important Community Foundation staff and strategic direction updates to share with you.

Marti Hemwall

Marti Hemwall, Vice President Community Engagement, has announced her retirement date of July 31, 2018, after working more than 10 years at the Community Foundation. We greatly appreciate Marti’s years of dedicated leadership and her thoughtful approach to working with our local nonprofit organizations. She joined the Foundation during a time of rapid growth and was involved in helping the Foundation address complex community issues through strategic, proactive and collaborative grantmaking. In 2015, the Board of Directors established a strategic goal that the Foundation leverage and share updates and insights on emerging community needs. Marti helped transform the Foundation’s unrestricted grant program into the Bright Idea Fund grant program. Marti’s Foundation role was a second career for her after completing more than two decades at Lawrence University.

“I credit the real change in our community to the amazing leaders in the nonprofit sector and across the community and I feel privileged to have worked with many of them. I’m excited to see how a new generation of ideas and leaders will make a difference in the community.” – Marti Hemwall

When Marti let me know about her retirement intentions several months ago, we needed to consider how to build upon her successes for the future. The goals in the Foundation’s strategic plan provide the direction: Grow philanthropy by sharing community knowledge and opportunities for change in engaging and inspiring ways. To help the Foundation continue along this path, an experienced member of our leadership team will be moving into this role.

Tammy Williams

Tammy Williams, the Foundation’s Vice President of Communications and Marketing, will transition to Vice President of Community Engagement on Aug. 1. Tammy will lead the Foundation’s strategically focused efforts to enhance donor and community partnerships resulting in community change, as well as overseeing communications and marketing functions. During her 19 years with the Foundation, Tammy has been involved in nearly all aspects of the Foundation’s work. Tammy understands the Foundation’s mission and our region well, and her passion for both are part of her DNA.

David Horst

Another aspect of the Foundation’s strategic direction includes focusing on environmental causes and needs in the community. David Horst, who has been with the Community Foundation for 15 years as a communications specialist and environmental grants manager, will lead a heightened effort to create, enhance and sustain relationships with donors who are interested in environmental causes. In addition, he will lead activities that encourage partnerships and giving resulting in greater environmentally related engagement among diverse community groups. David has a clear, long-time passion for environmental causes, and we are excited to have him begin his new role on Aug. 1.

Soon we will post openings on our website for two marketing and communications positions and a new position in the community engagement area.

All of us in the Community Foundation family wish Marti all the best as she begins an exciting new chapter in her life, and we’re grateful for all she’s accomplished during her entire working career.

Your Community Foundation team is excited about how giving is thriving in our region, and we continue to be committed to improving our service to donors and helping our region move toward even brighter days ahead.

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