Board of Directors
 

Officers

 

  

Mariette Geldenhuys,  Board Chair, has had her own Ithaca law firm since 1997 and prior to that was partner in the Ithaca law firm of Schlather, Geldenhuys, Stumbar & Salk.  Mariette has served as the City Attorney for the City of Ithaca. She served on the Boards of Directors of the Community School of Music and Arts and the Ballet Guild of Ithaca and has been a member of the Parish Pastoral Council and Social Justice Team of the Immaculate Conception Church.  Mariette is actively participating on the Tompkins County Family Court Custody Initiative Committee and has been involved in an initiative to make Collaborative Practice available to low income clients. She is a member of the National Family Law Advisory Council of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and Founder and Past President of the Ithaca Area Collaborative Law Professionals (IACLP). She speaks English, Afrikaans, German, Dutch, and French.
   
Mickie Sanders-Jauquet, Board Vice Chair, Community Impact Committee Chair, came to the area as a science teacher and is currently an active community volunteer. She served on several non-profit boards concerned with public education, advancing literacy and community building. As a planning board member for the Town of Romulus, she coordinated a new ordinance on the concerns of commercial dog breeding and is involved in creating farmland protection for the town. As a member of the grants committee, she envisions the Community Foundation connecting resources with critical needs in the community.

 

  
Kim Rothman,  Board Secretary, Nominating and Governance Committee Chair, is an associate at Miller Mayer, LLP and focuses her practice in the areas of real estate and trusts and estates, where she particularly enjoys working with clients on complex tax and estate planning matters. Kim is a founding member of the Finger Lakes Women's Bar Association and currently serves as the Treasurer of the organization. Kim serves on the board of Habitat for Humanity of Tompkins County and the Estate Planning Council of Tompkins County.  She is also an active member of the New York State and Tompkins County Bar Associations and the Cornell Cooperative Extension Master Composter Program. She earned her law degree from Harvard Law School, and her undergraduate degree from Cornell University, where she spent many wonderful hours on the inlet, as a member of the women's crew team.

 

  
David Squires, Board Treasurer, Financial Administration Committee Chair, has served as the Chief Financial Officer for Tompkins County Government since 1992. A transplanted New Orleanian, David moved to New York in 1988 to serve as Budget Director for Dutchess County .He serves on the board of several local development corporations, and volunteers his culinary skills to the Kitchen Theatre where his spouse Rachel Lampert is the artistic director.

 

  
 

Board Members

   

Beverly Baker,  Nominating and Governance committee, a native Ithacan and a graduate of Ithaca College , is President of Baker Travel , Inc. She is a member (and often past president) of numerous organizations including the Ithaca Rotary Club and the Friends of Ithaca College. She is a Trustee at TC3 and serves on several other boards. Her honors include: 1995 Distinguished Alumni (Ithaca College); Distinguished Citizen of the Year in 1998; life membership of the Chamber of Commerce; the Tompkins Trust Company's Award of Excellence; Rotary International's Four Avenues of Service award; and Philanthropist of the Year. Beverly gives generously of her time, talent and resources to our community and is currently involved in helping to beautify Ithaca.
   
Fred Ballantyne, Development Committee, moved to the area in 2005 to become a wealth management advisor in TIAA-CREF's (Teacher's Insurance and Annuity Association, College Retirement Equities Fund) newly-opened Ithaca office. A graduate of SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, he spent more than 18 years in management positions with Agway Inc. He became a financial advisor with Morgan Stanley in 1996 and earned Certified Financial Planner designation in 2003 before joining TIAA-CREF in 2005. He previously served on the board of Chadwick Residence, a facility offering long-term transitional housing to women in Syracuse, NY. He and his wife, Helene, have two grown daughters and one grandson.
   
Percy Browning, Development Committee, has served on chamber orchestra and theater boards for 30 years in Kentucky, Connecticut and Maine before moving to Ithaca in 1995. While in Kentucky she raised four children, all of whom subsequently married and produced 14 grandchildren. Her youngest son Peter lives in the Ithaca area with 4 of her "grands" and runs Viva Taqueria! Percy has been on the Kitchen Theatre Board since 1996. She also served on the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra board from 1996 to 2001 and was President for 3 years. She is also on the board of Planned Parenthood of the Southern Finger Lakes. Her many associations with Cornell University include co-reunion chair for her class, Advisory Councils for the College of Arts and Sciences and the Womens' Chorus, and House Maintenance Officer for her sorority, Pi Beta Phi.

 

  
Caroline Cox, Public Affairs Committee Co-Chair, has been a resident of the Ithaca area for 40 years, Caroline has had the good fortune of working in fund raising at both Cornell University and Ithaca College. In that time, she has also served on several community boards, especially in support of the arts. In addition to the Community Foundation, she currently serves on the boards of Suicide Prevention and Crisis Service, the Suicide Prevention Foundation, and the Tompkins County Library Foundation. Caroline retired as director of major gifts from Ithaca College in 2007, giving her and her husband Gerry the opportunity to spend time with their four children and grandson, and to enjoy occasional travel. Twenty-five years ago, as the administrative director of Cornell's graduate program in public administration, Caroline was impressed by the work of community foundations. Now, she is very pleased to be a part of Tompkins County's own community foundation.
   
Mary Pat Dolan, Community Impact Committee, retired in late 2003 after nearly 20 years as the Commissioner of the county's Social Services department.  She has served on and led numerous not-for-profit boards. She feels that as a public foundation, the Community Foundation provides everyone an opportunity to insure vitality of its non-profit institutions long into the future, while responding to critical issues in our own time. She has seen first hand the vital role not-for-profit entities play in the fabric of our community, particularly for the most vulnerable of its citizens. Mary Pat received an MSW from Marywood University and a BA from LeMoyne College . She and her husband, Dave Kerness reside in Ulysses; their two grown daughters live on the West Coast .  
   
Jean L. Gortzig, Development Committee Chair, first Chair of the Women's Fund committee where she continues to serve as a Special Advisor, is retired from Cornell University, where she served as Director of Major Gifts in the Office of Alumni Affairs and Development. At the Foundation she is active on the Development Committee and the Nominating and Board Governance Committee. Jean has a 40 year association with Planned Parenthood of Tompkins County and is one of the founders of the organization.  She has a long and varied history of involvement with Planned Parenthood, including serving as interim director. She serves on the Advisory Council of the History Center in Tompkins County.  For 12 years she was an active member on the Board of Directors of Ithacare/Longview.  Jean and her husband Carl, Professor Emeritus of Horticulture and Director Emeritus Cornell Plantations, have lived in Ithaca since 1965.  Separately and together they are committed to philanthropy and civic involvement in the community that they believe has so greatly enriched their lives.
   

Howard Hartnett, Development Committee member, Financial Administration Committee member, Vice President and Regional Manager of M&T Investment group for M&T Bank's Southern Division.  He has spent his entire professional career in Tompkins County and has worked on many not-for-profit boards including the Tompkins County Public Library Foundation and Tompkins County Area Development.  Howard has enjoyed many years as a volunteer in local philanthropy and created one of the first Community Foundation donor advised funds.  He was an incorporating board member of the Community Foundation and feels it is an effective vehicle to increase charitable giving in Tompkins County.
 
Linda Madeo, New Board Member
   
Nina Miller, Development Committee member, retired in 2007 after 12 years as Executive Director of Hospicare and Palliative Care Services of Tompkins County.  She also served as Executive Director of Suicide Prevention and Crisis Service from 1973 to 1986, and was Interim Director of Planned Parenthood of Tompkins County for a brief period.  She also spent several years writing short fiction.  Miller has lived in Ithaca since 1964, when she moved here with her husband, a clinical psychologist, now deceased.  She has three adult children and three granddaughters, and a small Schnoodle named Poochini..  She also serves on the Boards of Directors of Cinemapolis and Small Comforts, and is a long-standing member of the Kendal Ethics Committee.
   
George A. Ridenour, Public Affairs Committee member, Community Impact Committee member, is owner of NEXUS Associates, an executive and technical search firm primarily supporting the recruitment programs of client companies in central New York State.  Previously, George served in overseas assignments with the US Agency for International Development, as Director of Admissions and Student Affairs for the Graduate School of Management at Cornell, and as Vice President of the Environmental Fund in Washington, DC  George comes from a family with a longstanding history of community and civic involvement. In the Spring of 2002, The Ridenour Family Fund was established at the Community Foundation to facilitate the family's charitable giving to deserving organizations. With a particular interest in long-term care for the elderly and end-of-life issues, George also serves on the Board of Directors of Hospicare and Palliative Services of Tompkins County.
   
John Rogers, Community Impact Committee member, is an independent construction consultant with 20 years experience in affordable housing work at INHS where many local community connections were established and nourished. He has served on boards of the Finger Lakes Land Trust, Cayuga Trails Club, On Site Volunteer Services, Greenstar Coop, and an inter-municipal youth service agency. He served as a trustee for the Village of Trumansburg and has led international wilderness outings with the Sierra Club. John's married to Claudia Stoscheck and they have two children who they have taught to live lightly, be well traveled, and be in touch with nature. John wishes to help promote local philanthropy and connect this gracious giving with local community needs.
   
Diane Shafer, Public Affairs Committee Co-Chair, Women's Fund , is a full-time community volunteer.  Diane and her family moved back to Ithaca from Connecticut in 1997.  Prior to this move, she worked extensively with educational associations and not-for-profit organizations, including service as president of the New Canaan Community Foundation.  Locally, Diane served as the board president of the Family Reading Partnership, and is board president of the United Way of Tompkins County and the leader and co-creator of its Youth and Philanthropy Leadership Project.  Diane believes strongly in the ability of a Community Foundation to strengthen a community's capacity to address all areas of needs and concerns within that community.  

 

  
 

Professional Staff

George P. Ferrari, Jr., Executive Director, has been a committed and active participant in our Tompkins County community since 1980 with a special focus on nonprofit organizations that combine alleviating individual suffering with working for societal change. He strongly believes in the potential for good and for community problem-solving and the obligation for all to work for a more just society. He combines academic knowledge, community resources, and practical experience, so that a shared moral vision may be crafted which can guide our community to bring greater health to individuals, more justice to our economic and legal institutions and wisdom to our personal and collective decisions. George has been committed to building a stronger community through leadership employment at Suicide Prevention and Crisis Service, AIDS WORK of Tompkins County , and Catholic Charities. In addition, his extensive and varied volunteer board experience gives him a great vantage point from which to strategically plan for organizational development in a changing environment. George lives in the City of Ithaca with his partner Daniel Hirtler and Daniel's daughter Aryana.

   

Janet Cotraccia, Program Officer, joined us in the fall of 2007. She joins us part-time, after an eight year stint as a stay-at-home mom. During that time she has been an active member of local non-profit boards. Janet has a bachelors degree in Social Work from RIT and a Master's Degree in Public Administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. She came to Ithaca in 1997 to work as the Assistant Director of Finance at the Franziska Racker Centers. Janet has been active in advocating for individuals with developmental disabilities, low-income families, as well as in community building.  She is excited to build on the philanthropic vision of the Foundation and to play an active role in supporting local non-profits and this community. Her husband, Tony Cotraccia, is a psychotherapist in private practice. They enjoy raising their two daughters in this thriving community.

 

  
Amy LeViere, Executive Assistant