Fall 2009 eNews: InterNetzo
Board of Directors: Fond Farewells and Warm Greetings

By Seth Brenzel

Like most other arts and education organizations, The Walden School is led and supported by a Board of Directors, consisting of members of Walden’s constituencies (parents, alumni, faculty, Monadnock Region) and other interested and dedicated supporters. Walden has been fortunate to have the service of three terrific directors who have recently completed their terms of service:

Michael Cornog (Nelson, New Hampshire) is the former headmaster of Dublin School and first brought Walden to our current home. He has provided sage advice about school operations and helped connect Walden to many friends in the Monadnock Region. Michael’s daughter, Sarah, a Walden alumna, has also served on our board.

Robin Kenney (Peterborough, New Hampshire) has ably led our board’s Development Committee over the past several years. He has worked alongside Esther Landau, our Director of Development, in expanding our fundraising and alumni programs, and we are so grateful for his leadership on our board and in our community.

Susan Rosen (San Francisco, California), mother of Michael Rosen, Walden alumnus, has been a terrific presence in our board community, sponsoring and helping to host fundraising and alumni events in the Bay Area and providing counsel and friendship to those of us in the San Francisco administrative office.

Please join me in thanking each of them for their – literally – hundreds of hours of volunteer service and for the many contributions each of them has made. We hope to stay in close touch with them, and Walden will always welcome them as friends in our community.

Walden is extremely fortunate to have found five wonderful, new directors to join the board this year, each for three-year terms. Indeed, this is a record number of new directors to join the board in one year, and we could not be more excited about our new additions:

Carol Brown (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is the mother of Walden faculty member and alumna, Eliza Brown. Carol currently serves as President and Executive Director (acting) of Philadelphia Sinfonia, a 100-member youth orchestra, which recently completed a tour to Argentina. She is also a self-taught fiber artist whose work has been exhibited in Philadelphia and Chicago.

Arno Drucker (Baltimore, Maryland) is active as a pianist and a music teacher in the Baltimore area. He holds degrees in piano performance from the Eastman School of Music and the Peabody Conservatory. He has been a soloist with the Baltimore, National, Chautauqua, New Haven, and Augusta Symphony Orchestras, and has presented solo recitals in various U.S. cities. Arno is the author of “American Piano Trios: A Resource Guide,” published by Scarecrow Press. His son, David, served on Walden’s board and faculty, and is himself a Walden alumnus.

Thomas Ewing (Keene, New Hampshire) is chairman and publisher of Keene Publishing Corporation, a news media company, which publishes The Keene Sentinel and SentinelSource. Tom has served on the boards and executive committees of New Hampshire Public Radio, the New Hampshire Humanities Council, and Leadership New Hampshire. Prior to coming to Keene, he was a partner at a law firm practicing international securities and general corporate law in New York City.

Corty Fengler (San Mateo, California) brings extensive non-profit organizational experience to Walden’s board. She has served as the Director of Development for the San Francisco Symphony, recently retired from the staff of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco as Canon for Development, and is currently on the board of Chorus America serving as Development Committee chair. She is an active musician, singing alto with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus.

Noël Theodosiou (London, England) is the founder and director of Luminous, a consulting firm working in the areas of business strategy, innovation, brand development, and planning. She has consulted in this field for fifteen years, and her past clients include Coca-Cola, Ford Motor Company, and Bank of America, among others. She is an Honors graduate of Swarthmore College, with a double major in Music and History. Originally from Boston, Noël is a violinist and chamber musician.

Corty, Arno, Noël, Tom and Carol participated in the board’s annual meeting in July in Dublin, New Hampshire, and already they are each making important contributions to our board and to Walden. We welcome them warmly, and look forward to their future participation and contributions.

In additional news, Walden’s Board Chair for the past four years, Ellen Bernard, has recently completed her term as Chair. Under Ellen’s leadership, Walden completed its first of several annual audited financial statements, created its second Strategic Plan, expanded the size of its board of directors, transitioned to having two full-time administrative staff, and nurtured and strengthened its programs. Her leadership has been exemplary, and fortunately, while she transitions out of her position as board chair, she will remain a board member. All of us involved with Walden and its board thank her for her leadership, her hospitality and her dedicated service.

John O’Meara, who has been a member of Walden’s board for five years, was elected chair in July at the board’s annual meeting. John’s wife Mary Anne, a former Walden board member, attended the Junior Conservatory Camp and his daughter Caroline attended Walden. We are fortunate to have John’s extensive non-profit board experience, as well as his ample business leadership experience, as Walden takes on its next set of challenges and growth goals. In other board election news, Andrew Jacobs now serves as Vice-Chair, and Molly Pindell as Secretary, while Leslie Stephens remains as Treasurer.

Walden’s Board of Directors serves a vital function for the organization, stewarding the School’s long-range planning, overseeing its operations and ensuring that Walden thrives well into the future. Walden is blessed by the dedication and volunteerism of its current, 15-member board of directors, as well as its three Emeriti Directors and the dozens of past members of the board.

For more information about the Board of Directors, you can click here.

Copyright 2007-2010, The Walden School, All Rights Reserved.

Carol Brown

Arno Drucker

Tom Ewing

Corty Fengler

Noël Theodosiou