The Chamber Collaborative of Greater Portsmouth issued the following announcement on February 8.
OGUNQUIT, Maine – The Ogunquit Museum of American Art (OMAA) has added six new members to its board of directors with expertise including finance, fundraising, museum direction, and public relations. The Museum has also made changes to its executive committee by naming Carol Leary, PhD as President; Edward J. Newberry Esq. as Vice President; Allyson M. Cavaretta as Secretary; and Alan Shepard, Esq. as Treasurer. Leary, Newberry, Cavaretta, and Shephard were previously on the Museum’s board of directors.
The new members of the board are:
- Ashley Benecchi
- Richard Benefield
- Elizabeth Cutler
- Annie de Cossy Forsyth
- Javier Marin
- Karyn Sharf Morin
New Committee Member Profiles (in alphabetical order):
Ashley Benecchi
Ashley Bridges Benecchi is an award-winning long-form Editorial Producer for ABC News, with its documentary unit and with the 20/20 series. She has editorially produced many long-form specials—with a particular interest in civil rights and true crime documentaries. Ashley developed a love for art during her time as a student at Harvard University while taking an art history course and through volunteering with the Fogg Museum’s student art board.
Ashley has a passion for service and has served as a board member and gala chair for the Foundation for Mitochondrial Medicine (acquired by UMDF) and has served extensively on various committees for Harvard College, both with development and engagement, for the last decade. Ashley is experienced in narrative development, relationship development, and communications, and is also keenly interested in supporting the educational engagement of OMAA. Ashley earned a Master of Science from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in New York and a bachelor’s degree in Government from Harvard College.
Richard Benefield
Richard Benefield is executive director of the George Rickey Foundation and former executive director of The David Hockney Foundation. He has also served as deputy director and acting director of the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco where he organized David Hockney: A Bigger Exhibition and authored its accompanying catalogue. He is the Founding Executive Director of The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco and served as deputy director of the Harvard University Art Museums; assistant director of the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design; and administrator of the David Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University. He organized exhibitions on the work of Richard Neutra, Renzo Piano, many postwar American artists, as well as the 2016 retrospective of the work of fashion designer Oscar de la Renta. He has worked with living artists as diverse as Joan Snyder, Kiki Smith, and Ursula von Rydingsvard, Ellsworth Kelly, Pierre Hyughe, and David Hockney on exhibitions, publications, acquisitions, and commissions.
Richard developed strategic plans for most of the institutions where he was employed. In 2006 the strategic plan that he developed and authored for the Harvard University Art Museums led to the Harvard Corporation’s decision to approve the renovation and expansion of the Fogg Art Museum and commit $100 million to the project designed by Renzo Piano. At Harvard, Richard was financial dean of the Art Museums, the largest allied unit of the University, overseeing an endowment that grew from approximately $350 million in 1999 to more than $750 million in 2008. Richard has also executed a planning study for the University of Arizona and participated in numerous planning processes as a board member.
Richard received Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from Baylor University. In 1995 he received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree, the first ever awarded by the New England Conservatory of Music.
Elizabeth Cutler
Elizabeth has over 30 years of management experience in research, consulting, and event organizations. She has a proven track record of researching and identifying lines of business that are timely, relevant, financially successful, and demonstrate a clear customer value proposition.
Elizabeth is currently Manager of Content Development at IDG Communications, Inc., and Community Leader of ROAR. Elizabeth co-founded the AI in Biopharma Summit and Digital Events Series while Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Corey Lane Partners, LLC. Previously, Elizabeth was Managing Director, US Life Sciences and Pharma Verticals at Informa Connect. In this role, Elizabeth provided the vision, growth strategy and P&L management for a life science and pharma in-person and digital event business.
Believing that art and community involvement are key components of living a rewarding life, Elizabeth is a devoted Partner's Circle member of the Ogunquit Museum of American Art, has held the position of Treasurer on the board of the Arlington Children’s Theatre, and is the head of the Rotary Club of Ogunquit, public relations committee.
Annie de Cossy Forsyth
Annie’s career has focused on working in the nonprofit sector since her undergraduate studies. After years of institutional work, Annie founded Opus Advisors, LLC in Portsmouth New Hampshire in 2008 to align her experience and her interests. With more than 35 years of experience in nonprofit development and management, Annie has worked on projects both nationally and internationally leading teams that specialized in strategic planning, organizational assessments, feasibility studies, campaign, and major gift work. She has provided her clients with strategic direction in governance, management, fund development, communications, and long-range planning.
Annie has served on the Board of Trustees of the Southeast Land Trust of New Hampshire and the Board of Advisors at University of New Hampshire’s Museum of Art. She currently serves as Chair of the Nurturing Minds in Africa Board which provides strategic oversight and funding for a girl’s boarding school in Tanzania. Annie received her bachelor’s degree in Communications from Simmons College.
Javier Marin
Javier Marin is an entrepreneur, investor, and media proprietor. Javier founded El Planeta Media, the largest Latino owned news outlet in Massachusetts in 2004. In 2016, El Planeta Media purchased El Tiempo Latino, the largest Spanish news organization in Washington D.C with national reach. The news organization has content partnerships with The Washington Post, Financial Times, WBUR, BBC and NowThis News. Marin also holds a majority stake in Campeon Soccer, a Joint venture with Univision Communications that runs the ecommerce arm of Univision sports network.
Javier graduated from Webster University in the Netherlands, holds a Master of Science in Management from Hult International Business School, and is an alumnus of the Latino Business Action Network Program at Stanford University. He is currently part of 60th Cohort of the Owner/President Management Program at Harvard Business School.
Karyn Scharf Morin
Karyn Scharf Morin is a Senior Vice President at Partners Bank, overseeing the branch network and commercial deposits. She has spent her 30-year career in banking in the southern Maine and New Hampshire region, working for large and small banks. Karyn is also involved in her family’s business, Spring Hill, in South Berwick. Karyn has served on the Boards of the Center for Wildlife and the Sanford Springvale Chamber of Commerce and was a member of the Berwick Academy Alumni Council. She has a bachelor’s degree from Wheaton College and graduated from the Stonier Graduate School of Banking with a Wharton Leadership Certificate.
About the Ogunquit Museum of American Art
Opened in 1953, OMAA was founded by Lost Generation artist Henry Strater. Closely tied to one of the earliest art colonies of the American modernist art movement, OMAA today houses a permanent collection of paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, and photographs from the late 1800s to the present. The museum showcases American art by mounting seasonal modern and contemporary exhibition programs from May through October. OMAA’s seaside landscape—a three-acre sculpture park containing 18 small gardens—complements its exhibitions and overlooks Narrow Cove and the Atlantic Ocean. The museum is open May 1 through October 31. More information at www.ogunquitmuseum.org.
Original source can be found here.
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