Wessels, Maetzold to lead community foundation board
Linda Engh-Grady, president of the Whitefish Community Foundation, along with Ken Wessels, who has been appointed to serve as the foundation’s board chair, and Linda Maetzold, who will serve as board vice chair. (Photo by Holly T. Pierce)
The Whitefish Community Foundation starts off 2017 with a change in the foundation’s leadership.
Ken Wessels has been appointed by the board of directors to serve as the foundation’s board chair for the next two years with the option to serve a third year. Wessels joined the foundation’s board in 2011 and serves on the governance committee and investment committee. He will take over for David Dittman, president of First Interstate Bank who has served as the foundation’s board chair for the past three years. Dittman will continue to serve one more year as the foundation’s past chair.
Wessels moved to Whitefish full-time in 2008 with his wife Byrdie. He was attracted to Whitefish because of the warm inviting community and because it has the feel of a true western “town,” not a Vail or an Aspen. He enjoys fly fishing, golfing, and flying, and is a member of the Iron Horse Golf Club. Wessels has served on several nonprofit boards including Habitat for Humanity of Flathead Valley, Angel Flight, and Big Brothers and Sisters of Minneapolis. He is retired after a 30-year career in investment banking including CEO of Wessels, Arnold and Henderson from 1986 to 1998. He is a past board member and chairman of the National Association of Security Dealers, Washington D.C.
Wessels takes the reins of the foundation board at a high point in its development. Whitefish Community Foundation ended 2016 with record numbers in grants and asset growth. The foundation’s assets have increased to just over $20 million, with serious growth in the advised fund program, and grant awards last year totaling more than $4.2 million. The foundation currently holds over 80 donor advised, designated, and endowment funds. The 2016 Great Fish Community Challenge set a new record raising almost $1.5 million for 40 local charities and is set to expand to 45 for the 2017 campaign.
Linda Maetzold, owner of the Buffalo Café, has been nominated by the board as the foundation’s new vice chair. Maetzold has lived in Whitefish for 33 years. A University of Montana alumna, she and her husband Charlie moved their restaurant from Bigfork to Whitefish in 1983. They raised two sons, Alex and Andy, who joined the family business in 2008. She is a volunteer for Shepherds Hand Free Clinic and served as a trustee on the Whitefish School Board from 1996 to 2005.
The community foundation is also honored to welcome three new members to the board of directors who will serve a three-year renewable term: Jeff Allen, Joe Gregory, and Sherry Lesar. All three bring a tremendous amount of professional experience to the foundation serving on boards, business development, and working with nonprofits. The foundation now has 21 directors.
Wessels will work with foundation board president Linda Engh-Grady and the board of directors to increase the impact of the Great Fish Community Challenge scheduled to launch again July 20, expand the donor advised fund program, and broaden the Circle of Giving in order to increase the foundation’s grant programs.
The Whitefish Community Foundation, founded in 2000, is dedicated to fostering philanthropy, building endowments, and helping donors and nonprofits benefit our community. For more information or to contact the Foundation visit www.whitefishcommunityfoundation.org.