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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 5, 2006
Contact:
, Austin Public Library, (512) 974-7528
Fax: (512) 974-7442
Austin Public Library Foundation Moving Forward with a New Executive Director, a Newly Elected Board President and
New Board Members
Austin, Texas—December 5, 2006—The Austin Public Library Foundation (APLF), a non-profit organization whose mission is to help support and strengthen Austin’s public libraries, announced today the hiring of a new Executive Director, and the names of three new board members that will join the new Board President and the Board’s 26 other industry professionals in advocating for Austin’s local libraries.
Lois Kim, Gabriele Madison, and Teresa Oppedal will join the current Board of Directors in volunteering their unique expertise to the collective talent of the Board, while following the lead of President, Eric Behrens and Executive Director, Mary Beth Harrington.
“Our city holds the public library as a vital, fundamental service,” Eric Behrens stated. “That has been shown yet again by the landslide vote in favor of a new Central Library at the site of the former Green water treatment plant.” He added that the Foundation has embarked on raising money for an endowment that will provide additional funds for the new central library’s operations and special programs on an ongoing basis, and that will enable the library to provide additional support for the city’s already-strong branch library system.
The Foundation’s Board of Directors utilizes the professional knowledge of each of the members to set the vision for the Library Foundation that are essential in producing awareness and funding for Austin’s Libraries.
About the Executive Director:
Mary Beth Harrington, was hired at the beginning of November 2006 as the Executive Director of the Austin Public Library Foundation. Prior to her work at APLF, she was Director of Development for the Volunteer Center of North Texas as well as Volunteer Coordinator for the Dallas Public Library. An advocate for the nonprofit world, Mary Beth has presented issues facing our nonprofit community at conferences and events throughout the U.S. Previous to her experience in nonprofit management, Mary Beth spent the first ten years of her career in the public relations and advertising field where she promoted both national and local clients.
About the President:
Eric Behrens, is the newly elected President for the Foundation's Board of Directors, and has previously served as its Vice President for Development. He has been an attorney with Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody since 1985, after graduating from the University of Texas School of Law. Behrens has served on several charitable boards in the Austin community, and joined the Foundation's Board of Directors in 2002.
About the New Members:
Lois Kim, is an assistant director with University Extension, part of the Division of Continuing Education at The University of Texas at Austin. Her work focuses on providing the resources of the University to teachers, adult learners, and the general Austin community. Lois started her career as a high school teacher, before heading to Texas to pursue her M.A. and Ph.D. in English from The University of Texas at Austin. She is currently serving as co-chair of "Texas Tales," the Library Foundation's annual fundraiser.
Gabriele Madison, is the Vice President, Human Resources, for one of the Austin based Harcourt Education Group business units. She and her husband moved to Austin from California in 1995, and she joined Harcourt in 1996. Prior to relocating to Austin, Gabriele worked for a number of companies in California where she gained extensive experience in negotiations, employee relations, insurance, and employment legal and regulatory requirements. Gabriele has served on the board of Family Connections and has been a long time supporter of the Austin Public Library Foundation before being elected to the Board.
Teresa Oppedal, worked for over twenty years as a law librarian and information resources manager in San Francisco for the international law firm of Morrison & Foerster. She retired upon moving to Austin with her family in 2000. She is currently on the Advisory Board of the Austin Museum of Art, and an active volunteer at St. Stephen's Episcopal School. In 2005, she was the co-chair for the very successful “Texas Tales,” the Library Foundation’s annual fundraiser which featured the actor Tommy Lee Jones, and other artists from the literary and film community.
About the Austin Public Library Foundation
The Austin Public Library Foundation is a non-profit 501(c) (3) corporation founded in 1995 to increase public awareness about the Library and its importance to the community, and to enhance Library collections, programs and services through financial support. The Foundation has received major gifts from The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the RGK Foundation, and from Advanced Micro Devices, the Austin Community Foundation, Bank of America, Bingo Books, the Dell Foundation, Harcourt Supplemental (Steck-Vaughn), H-E-B, The Junior League of Austin, the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Foundation, the SBC Foundation, the Topfer Family Foundation, Tokyo Electron, the Still Water Foundation, and the Webber Family Foundation.
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