News & Stories

Welcoming Four New Board Directors

[Image description: A collage of headshots of our new board directors, including (from left to right) John Bercini, Kira Davis (top); Barbara Matthews, Ann Strehle (bottom).]

The Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation is welcoming four new community members to its Board of Directors, the organization’s voluntary governing body comprised of individuals from across its service area of Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, and Leelanau Counties and the sovereign nation of the Grand Traverse Band of Chippewa and Ottawa Indians. New Community Foundation board directors include Barbara Matthews (Antrim), Ann Strehle (Benzie), John Bercini (Grand Traverse), and Kira Davis (Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Leelanau).

John Bercini was born in Dowagiac, MI. He attended Western Michigan University and graduated with a B.S. and M.A. in Political Science. Based in Chicago, he spent over 30 years on Wall Street representing money managers such as Nicholas Applegate, Alliance Bernstein, and Eaton Vance. He spent the last 10 years as a Senior Vice President for the Roosevelt Investment Group. In 2013, John and his spouse, Rebecca relocated to Traverse City full-time so they could live where they vacationed many times. Now fully retired, John is Treasurer for the Board of Trustees for Peninsula Community Library and Board Secretary for the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy. He resides with his spouse Rebecca on Old Mission Peninsula.

Kira Davis joined the National Parks Conservation Association in 2022, a national bipartisan nonprofit formed over 100 years ago to protect our National Parks. Kira brings over two decades of experience in conservation with an emphasis on water quality, wetlands, wildlife protection, and Tribal and federal policy work within the Great Lakes Region. Kira is a Tribal citizen of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and serves on the Grand Traverse Band’s Natural Resource and Environmental Committee. She is also one of the fiscal co-chairs for the Healing Our Water Coalition, which is 180+ members strong and has a mission to protect the Great Lakes in perpetuity.

Barbara Matthews is a seasoned executive with over 30 years of international leadership and business experience spanning a variety of business cycles and major corporate transformations. Barbara was most recently Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary of Hagerty and a member of Hagerty’s executive team. She was a co-leader of the team that took Hagerty public through the recently completed SPAC merger and was instrumental in creating and developing Hagerty’s public and private Board, which is well recognized for its effective governance practices. Barbara has served on several for-profit, nonprofit, and government boards and resides in Elk Rapids.

Ann Strehle is a retired physical therapist from Nebraska who moved to Benzie County from Chicago in 1992. She graduated from the University of Nebraska and the Northwestern University Graduate School. She and her spouse, Barb Skurdall, opened Mobility Now Physical Therapy and provided home care services to all socioeconomic groups in seven counties in Northern Michigan. Ten years later, they opened an outpatient clinic in downtown Beulah. Ann was active on the state and district boards of the American Physical Therapy Association in both Nebraska and Chicago and was Board President of the Benzie Area Symphony Orchestra. Ann currently serves as Board President for the Darcy Library of Beulah.

“We’re proud to have John, Kira, Barbara, and Ann join our board,” said David Mengebier, President and CEO of the Community Foundation. “Each of them brings important knowledge, experience, skills, and talents that will aid our mission now and into the future.”

To learn more about the Community Foundation’s Board of Directors, visit: www.gtrcf.org/about/board-of-directors.