Board of Directors

Carol Flate Gerken

Director, LCA Board of Directors

Currently, I am a principal of Wingate Enterprises Consulting in Meredith, NH with my husband, Richard, a former corporation lawyer. My primary focus is working with nonprofit organizations.

Previously I served as Executive Director of Interlakes Community Caregivers Inc and before that as the Director of the Inter – Lakes Senior Center, Meredith.

Before relocation to Meredith in 2001, l was employed by the Du Page Children’s Museum in Wheaton and Naperville, Illinois. My responsibilities included management of the Museum store, facilitator and trainer in customer services for staff and volunteers, and as special events planner and fundraiser.

In 2001, I was named a founding member of the President’s Council at Plymouth State University where I served 5 terms, active on the Executive and Campaign Steering Committees, and as the President’s Council liaison to the PSU Alumni Board of Directors.

As members of the Town of Meredith, NH, Community Center Search Committee, my husband, Richard, and I were active in a private fundraising campaign a unique initiative that combined both municipal and private funding that effectively brought the Meredith Community Center to fruition in 2006.

In 2007-2009, I co-chaired the Page Pond and Forest Campaign Committee. This committee coordinated private fundraising along with securing state and municipal funding and grants to successfully conserve more than 600+ acres of forested land in Meredith. In 2018, we conserved an additional 200 acres. I coordinated the fundraising efforts for the Laverack Nature Trail at Hawkins Brook which opened in 2020.

A graduate of Leadership Lakes Region, and I am active in the Lakes Region community as a member of ALTRUSA International of Meredith, Community Garden Club of Meredith, Meredith’s 250th Committee. Appointed to the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation Lakes Region Board and elected to a second 3 year term and serve as a Lector at Trinity Episcopal Church. My focus now is furthering the mission of the Lakes Center for the Arts.

Along with 2 other community members, I was privileged to be honored by the Rotary Club of Meredith with their first “Service Above Self” community service award in 2009. In 2018, the Wicwas Lake Grange #292, named me “Citizen of the Year”.

Katheryn Rolfe

Non-Profit Work: Chair of Lakes Center for The Arts, Vice President of The Greater Meredith Program, Original and Current Member of The Meredith Sculpture Walk, Past Director Meredith Area Chamber of Commerce, Past President Mill Falls Merchant Association

Work History: Owner/Operator, Oglethorpe Fine Arts & Crafts (1994-2020)
Asst. Director of Passenger Services, Mount Washington Cruises
Sales/Design, Ippolito’s Furniture

Current: Sales/Design & Asst. Sales and Training Manager, Ippolito’s Furniture
(2020 to current)

Katheryn has local roots in The Lakes Region of New Hampshire, growing up in Laconia and currently a resident of Moultonborough. In 1994, Katheryn co-founded Oglethorpe Fine Arts and Crafts and continued to operate as a sole proprietor from 2004 until 2020 at Mill Falls Marketplace in Meredith. This local business showcased and promoted the works of hundreds of American artists and was voted a Top 100 Retailer of American Craft by Niche Magazine. Since closing her business, she has returned to Ippolito’s Furniture, her previous employer, where she is able to assist customers with home interiors and furnishings.

Katheryn continues to be a community volunteer in Meredith and distinguishes herself as a leader promoting local artists and businesses that promote the arts. As a member of The Meredith Sculpture Walk, celebrating 10 years in 2023, Katheryn is an integral committee member bringing a new and fresh exhibit to Meredith every year. Katheryn has long time involvement with The Greater Meredith Program, a non-profit development organization promoting and enhancing economic vitality, townwide beautification and cultural heritage. This organization has many committees of which she is involved at differing levels. Additionally, she was a four term member of the Board of Directors for the Meredith Area Chamber of Commerce and previous 20 plus year President of the Mill Falls Merchant Association, which she continues to act as manager for today, even after closing Oglethorpe.

Katheryn’s involvement with LCA began as a conversation with a small group of artists, and artist appreciators looking toward building a diverse, skilled and connected community of Lakes Region and Central New Hampshire artists and artisans.

Paul Foote

Director, LCA Board of Directors

Paul is happy to be a Board member of the LCA, which gives him the opportunity to support and promote the arts in the Lakes Region. As a local mixed-media artist, Paul has been actively exhibiting his work at various venues around the Lakes Region. He is a former member of the Lakes Region Artists Association in Tilton, NH and AVA Gallery in Lebanon, NH.

Before he became a fulltime artist, Paul spent 45 years in the semiconductor industry as a Mixed-Signal Layout Design Engineer until his retirement in 2022.
When he isn’t creating art, Paul enjoys fishing, gardening, cooking and traveling with his wife, Colleen. For more information about Paul and his art visit PaulFooteArtist.com.

Lawrence (Larry) Frates

Director, LCA Board of Directors

Larry Frates is the Creative Arts Consultant at Prescott Farm Environmental Education Center in Laconia, New Hampshire. He also served six years as the Artist In Residence at the Historic Belknap Mill. Prior to this he was the Art Director at the Frates Creative Arts Center. His work in the Public Schools of NH included: Integrated Arts Curriculum Coordinator in Laconia, Art Director for the Moultonborough Schools, Art Instructor in both Canterbury and Gilford Middle High School.
His paintings have been exhibited in Europe during his Fulbright Exchange year to the Orkney Islands as well as the Smithsonian, Indiana University, University of Massachusetts, and Massachusetts College of Art and Design. He is also known through out New England as a magician and caricature artist.

Ronald Jonash

Secretary, LCA Board of Directors

Ron has been a member of the Board of LCA for four years and is also on the Board of the Greater Meredith Program and a member of the Meredith Sculpture Walk Installation teams that installs 20+ new sculptures around the town of Meredith every year. He has been involved with the LCA since the earliest days when they were actively pursuing the Annalee site and facility as an art center next to the Winnipesaukee Playhouse. He has actively led the successful grant funding efforts with both the New Hampshire CDFA and the New Hampshire Council for the Arts.

Ron is also chairman of the Board of the Global Innovation Management Institute and a senior partner of the Center for Innovation Excellence and Leadership. He was previously head of the the global Innovation and Technology Management Practices of Arthur D. Little and then the Monitor Group based in Cambridge. He has degrees in economics and finance, in engineering systems and a Masters of Fine Arts in Architecture from Princeton University and continues to teach at several universities and write books on Innovation and Business Creativity.

Karen Jonash

Director, LCA Board of Directors

Karen is an artist and educator and has taught Fine Arts, Ceramics, Sculpture and Mixed Media at Public Schools in Massachusetts as well as Holderness and New Hampton schools. Prior to becoming a teacher Karen worked in Advertising for 15 years as a Media Director and Advertising Executive. She earned her BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art and an MFA from Syracuse University, concentrating in Ceramic Sculpture. Her art studio is in Meredith and she exhibits her work at regional and national shows.

Karen has been involved with the Lakes Center for the Arts for the past 3 years, creating and managing the Meet the Artist program at the Lakes Regions libraries. Karen is also an active member of the Meredith Sculpture Walk Committee and is a docent during the summer.

Her belief is that “Art is a birthright of humanity and all humans should have an opportunity to engage with the experience of art in satisfying ways.”

Deirdre “Dee” Cahill

Director, LCA Board of Directors

Dee’s passion for art and design and a belief that there was a need to establish a non- profit organization to help facilitate, support and market art in the Lakes Region motivated her to join the LCA Board in March of 2024.
Dee has a BFA in Graphic Design and a BA in Art History from Boston University. In her early career she worked as a Graphic Designer and Interior Designer until transitioning to the Hospitably Industry.
Dee spent 30 + years in hotel sales and marketing roles for hotels in Boston & Cambridge MA, Providence RI, ME and NH until retiring from hospitality in 2022.
In 2022, Dee joined Ippolito’s Furniture in Meredith NH as a Sales/Design Consultant.
She moved to the Lakes Region, full-time, with her husband in 2016.