SILVER SPRING, Md—The Montgomery Parks Foundation Board of Trustees elected Theresa Cameron and Kelly Groff to three year terms on the governing body at its March 28 meeting. The appointments were approved on April 19 by the Montgomery County Planning Board. The Montgomery Parks Foundation, a 501 c (3) charitable organization, is a champion for M-NCPPC Montgomery Parks, promoting the values and benefits of the park system to residents and policy-makers and raising private sector revenue to help it preserve and enhance its award-winning status.
“Both Kelly and Theresa are well-connected in the County, bring an incredible amount of local experience and appreciate well the importance of our parks to what attracts businesses and residents to our county,” indicated Joseph Isaacs, President of the Board of Trustees of the Montgomery Parks Foundation. “Their insights into our community will help the Foundation enormously as we identify private sources of revenue to support the preservation and improvement of our parks at a time when tax revenues are limited and appropriations to parks cannot meet the demands.”
Theresa Cameron is the Manager of Local Arts Agency Services at Americans for the Arts, where she develops and implements programs and services to strengthen the area’s 5,000 local arts agencies. Previously, Cameron served for 10 years as the CEO of the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County (AHCMC), overseeing the operations of this $4 million quasi-governmental agency. Prior to joining AHCMC, she was manager of corporate and foundation relations at the Association of University Women Educational Foundation and held a post with the National Endowment for the Arts.
Cameron brings considerable board experience to the Montgomery Parks Foundation Board of Trustees, having chaired the Maryland Association of Nonprofits Board, Maryland Citizens for the Arts and the Silver Spring Arts and Entertainment District Advisory Committee. She also served on the Boards of the Montgomery County Conference and Visitor’s Bureau and the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce. She is a graduate of the Leadership Maryland and Leadership Montgomery programs and was named one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women.
Kelly Groff was appointed Director of the Conference and Visitors Bureau of (CVB) of Montgomery County, Maryland in 1994. Prior to joining the CVB, she served as an Economic Development Specialist in the Tourism division of the Baltimore County Department of Economic Development. Groff began her career in 1985 as a travel trade development officer with the Baltimore City Office of Promotion and Tourism. Following this position, she worked as the director of catering and room sales at the Admiral Fell Inn in Baltimore’s Fells Point, and then as director of sales for the new Clarion Inn at Pier 5 at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.
A native Marylander, Groff was an Adjunct Professor with the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Department of Hotel Management at the Universities at Shady Grove. She taught Eco & Cultural Tourism and Hospitality and Leisure Services Marketing.
The Montgomery Parks Foundation provides opportunities for county residents and businesses to support Montgomery Parks as members, donors, sponsors, and advocates, and actively seeks individual donations, sponsorships, legacy gifts, and endowments to support park operations, development and maintenance.