The RiverArts Board is happy to announce the selection of Jodi Bortz as RiverArts’ new Executive Director. Jodi has done a great job as KidSPOT coordinator for the last six months, and since the beginning of February, she has served as the interim executive director.
The search committee, headed by board member Ronnie Edelman, recommended Jodi as the committee’s choice after reaching out to potential applicants via local and regional press releases, ads and arts and non-profit contacts. Ronnie shared, “Jodi brings management experience and love of the arts to the multifaceted position of Executive Director of RiverArts. We look forward to working with her.” The board voted unanimously to support the search committee’s recommendation, which will become effective on Monday, March 30.
Jodi has deep roots in Kent County where she grew up and graduated from Kent County High School. Local freelance illustrator Robbi Behr was a classmate and good friend of Jodi and had this to say about her. “Jodi is creative to the core, and her passion for the arts and all creative endeavors has been a part of her life since we spent our geeky after-school time together as creative problem solvers in Odyssey of the Mind through middle and high school. But though her resumé might suggest a bias towards music, she has consistently applied that dedication to other arts – currently manifesting itself in a creative line of beautifully handcrafted flute accessories and a patent-pending product design for a pretty revolutionary flute cleaner. What that shows is a mind that is constantly coming up with new ideas, new ways to see things, new solutions to old problems, and (perhaps most importantly) the follow-through to move things from the “that’s a good idea” stage to the “it’s working its way through the patent system now” stage.”
After spending the last 15 years living in Pennsylvania, Jodi recently returned to Chestertown with her husband Gregg to raise their two children, Sydney and Bailey, in the hometown she loves. Her parents, John and Ramona Vickers still live in Chestertown. A second-generation printer, Jodi collaborates with Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr to fuel Haywire Letterpress, a design studio that creates cards, announcements, and broadsides. She also owns Hoot Flute/ Jodi Bortz Music Studio.
Before returning to Chestertown, Jodi spent ten years in the corporate world with Dun & Bradstreet/D&B RMS Corp where she managed day-to-day operations and client relationships serving Fortune 100 clients. Later she ran a private music-teaching studio in Bethlehem, PA where she was also an Artist-Lecturer in flute at Moravian College. Working for the Moravian Church North American, she was responsible for managing the online store and business relations.
If you haven’t had a chance to meet Jodi, please stop in and introduce yourself to her. She is anxious to meet the team of members that makes RiverArts the dynamic place it is. As Jodi says, “It’s the people that make RiverArts a great organization. RiverArts is doing great work promoting Kent County as an arts center, and we have a great future ahead. I’m excited to do the work of helping drive our organization forward.”
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