Nature Center 2012 Board of Directors Named

The Board of Directors at Lake Erie Nature & Science Center has elected officers to provide leadership and support for the Bay Village nonprofit organization in 2012. Colleen Lowmiller, a senior actuarial consultant at Findley Davies Inc., has been appointed as president of the Board after serving two terms as vice president since joining the Board in 2009.

Lowmiller will guide the Board of Directors in fulfilling their duties to govern and support the Center. “It is great that I can spend my volunteer time with an organization that also fits with what my family loves,” says Lowmiller, who regularly takes part in the Center’s educational programs with her daughter.  “I believe technology, which broadens many horizons, can begin to separate us and our children from others and from nature. The Center provides those natural connections that are missing for many people, and by pausing and connecting with nature, they can also learn to keep the personal connections with others that will continue to be important in their future.”

Taking on the mantle of vice president is Steve Fink, Ph.D., a research instructor at Case Western Reserve University’s Department of Medicine. Fink’s long-standing connection with the nonprofit Center reaches back to his youth, when he spent time as a volunteer junior curator. Jerry Rudowsky, a senior manager of assurance services at Ernst & Young LLP, returns for a second term as treasurer while Corryn Firis, a staff attorney at the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, returns as secretary.

“Lake Erie Nature & Science Center gives people opportunities to discover and appreciate our natural world with hands-on programs, live animal exhibits, a planetarium and direct access to Lake Erie," said Executive Director Catherine Timko. "The talented professionals elected to the Center’s Board of Directors provide vital leadership and support for our nonprofit organization and this important mission. The officers and all of the Board Members serve as key advisors and ambassadors to the community."