October 28, 2024 Press Releases

Community Foundation Enters New Era of Leadership

Karin George is announced as new Trustee Chair; new trustees and committee members welcomed.

Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts is excited to announce a significant leadership transition with the appointment of Karin George as its new Chair of Trustees. George succeeds Paul Murphy, who has served as Chair for the last four years. Alongside this leadership change, the organization welcomes two new board members—Sarah LaPolice and Francia Wisnewski—who bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the Board. Eight new committee members will also now support the Foundation’s mission and ongoing initiatives.

Karin George, born in Switzerland and raised in upstate New York, has been a resident of Hampshire County for over 25 years. A dedicated professional and volunteer, George earned her bachelor’s in art history before beginning her career in annual giving at St. Lawrence University. Over the years she advanced her role first at Vassar College in 1995 as Vice President for Development and again at her alma mater Smith College in 1998 as Vice President for Advancement, where she played a pivotal role during Smith College’s $250 million This is About Smith campaign.

In 2005, George joined Washburn & McGoldrick, LLC, where she currently serves as a principal consultant. She also contributed to the profession as a volunteer trustee for the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and chaired CASE’s Minority Advancement Institute from 2006 to 2008. Her community-based volunteer services include board membership for Citizens Against Violent Acts (CAVA) in Canton, NY, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Dutchess County, The Peace Development Fund, and the Sugarloaf Mountain Athletic Club.

Her relationship with the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts began in 2009 when she served as a scholarship reviewer. She has been a trustee since 2013 and became Vice Chair in 2020. Prior to that, she served as a member and Chair of the Education Committee from 2017 to 2019 and as a scholarship reviewer since 2009.  

Karin descends from one of the oldest black families in Springfield, MA, and credits her paternal grandmother, Lillian Jackson Lee, with inspiring her commitment to community. A charter member of the “We Modern Mothers” giving circle in 1928, Mrs. Lee and her fellow committee members pooled their resources together so their children would not be excluded from activities. Karin’s great-grandfather, William Calvin Jackson was among the first black employees at Mass Mutual in the 1890s. The Springfield branches of Karin’s family tree go back to the 1840s with generations of Goddards, Pettifords, Jacksons, and Lees.

Sarah Lapolice of West Springfield, MA, will join George as a trustee. A certified public accountant at Burkhart, Pizzanelli, P.C., Lapolice earned a bachelor’s in accounting and a master’s in business administration from Elms College. Currently, she is an adjunct faculty in the MBA Accounting program at her alma mater. Sarah has been volunteering at the Community Foundation as a member of the Philanthropic Services Committee since Spring 2023.

Francia Wisnewski of Montague, MA also joins as a Trustee with a strong background in nonprofit, education, and community organizing. She is the Director of Membership and Community Engagement at the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC). Born and raised in Cali, Colombia, Wisnewski began her career as a science teacher in South America. She holds a bachelor’s from the Universidad Del Valley and a master’s from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Wisnewski’s expertise in early childhood education and family childcare systems has led to significant contributions in the field. Her focus on equity and community leadership has resulted in securing substantial funding for innovative educational workforce structures across multiple states. She first engaged with the Community Foundation in 2022 as a grant reviewer and volunteer for the Distribution Committee.

Additionally, the Foundation has welcomed new volunteers to its committees. Cecil Papafio, David Rudder, Debbie DiStefano, and existing Trustees Magdalena Gomez and John Davis have joined the Community Foundation’s Distribution Committee; Kylie Brown, Ryan Ferriter, and Tara Brewster have joined the Philanthropic Services Committee.