Outgoing Trustees Laura Currie, Ron Kilpatrick Celebrated for Their Contributions

Chautauqua community members Michael D. Metzger and Marnette Perry have begun their four-year terms of service on the Chautauqua Institution Board of Trustees. The pair replaces longtime trustees Laura Pembridge Currie and Ron Kilpatrick, who depart after reaching their term limits. Metzger and Perry were elected by the board at its Aug. 26 meeting on the grounds of Chautauqua Institution; they officially began their terms on Oct. 1.

Metzger serves as vice president of finance and administration at the State University of New York at Fredonia, one of Chautauqua County’s other premier educational institutions. A 34-year resident of the county, he has for the past two years lived year-round at his property on the Institution grounds.

Perry is recently retired following a 45-year career at the Kroger Company, where for several decades she was the highest-ranking female executive. She and her husband, Paul, a retired attorney, live in Naples, Florida, and spend their summers at Chautauqua, where their daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren visit for four weeks every year.

Currie, a lifelong Chautauquan recently retired from a career in health management, completed eight years as a trustee, including service on several of the board’s standing committees. She was one of two trustees who served on every committee, including the original study group, dedicated to the oversight and successful delivery of Chautauqua’s $41.5 million Amphitheater project. Currie also was a member of the six-person Presidential Search Committee that ultimately recommended the appointment of current Institution president Michael E. Hill.

Kilpatrick, a retired IBM executive, stepped down after 14 years as a trustee. As a member, vice chair or chair of the Asset Policy Committee for his entire tenure, his expertise was essential to the development and oversight of the Institution’s financial planning, sustainability and internal financial modeling and procedures. Kilpatrick also served on the Special Committee on Amphitheater-Related Issues, helping to ensure the successful delivery of the Amp project.

Hill, in the first such presentation of his presidency, awarded Currie and Kilpatrick each the Chautauqua President’s Medal following their final meeting as trustees on Aug. 26. The President’s Medal has been awarded sparingly to honor those who have reflected the Institution’s spirit and purpose and who give back to Chautauqua through their energies and resources. Other recent recipients include the memoirist Roger Rosenblatt, preachers Barbara Brown Taylor and Calvin O. Butts and philosopher Michael Sandel.

“This is always a bittersweet time for me, as we simultaneously lament the departure of essential voices at the trustee table and celebrate the arrival of fresh perspectives,” said Board Chair James A. Pardo Jr. “My gratitude to Laura and Ron for their time, service, skills and counsel to the board, and to me personally, is endless. And I’m excited to welcome two individuals as dedicated and accomplished as Michael and Marnette to help us realize a new, bold vision for Chautauqua Institution’s future.”