New Directors Bill Kleber and Deborah Bowers look forward to meeting you and hearing about your concerns and your volunteer talents at the Historical Society of Sarasota County. Come meet them Tuesday October 8 at our first Conversation at the Crocker!

Our first Conversation at the Crocker on Tuesday October 8 would be an excellent time to meet your new Board members. Remember, the buildings open an hour earlier, at 6pm, including the Gift Shop, and Deborah and Bill would love to get to know you and your particular areas of interest and expertise!

At its annual meeting, the members of the Historical Society of Sarasota County elected two new board members, Deborah Bowers and Bill Kleber. They also re-elected President Howard Rosenthal and Recording Secretary JoRita Stevens, and elected former Board member (and immediate past president) Jane Kirschner-Tucillo to a new term.

Deborah Bowers recently moved to Sarasota from Fort Myers Beach where she and her husband Peter owned and operated a small beach resort. Prior to her move to Florida, Bowers worked in non-profit development in the Boston area for 20 years.  Her positions there included Vice President for Development and Marketing at the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, an organization which operates 25 historic house museums throughout New England. She also served as Vice President for Development at MetroWest Medical Center, created by the merger of two community hospitals in the western suburbs of Boston. Deborah is a native Floridian and a graduate of Duke University.

Bill Kleber moved to Sarasota in 2004 after a career in the computer industry in Chicago, New York and Boston. A graduate of Purdue University with a BS in mechanical engineering, he also served in the Air Force and was assigned to one of the country’s first computer installations. “I like to tell people that I was a programmer on the 10th computer ever built, which is true,” he said. Besides serving on the HSOSC board, Kleber is membership chair of the Genealogical Society of Sarasota, a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and a member of the local Purdue Club. Heand his wife Ali recently formed a non-profit organization, Sarasota Outreach Solutions, Inc., the goal of which is to establish an overnight shelter for the homeless in the Sarasota area.

The full HSOSC Board is: Howard Rosenthal (President), Marsha Fottler (Vice President), Greg Dickinson (Treasurer), Meade Ferguson (Corresponding Secretary), JoRita Stevens (Secretary), Linda Garcia (Site Manager), Lynn Harding, Ron McCarty, Jane Kirschner-Tuccillo, Deborah Bowers, Bill Kleber and William Watrous. Rotating off the board but remaining active with the organization on various committees are Kate Holmes, Chuck Resh and Hope Black.