News & Stories

Welcoming Eight New Board Directors

Eight headshots of eight new Community Foundation board directors in 2026

Image description: Eight headshots of our eight new board directors.

The Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation welcomes eight new community members to its board of directors, the organization’s voluntary governing body comprised of individuals from across the region. New Community Foundation board directors include Deb Allen of Grand Traverse County, Oran Hesterman of Leelanau County, Brad Kik of Antrim County, Sara McGuire of Antrim County, Susan Odgers of Grand Traverse County, and Don Sheets of Leelanau County as well as two new youth representatives to the board, Lilyana Gunther-Thompson of Benzie County and Coltrane Paryani of Kalkaska County.

Deb Allen currently serves as the Assistant City Manager for the City of Traverse City. Previously, she served as a County Administrator for Leelanau County as well as the Director of Development and Community Engagement for the Grand Traverse Pavilions. Allen also served in the US Naval Reserve and has maintained memberships in Rotary, the Zonta Club, and the Military Officers Association of Traverse City. Allen holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Millersville University of Pennsylvania.

Lilyana Gunther-Thompson is a current student at Frankfort High School. She plans to attend college to study forensic science and criminology with a minor in dance. She currently holds a job at Vita Bella and volunteers around her community whenever she can. Gunther-Thompson is a Community Foundation Youth Advisory Council (YAC) member and is part of the YAC leadership team, among other extracurricular activities, including Drama Club and volleyball.

Oran Hesterman is the Founder of Fair Food Network, a national leader in sustainable agriculture and food systems. Before launching Fair Food Network, Hesterman led the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Integrated Farming Systems and Food & Society programs. Prior to his work in the nonprofit sector, Hesterman researched and taught forage and cropping systems management and sustainable agriculture at Michigan State University. He serves on the board or in an advisory role for several organizations, including Fair Food Fund, Five Acre Farms, Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities, NextCycle Michigan, and Pardes Hannah Jewish Renewal Community.

Brad Kik is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of Crosshatch Center for Art and Ecology. Kik's varied background—film study, environmental activism, printmaking, community organizing, traditional music, writing, ecology, animism, and regenerative agriculture—plays a key role in shaping the cross-disciplinary work of Crosshatch. Kik and his partner, Amanda, have their roots dug into rural northern Michigan—Anishinaabe land—where they've raised pastured pigs and chickens, tapped the sugar maples, and continue to practice weaving people and place together. Kik regularly writes about and presents on the intersections of art and ecology, particularly in regard to artist residencies and the role of the arts in rural development.

Sara McGuire and her husband, Patrick, own Royal Farms, Inc., located in Ellsworth. McGuire manages the farm market and winery, which includes a gift shop, bakery, and greenhouse. She earned her B.S. in Merchandising Management from Michigan State University, and her upbringing in the cherry industry has allowed her to blend her passions for agriculture, agritourism, and retail into a fulfilling career. McGuire serves on the Miss Elk Rapids Scholarship Committee and the Elk Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. A former National Cherry Queen, she served 25 years on the Cherry Queen Committee and now acts as Co-Director of the Cherry Festival Fashion Show. McGuire is also active in Michigan Farm Bureau.

Susan Odgers was the Traverse City Sara Hardy 2011 Humanitarian of the Year, a longtime member of the TC Human Rights Commission, and served on the board of Disability Rights Michigan for 17 years. She is the current President of Michigan Writers, has been a Traverse City Record Eagle columnist since 2008, received the 2024 National Writers Series Bill Montgomery Literary Service Award, and is the 2025 National Society of Newspaper Columnists Will Rogers Humanitarian Award recipient. Odgers serves as the Treasurer of the board for both the Traverse Area District Library and SeedKeepers and serves on the Patient & Family Advisory Councils for several healthcare institutions. Odgers has been an instructor of psychology for Northwestern Michigan College, Ferris State University, Grand Valley State University, University of Michigan and University Of Nice, France, and is a practicing therapist.

Coltrane Paryani is a senior at Kalkaska High School. He currently serves on the Michigan Community Foundations Youth Project (MCFYP) Committee and as a leadership team member for the Community Foundation’s Youth Advisory Council. Paryani is passionate about being involved in the communities he is a part of. He is on course to be the valedictorian for Kalkaska High School’s (KHS) Class of 2026, holding positions as Senior Class President and Vice President of the National Honor Society chapter at KHS, while participating in cross country, wrestling, and track and field. Paryani hopes to continue his journey as a philanthropist and youth advocate in college, where he plans to major in physics.

J. Donald (Don) Sheets currently serves as Principal of his consulting firm, focusing on strategic advising and board service in the fields of materials science, finance and accounting, health care and higher education. Sheets completed a 34-year career with Dow Corning Corporation in 2017, retiring as Vice Chairman. Sheets serves on the board of directors of Covia Holdings LLC, Tri-Star Trust Bank, The Dow Chemical Company Foundation, TempleArts Foundation, Central Michigan University Medical Education Partners and the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation. Sheets earned a Bachelor of Arts from Albion College, majoring in Economics, Management and Accounting. He has an MBA from the University of Michigan-Flint, with a concentration in Operations and Quantitative Systems.

To learn more about the Community Foundation’s Board of Directors, visit: https://www.gtrcf.org/about/board-of-directors.html.