Anne Gentry, JIF ’10 Elected to the Associate Board of Directors
The Joyce Ivy Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to broadening the college aspirations of talented female high school students from the Midwest, today announced the election of Anne Gentry, JIF ‘10 of Alpena, MI to its Associate Board of Directors. The Associate Board of Directors was created in 2020 and works in collaboration with the Board of Directors and Leadership Team to raise awareness and support for the mission of the Foundation. The Associate Board consists of former Summer Scholar alumnae who are instrumental in engaging with volunteers, driving signature programming forward, and connecting with a younger generation of supporters. Michelle Zabat, JIF ‘13 and Abril Rangel-Pacheco, JIF ‘13, members of the inaugural set of Associate Board members, were also named Vice-Chair and Secretary of the Associate Board, respectively.
“We are delighted to continue to expand the Associate Board with the addition of Anne,” said Brittany Knight, Executive Director of the Joyce Ivy Foundation. “Anne’s trajectory perfectly encapsulates the mission of Joyce Ivy – her summer program at Brown in 2010 elevated her college aspirations and set her on a path towards attending Brown as an undergraduate. She then brought her wonderful experiences back to her hometown of Alpena to impact her community in meaningful ways. We look forward to all that she will contribute to the Associate Board.”
Anne Gentry, JIF ’10
Anne Gentry is the Executive Director of the Alpena Downtown Development Authority (DDA), a department of the city’s government focused on the revitalization of Downtown Alpena. In her role, she leads development projects in the historic downtown district related to business recruitment and retention, historic preservation, public art, events, beautification, and marketing. She was a JIF Summer Scholar in 2010 and went on to receive her Bachelor of Arts from Brown University in 2015 in Comparative Literature, with a focus on English and Italian literature, after studying in Bologna, Italy. She also serves on the board for Thunder Bay Theatre, a non-profit professional theatre company in Alpena, and the Michigan Downtown Association, a statewide organization committed to downtown education and advocacy. She is proud to call Alpena, her hometown, home since 2017, where she lives with her husband and corgi.
With the addition of Ms Gentry, the Joyce Ivy Foundation Associate Board of Directors totals eleven members: Aditi Adhikari, JIF ‘14 of New York, NY; Jasmine Bacchus, JIF ‘16 of Boston, MA; Majida Halaweh, JIF ‘14 of New Orleans, LA; Amber Heard, JIF ‘14 of Provo, UT; Katharine Janes, JIF ‘12 of Manchester, NH; Ashley Lane, JIF ‘16 of Otsego, MI; Abril Rangel-Pacheco, JIF ‘13 of Omaha, NE; Emma Taylor Philip, JIF ‘16 of New York, NY; Abby Waugh, JIF ‘15 of New Haven, CT; and Michelle Zabat, JIF ‘13 of New York, NY.
About The Joyce Ivy Foundation
The Joyce Ivy Foundation seeks to provide exposure, encouragement, and financial assistance to young women who have the academic, intellectual, and leadership potential to attend the nation’s most selective institutions of higher education. Funding for the Joyce Ivy Foundation is provided by individuals, other foundations, and corporations. Since its founding in 2006, the Foundation has named 1136 students from Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, and South Dakota as Joyce Ivy Scholars, providing scholarships for them to attend summer educational programs at partner college summer programs, and providing or leveraging $6.2 million in scholarship funding. For more information, please visit www.joyceivyfoundation.org or contact the Joyce Ivy Foundation at info@joyceivyfoundation.org or (734) 661-0229.
