The Cattaraugus Region Community Foundation board recently elected Jim Stitt Jr. and Sandi Brundage to its board of directors and named the Foundation’s officers for 2021, including the election of Skip Wilday as board president.
The board also re-elected four currently serving board members to serve a 3-year term.
Stitt is the CEO and president of Cutco Corporation, a role he has served since 2017. Prior to being named CEO and president, Stitt served in a number of roles at Cutco, beginning as a process control and quality engineer in 1997. He began his career as a member of the engineering staff at Honda of America in 1995.
Stitt is rejoining the board after serving as a board member in 2009. He is also the current Bartlett Country Club Treasurer and is a member of the club’s board. He is also a member of the Key Bank Western NY District Advisory Board.
Stitt graduated from the University of Dayton with a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering technology. He received a master’s degree in professional leadership from St. Bonaventure University.
He will serve on the board development and finance committees. Stitt has served in both roles for a number of years prior to this board election.
Brundage has been the director of the City of Salamanca Youth Bureau for 17 years.
Brundage is the Secretary for the Executive Board of Youth Bureaus in New York State and the Cattaraugus County Youth Bureau Advisory Board, a member of the Western New York Association of Youth Bureaus, and a recent addition to the United Way board.
She has worked in health care and children’s mental health fields for the past 41 years.
Brundage will be a member of the Foundation’s grant allocations committee. She also played a pivotal role in directing COVID-19 relief funding as a member of a special ad hoc committee that recommended grants through the WNY COVID-19 Community Response Microgrant program, facilitated by CRCF.
Skip Wilday was elected by the CRCF board to serve as board president in 2021. Wilday served on the CRCF board from its earliest days, serving from 1994 to 2016. He rejoined the board in 2017 after a mandatory one year off of the board at the end of his long board tenure due to term limits. For his dedication to the Foundation and philanthropy in the Cattaraugus region, Wilday and his wife, Greta, were honored with CRCF’s most prestigious award as the Friends of the Foundation in 2017.
Wilday fills the position vacated by Wendy Brand, who reached the limit of three consecutive three-year terms as a board member. Brand faithfully acted as president from 2016-2020. Brand will serve on the board as immediate past president in 2021.
The board also elected all of its officers for 2021, including Lucy Benson as vice president, Audra Stevens as second vice president, Sharon Myers as secretary and Mike Kasperski as treasurer.
Dennis Pezzimenti, Theresa Raftis, Audra Stevens, all currently serving board members, were also re-elected to serve three-year terms beginning in 2021.
Vicki Blessing will serve as a designated board member from the Greater Olean Area Chamber of Commerce board.
“We are extremely pleased to welcome Jim Stitt Jr. and Sandi Brundage to the board, as well as all of our new officers and re-elected board members,” said CRCF Executive Director Karen Niemic Buchheit. “I firmly believe that the Foundation has long been blessed with the best of board of directors in the region, and that is because of the dedicated work of the board and the continued efforts to strengthen itself by the election of talented professionals like Jim and Sandi.”
The Cattaraugus Region Community Foundation is the area’s supportive, responsive and trusted community foundation. Established in 1994, CRCF is growing good by connecting donors to the causes they care about most in the region. Grants from the foundation support many areas, including education, scholarships, health care, the arts, community development, human service, and youth development. To learn more, call (716) 301-CRCF (2723), email [email protected], or visit online at www.cattfoundation.org. CRCF is also on Facebook (facebook.com/cattfoundation) and Twitter (@CattFoundation).
