Community Foundation Welcomes New Directors

The Mt. Pleasant Area Community Foundation is pleased to announce the appointment of two new Directors to its Board: Erika Ross and Mark Smith.

Ross is a graduate of Mt. Pleasant High School, Central Michigan University and the Rollie Denison Leadership Institute. She has served the banking industry for the past 18 years, the last 14 of which have been at Isabella Bank where she is currently the Vice President of Operations. Ross is also a graduate of the University of Madison’s Graduate School of Banking and the Dale Carnegie Executive Development Program. She enjoys volunteering her time with Junior Achievement as well as the Mt. Pleasant Public Schools Education Foundation, Women’s Initiative, and the Mt. Pleasant Area Community Foundation’s Scholarship Committee. She lives in Mt. Pleasant with her husband Brian and two sons, Wyatt and Ben.

 “Our Community Foundation has a solid reputation of bringing individuals and groups together to have an impact on our community today as well as into the future,” Ross said. “I look forward to serving on the Board where I can work with other community members to identify present and future needs and solutions that will create a lasting impact on our community.”

Raised in Isabella County, Mark Smith had excellent examples of community involvement and philanthropy in his parents, Brian and Kay (Krapohl) Smith. Mark is General Manager/Partner of Krapohl Ford & Lincoln. He has served on the boards of the Mt. Pleasant Area Chamber of Commerce Board and the Pardee Cancer Treatment Fund; he currently serves on the board of the Renaissance Public School Academy. Mark has represented his parents and grandparents through funds of the Community Foundation, and he and his wife Shelly were the youngest members of the Denison Legacy Society at the time they joined. They have three children (Alec, Samuel, and Hayden) who keep them very busy.

"Mom was very active in so many areas of this community but one of my earliest memories was her passion for the Equal Rights Amendment, which led to her holding organizational meetings in our living room for the creation of the Mt. Pleasant Area League of Women Voters. Dad faced an entirely different type of challenge when he helped create the first recreational Soccer League in Mt. Pleasant and eventually the boys and girls varsity soccer teams at Mt. Pleasant High School," said Mark. "I also watched Shelly work for years, through countless struggles, to help create the Mt. Pleasant Discovery Museum. So I am excited to work with the Community Foundation in their efforts to help people find and fund the causes they love."

Ross and Smith join twenty-one other directors leading the Mt. Pleasant Area Community Foundation, a tax-exempt public charity. Its mission is to enhance the quality of life for all citizens of Isabella County, now and for generations to come, by attracting and holding permanent endowed funds from a wide range of donors, addressing needs through grantmaking and providing leadership on key community issues.