The Newport Beach Public Library Foundation Board of Directors welcomes Karen Heath Clark as the 2020-2022 Chair as of July 1.
She follows community member Cathy Voreyer and will be leading the volunteer Board of Directors for the next two years.
NBPL Foundation CEO Meg Linton says, “Karen Clark is strongly suited for this new role as Chair of the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation Board of Directors because she is a long-time member of the Foundation, has previously served as a member of the Board of Library Trustees, and her and her husband Bruce Clark love the Library’s many offerings.”
Linton added that “Karen is a renaissance woman, she’s an author, attorney, sailor, and provocateur. Her ideas for the Library Foundations’ future are bursting with energy.”
Clark is an Altadena, California native who so loved her high school summers on the beach in Newport Beach that her fondest wish was to return to the area to live, and to work at a large international law firm in its Newport Beach offices.
She and her husband, Bruce Clark, raised their two children in Corona del Mar, where they still live. After retirement from lawyering, she and Bruce, along with their dog Roka, spent 11 years traveling by small boat through the Mediterranean and along the U.S. East Coast, some of which is documented in her memoir “Mediterranean Summers,” She is also the author of a book on Bill Clinton. Her publications can be found on the shelves of the Newport Beach Public Library. Her passions, besides the library and her grandchildren, include women’s rights, photography, travel, skiing, writing and, of course, reading.
“It is an honor to take over the reins as Chair of the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation,” said Clark in a statement. “After dedicating the past 20 years to serving the Newport Beach Public Library, first as a Library Trustee and then as a member of the Library Foundation’s Board of Directors, I’m excited to be working with CEO Meg Linton and the Foundation’s stellar Board and staff as we fulfill our mission of funding valuable Library resources and presenting diverse and stimulating programs, for our community. Our Library is the cultural, literary and intellectual heart of Newport Beach, and it fills a large space in my heart as well.”
The Newport Beach Public Library Foundation 2020-2021 Board of Directors: Afsaneh K. Alisobhani, Kevin Barlow (Vice Chair/Treasurer), Karen Heath Clark (Chair), Nancy Dahlfors (Secretary), Janet S. Hadley, Jill Johnson-Tucker, Johanna Lee Kim, Dorothy C. Larson, Toby Larson, John Prichard, Bridget Smith, Walter Stahr, Tammy Tang, Cathy Voreyer (Immediate Past Chair), Adrian Windsor, Lizanne Witte and Felix Yan.
Founded in 1994, the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation (NBPLF) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to funding valuable library resources, programs and services, and engages the community through the creation and sponsorship of diverse literary, cultural, and intellectual programs.
The Foundation fills in the gaps between the community needs and local government funding to help make the Newport Beach Public Library one of the best resources in the county. The NBPLF and its dedicated membership help make the library happen every day and for everyone!
Visit https://www.nbplfoundation.org/ for more information.
