Organization issues awards for nonprofit and community leadership, celebrates top-5 year for philanthropy, elects new board members
Baton Rouge, LA – The Baton Rouge Area Foundation today announced the appointment of three new members to their board of directors. Thomas “Tim” Barfield, Anita Byrne, and Milford “Mike” Wampold were elected by BRAF’s members at their annual meeting to serve their first three-year term. Daniel Gardiner and Tatiana Saavedra Patel, MD, were nominated to a second three-year term.
The board also elected their slate of officers, appointing Thomas J. Adamek as chair, Helena R. Cunningham as vice chair, Linda O. Posner as secretary, Mr. Gardiner as treasurer, and Annette D. Barton as an at-large committee member. Chris Meyer, CEO and president, and Jeffrey W. Koonce, immediate past chair, will also serve by virtue of their positions.
In his presidential address, Meyer reported that donors contributed more than $53 million to charitable funds at the Foundation and invested nearly $52 million back into the community through grantmaking last year. More than $750 million has been granted to charitable causes since BRAF’s founding 61 years ago. The Foundation also recapped 2024 activities that included the continuation of the Opportunity Data Project, training 80 community members to serve on nonprofit boards or staff, and diversifying investment options for people with charitable funds at the Foundation.
At the meeting Tuesday evening, which was attended by more than 200 members and donors of BRAF, the 24th annual John W. Barton Sr. Awards for Excellence in Nonprofit Management were issued to Libbie Sonnier, Ph.D., CEO of the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children, and Lucas Spielfogel, CEO of the Baton Rouge Youth Coalition. Pheriche Perkins, executive director of the Point Coupee Early Childhood Coalition, was awarded the Rising Star Award for emerging leaders in the nonprofit sector.
Brace Godfrey, Jr. was posthumously named the tenth winner of the Marcia Kaplan Kantrow Baton Rouge Visionary Award, which was established independently by friends and family of the late Ms. Kantrow, who was the first director of programs for the Foundation. The award honors an individual who has shown particularly visionary leadership for the betterment of Baton Rouge.
The Foundation also issued the inaugural Champion for Giving Award to Sidney M. Blitzer, Jr., Partner at Butler Snow LLP. Blitzer, a distinguished estate and trust attorney, has dedicated more than five decades to guiding clients toward philanthropy that aligns with their values. His work has played a pivotal role in clients establishing donor-advised funds, charitable trusts, and scholarships that address Baton Rouge’s evolving needs.