LitNYS Special Session: Board Development - Real-World Strategies for Success
Wednesday, November 19, 2025
10:00am-12:00pm (via zoom)
Free with Registration Required
Presented by LitNYS Colleague: Andrea Louie
Throughout an organization's life cycle, having an effective partnership with its Board of Directors is key. So why is this also one of the most difficult relationships to achieve?
Frequently asked questions include:
Should we expand our Board beyond our current inner circle of friends?
How can we get our Board to raise money?
How do we deal with a difficult Board member?
In this session, we will take a case-study approach to examine some of the most frequently asked questions around effective board partnerships. Featured presenters are Kathryn Besemer, President, and Colleen Kinder, Co-Founder/Executive Director, Off Assignment Magazine, and Michele Kotler, Founder/Executive Director, Community Word Project.
Each will share challenges overcome, insights gained and practical solutions implemented to create positive and effective board partnerships that continue to help their organizations thrive in good times and in bad. There will be plenty of time for community members to ask questions, reflect, and offer tips on how to steward Board partnerships and engagement.
DOWNLOAD OFF ASSIGNMENT HANDOUTS
Board Agenda (PDF)
Screening Interviews (PDF)
ABOUT ANDREA LOUIE
Andrea Louie is an accomplished thought leader and advocate for the well-being of communities. She is currently Executive Director of the Serica Initiative. Andrea Louie was Executive Director of the Asian American Arts Alliance, leading arts advocacy and cultural equity for New York City’s diverse, pan-Asian, multidisciplinary cultural community. She also was in public service, as Assistant Commissioner, Program Services, at the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and as Secretary in the Commissioner’s office at the Nassau County Department of Health. She is the author of a novel, Moon Cakes (Ballantine Books) and coeditor of an anthology, Topography of War: Asian American Essays (The Asian American Writers’ Workshop). She was appointed by the governor to serve on the New York State Council on the Arts and the NYS Commission on National and Community Service. She was a board member for SMU DataArts, Poets & Writers, Bellevue Literary Press, and New Yorkers for Culture & Arts. She has served as a review panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Joyce Foundation, the Wallace Foundation, EmcArts, and the Brooklyn Arts Council. She was a writer-in-residence for the National Book Foundation and has been awarded artist residencies at Yaddo, MacDowell Colony, Djerassi, Hedgebrook, and the Fundacíon Valparáiso in Spain. She is a member of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop as well as the Asian American Journalists Association. She was an honoree of Leadership for Asian Pacifics (LEAP) in Los Angeles, and was an arts and community advocate honoree of the Pan Asian Repertory Theatre.