People on the Move 8/11/14

Murielle Gaither, executive director of the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, accepted a board position with The Best of Missouri Hands, a statewide not-for-profit organization dedicated to the development of Missouri artists and artisans.

Members strive to educate on all levels and raise public awareness of and interest in handmade visual arts. As a board member, Gaither will represent the interests of artisans and art agencies in Southeast Missouri and work with the organization's executive director to ensure its mission is acted out in the region.

Dr. Joni Hand of Cape Girardeau is a new board member for the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri.

Hand received her Ph.D. from the City University of New York Graduate Center in 2010. She also holds a master's degree in art history from Hunter College in New York, a master's degree in painting from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, and a bachelor's degree in graphic design from Kent State University in Kent, Ohio.

Her research focuses on illuminated manuscripts from Northern Europe and female patronage in the late-Medieval period. Her book, "Women, Manuscripts and Identity in Northern Europe, 1350-1550," was published in February 2013.

Susana Gutierrez was named to the International Serum Industry Association board of directors for the Cape Girardeau River City Biologicals, an animal serum processor for the cell culture, diagnostic and veterinarian business.

The annual membership meeting was held in Brugge, Belgium, in May and the directors took their position in July.

George "Skip" Wrape of River City Bio has stepped down as the chairman of the association after a two-year appointment and remains on the board as a past chairman.

Missouri Arts Council executive director Beverly Strohmeyer will retire effective Feb. 1 from the agency she has served for 17 years, nine of them as executive director.

Before joining the Missouri Arts Council staff, Beverly served as a member of the council's Citizen Advisory Panels, as a board member of the Missouri Association of Community Arts Agencies and executive director of the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri in Cape Girardeau.

She has been a board member since 2004 and is vice chairwoman of Mid-America Arts Alliance, a not-for-profit organization that supports cultural activity in a six-state Midwestern region. Since 2006 she has been a member of Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry Tourism Policy Council. In 2012, the Missouri Alliance for Arts Education presented her with a Lifetime Award for Support of Arts Education.

Strohmeyer served on the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri for 14 years, until she left in 1997 to take her current position with the state arts council.

Charla Myers began her new role as program director for the Read to Succeed program at the United Way of Southeast Missouri last Monday. She worked for the Missouri First Steps program as an area director and regional consultant for the past 10 years. Before that, she worked with child care resource and referral for seven years.