Community Foundation Welcomes New Chair, Trustees

FREDERICK, Md., Nov. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Community Foundation of Frederick County welcomes a new chair of its board of trustees, RaeAnn E. Butler, and six new trustees: Jill Baker, Wanda Ellison-Osborne, Juan Gotos, Jacquelyn Grossnickle, Julia Martorana and Mariam Memarsadeghi. The trustees began their service on Oct. 1 and will serve up to two three-year terms.

Incoming Chair RaeAnn Butler is in her fourth year of service on the Community Foundation board. Butler is the President of Edenton Retirement Community. She also sits on the board of trustees for Hood College and Advocates for the Aging of Frederick County and she serves on the Community Foundation's Grants Committee.

Jill Baker, a certified public accountant, is the chief financial officer for The AOPA Foundation, Inc. and The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, and president of AOPA Aviation Finance Company, LLC. Her experience includes mergers and acquisitions, corporate banking, commercial real estate development and international operations. Baker is active with the Women's Giving Circle of Frederick County and The Friends of the Thurmont Library.

Wanda Ellison-Osborne, a certified public accountant, is a director in the assurance practice at CohnReznick LLP. She works primarily with clients in the affordable housing industry. She also serves on the firm's training committee for audits in the affordable housing industry involving the Department of Housing and Urban Development and is a member of the firm's Emerging Leaders Group in affordable housing. Ms. Ellison-Osborne is active with Trinity United Methodist Church and the Frederick County Affordable Housing Taskforce. She is currently pursuing designation as a Certified Lay Speaker within the United Methodist Church. She is a member of the AICPA, MACPA and Beta Gamma Sigma Business Honor Society. She has previously served on the boards of various PTA organizations, the African-American Real Estate Professionals of DC and Housing Initiative Partnership, Inc.

Juan Gotos, a certified public accountant, is the owner of Gotos CPA Services. Prior to moving to Frederick, he spent more than 13 years in public-sector advisory and consulting in Puerto Rico. His work combines accounting and finance with project management, problem solving, and organizational improvement.

Jacquelyn Grossnickle, an attorney at the Law Office of Tregoning & Grossnickle, P.C., focuses on estate and trust planning, business succession planning and estate administration. Grossnickle is a member of the Maryland State Bar Association, the Bar Association of Frederick County, and the Estate Planning Council of Frederick County, and she serves on the Community Foundation's Scholarship Leadership Committee.

Julie Martorana is the city administrator for the City of Brunswick. A former community college professor, Martorana has served on the Community Foundation's Grants Committee and Scholarship Committee for several years.

Mariam Memarsadeghi brings more than 25 years of experience leading international democracy, civic education, and human rights initiatives. She is a Senior Fellow at the MacDonald-Laurier Institute, co-founder of Tavaana: E-Learning Institute for Iranian Civil Society, and founder and director of the Cyrus Forum for Iran's Future. She previously held a leadership role at Freedom House and worked for nearly three years in the Balkan region following the NATO bombing of Kosovo. A frequent speaker and published commentator, she also serves as a judge for the Center for Civic Education's nationwide "We The People" high school tournament on the US Constitution. Memarsadeghi and her family emigrated to the US when she was a child during the Iranian revolution. Her family holds a fund at the Community Foundation.

The Community Foundation of Frederick County was founded in 1986 to provide a way for donors to fulfill their charitable dreams by establishing permanent funds that provide grants and scholarships to nonprofits and deserving students. To learn more about the Community Foundation, visit www.FrederickCountyGives.org.

SOURCE The Community Foundation of Frederick County