SARASOTA, Fla. (July 23, 2018) — The Perlman Music Program/Suncoast (PMP/Suncoast) is delighted to announce the return of Fran Lambert as Chair of the Board of Trustees, and welcomes Kurt Rachwitz as the organization’s new Development Director.
Fran Lambert first joined the PMP/Suncoast Board of Trustees in 2011 and served as the Celebration Dinner Gala Chair for the 2011-2012 season. She became Board Chair for the 10th Anniversary (2013-2014) Season and continued in that role through 2014-2015. Due to personal reasons, Fran stepped down as Chair in 2015, but remained an active participant on the Board. In 2017-2018, upon PMP/Suncoast Board Chair Michael Ritter’s installation as President of the Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee, Fran was re-elected as Board Chair. When asked about heading PMP/Suncoast in 2018, she replied, “I am honored to have been chosen to lead the Board of The Perlman Music Program/Suncoast. Our exciting plans for this, our 15th season, are exceptional and I look forward to continuing the mission of educating and inspiring generations of musicians and audiences.”
Kurt Rachwitz comes to PMP/Suncoast from a life as a migrant worker. He has conducted feasibility studies and fundraising campaigns as senior development counsel in Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, as well as here in Sarasota and in Arcadia, Florida. But the road got old, so he’s settled in Sarasota with his wife of twenty years, Mel Thomas, and their dog and cat. He has had a great love—but no talent—for classical music since high school, and was an educator in a prior life, so The Perlman Music Program/Suncoast is the convergence of at least two vocations and one avocation of his—music, education, and fundraising.
