The Highland Center Has a New Executive Director
The Highland Center in Monterey has a new Executive Director. Elizabeth Lohr-Myers started work on June 28th and she’s happy to be where she calls home.
“My mother was a Lohr and the Lohr family is connected to the Vances, whose presence in the Highlands of Virginia can be traced back to about the mid 1700’s, so clearly many, many generations of my family have called this area home,” says Lohr-Myers. “I was not lucky enough to grow up here, but this has kind of been the family gathering place and it’s where I’ve spent summer vacations and Christmas holidays my whole life. So, it’s where I feel most tied to and the place I think of as home. You cannot be part of the Lohr family or the Vance family without firmly believing that Highland County is the best and most beautiful place on the earth. So, I definitely subscribe to that belief myself and I’ve always kind of daydreamed about living here full time.”
For about the last ten years Lohr-Myers worked at a university in Southern California, where she managed a Chapel building and the Campus Ministry Office. She feels there are lots of similarities between the Chapel and The Highland Center, with both being busy multipurpose facilities with a variety of activities taking place.
“I have a lot to learn here and a lot of jobs I want to tackle,” says Lohr-Myers. “But I think one of my initial challenges will be gathering some of that institutional knowledge that’s out there in the community. Lots of people have been involved with the center over the years, but there’s no longer a staff person who’s the repository for all that knowledge and history. So, I’d like to become that person and kind of pull together all the threads that are out there.”
Lohr-Myers says she’s making connections and is excited to collaborate with others to pool resources for events.
“Right now, I’m really looking forward to The Highland Center becoming an even greater hub of activity in the community,” says Lohr-Myers. “I really want this to be a source of life, a place where there’s always events and things happening. When people want to host a gathering or if they’re looking for something to do, I’d really love them to think about The Highland Center first. And I’m really looking forward to working with other organizations so that we can offer even more cultural events and food-based events and community events that are accessible to everyone.”
The Highland Center is a non-profit organization. It’s a public venue for community events and it houses artists’ studios, non-profit organizations and the Visitor Center. It focuses on promoting business incubation, youth development, community and economic development and local food and agriculture.
“I’d like to add a word of thanks, first and foremost, to Kim Wolfe who stepped in as the Interim Director here and, in just a few short months, she did really incredible work to keep things running,” says Lohr-Myers. “I also owe thanks to Eric Restenberger for his steadfast presence here at The Highland Center and his mastery of our finances. To our Board who’s worked so hard on behalf of the Center and to the whole community for being so welcoming to me.”
For more information, call 540-468-1922 or visit https://thehighlandcenter.org
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