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Thursday, January 12, 2023
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Contact:
Diana Friend
Communications and Marketing Director
785-554-5334 (cell) | 785-580-4486 (office)
dfriend@tscpl.org
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The Library Foundation Announces
New Executive Director
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(TOPEKA, KS) The Library Foundation Board of Trustees announces Ashley Charest has been hired as Executive Director. Charest will begin working at the Foundation on January 23.
“We are delighted to welcome Ashley to the library team as the new executive director of the Library Foundation,” said Marie Pyko, library CEO. “Ashley’s success in building a strong network in our community is remarkable and we look forward to reaching new goals for the Foundation with her leadership.”
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Charest has more than 20 years of nonprofit experience most recently with Junior Achievement of Kansas. Prior to that she worked with the Greater Topeka Partnership and Centric Management and Consulting. Charest holds a master's in business administration, a bachelor's in mass media and public relations, and a certificate in nonprofit management from Washburn University. She is also an American Society of Association Executives Certified Association Executive and holds the Institute of Organizational Management designation from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
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"I am excited to focus on the great work the Library Foundation does on behalf of our Topeka and Shawnee County community, where new readers become engaged and people of all ages try everything we have to offer," said Charest. "As a life-long bookworm, it is gratifying to know I will play a role in making Topeka and its library the best resource for research, meetings, technology and of course reading."
Charest is a member of the Leadership Greater Topeka Class of 2011, was honored as a Top 20 Under 40 from the Jayhawk Area Boy Scouts, Graduate of the Last Decade from Washburn University in 2016 and in 2017 was named a Downtown Topeka Rising Leader.
She volunteers with Junior League of Topeka, Topeka South Rotary, Ballet Midwest, Girl Scouts, Greater Topeka Partnership, CASA of Shawnee County, American Cancer Society and Topeka Kappa Alpha Theta Alumnae Board. Charest also stays active with her daughters in Girl Scouts as a troop leader and reads as many books as she can.
The Library Foundation’s purpose is to help secure resources that support the collections, programs, services, technology and physical facilities of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. The Foundation pursues this purpose by seeking philanthropic support, by providing conscientious stewardship of the assets in its care, by encouraging appropriate community partnerships, and by advocating on behalf of the library’s mission in our community.
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