Term: September 2011 – August 2012
Kathryn Fenimore
Co-President
Kathy and her husband Frank are originally from Long Island where they raised their three children, Kimberly, Cynthia and Frank Jr. Frank moved his business from Long Island in 1999. They bought a condominum in Orange, Ct to be closer to Frank’s business. Traveling to and from Long Island for a few years. Once that became tiresome they started to look for homes in Wilton and Weston before they finally settled in Redding in 2003. Kathy and Frank fell in love with the beauty and quaintness of they area. They now entertain their growing family, including their three grandchildren, Gracie, Lucas and Colin at their home on Newtown Turnpike. Kathy joined Redding Neighbors and Newcomers in 2007and soon became active on the board.
president(at)reddingneighborsandnewcomers.org
Suzanne Falowski
Co-President
Suzanne lives in Redding with her husband and school-age sons. Originally from New York, she works as an accountant.
president(at)reddingneighborsandnewcomers.org
Kathy Fassman
VP Interest Groups
Kathy lives in Redding with her husband Ken and school age daughters. interestgroups(at)reddingneighborsandnewcomers.org
Vanessa Alward
Co-VP Special Events
Vanessa Bronder Alward lives in Redding with her husband, Stephen, and her three sons, Harry, Jackson and Kian. They bought their house in December of 2000 because her husband had fond memories from having lived in the area when he began the Georgetown Saloon 20 years earlier. Vanessa is originally from Trumbull, Connecticut but also lived for many years in New Zealand.
Working from home, Vanessa writes a food/parenting blog with over 10,000 followers world-wide called My Kids Really Eat This and has begun consulting people and families with food challenges. Vanessa has also been an investment advisor with Resnick Investment Advisors, LLC in Westport since 2000. In her limited spare time Vanessa is active with events and fundraising for the Mark Twain Library and Redding Elementary PTA.
Vanessa co-chairs the Adult Special Events with Kris Shawver and is the President of the RNN Cooking Club.
Kris Shawver
Co-VP Special Events
Kris lives in Redding. She is a realtor with William Pitt Sotheby’s of Ridgefield.
specialevents(at)reddingneighborsandnewcomers.org
Sandra Lugar
VP Membership
Sandy Lugar moved to Redding from Manhattan at the end of 2006. She and her husband Matt absolutely fell in love with Redding and have never looked back. Sandy has previously served on the Board as a co-chair of Children’s Programs. She is an active member of the Cooking Club with the hope that she will one day learn how to cook and she loves spending time with her two sons, Henry and Teddy.
Rebecca Sawchuck
VP Communications
Rebecca Sawchuk and her husband Mike Billings joined RN&N in 2007 after attending the annual Clambake and meeting lots of great people. Rebecca is an active member of Cooking Club and got involved with the RN&N Board in 2008-2009 as Publicity rep. RN&N has been a terrific way for them to get out and get to know people in Redding, especially since Rebecca works from a home office and their only kids are furry ones (two dogs!).
Faith Hsu
Co-Secretary
Faith and Richard moved to Redding in the summer of 2010. Eager to meet the neighbors, they went to a Neighbors and Newcomers event. By the end of the evening Faith was on the board! Richard and Faith are eager to be involved in the community and enjoy all that Redding has to offer.” secretary(at)reddingneighborsandnewcomers.org
Valerie Staradub
Co-Secretary
Valerie Staradub, originally from Nashua, New Hampshire, moved from Boston to Redding in 2011. She is a breast surgeon and the director of the breast program at Danbury Hospital. She enjoys spending time with her kids, 20 months and 5 years, reading, and dining out.
Bob Susalka
Treasurer
Bob moved to Redding from Westport in 2001 and is a Certified Public Accountant, with a tax practice in Redding. His wife Denise is an artist with a studio in the Cannondale section of Wilton. They have two grown sons.
The older son, Steve, completed doctoral studies in Neuroscience at the University of Virginia and lives with his wife and two daughters in Winston-Salem, North Carolina where he markets patents conceived at Wake Forest University: The younger son, Rick, is an attorney in the Manhattan office of Chadbourne & Parke LLP doing project finance, especially in renewable energy.
In addition to serving RNN, Bob is currently Treasurer and a Board member of the Dispute Settlement Center Inc. and the Southern Connecticut Science and Engineering Foundation, Inc. Previously he was a Board member and Treasurer of the Fairfield Chapter of the Red Cross and First Night Westport /Weston Inc.
Jackie Fritch
Advertising
Jackie Fritch Dyar lives in Redding with her husband and children.
advertising(at)reddingneighborsandnewcomers.org
Carolyn Baker
Publicity
Carolyn and her husband, Brian, moved to Redding in April 2010, after spending 10 years in Boston. Looking for a peaceful and friendly area, they fell in love with Redding, and knew it was the right place for their new home. Working from home, Carolyn quickly began to miss the social connections she was accustomed to, and sought out RN&N as a way to meet new friends. She joined the book club in the summer of 2010 and has since enjoyed meeting new people through the club’s many activities.
publicity(at)reddingneighborsandnewcomers.org
Erika DeSantis
Community Service
Erika DeSantis: Erika and Jake DeSantis moved to Redding in 2003. They were enamoured with the quaint community at first sight, and over the years have come to truly love it. In past years Erika has enjoyed helping organize Children’s Events. Erika currently serves as Community Service Chair, where she finds ways to increase our relevancy and responsiveness to the needs of our vibrant community. She also co-chairs Ladies Nights Out.
communityservice(at)reddingneighborsandnewcomers.org
Kelly Farber
Hospitality/Sunshine
Kelly Farber is originally from Virgina and lives in Redding with her family.
Scott Smith
Co-Fundraising
Scott and his wife Mary moved to Redding from the Western Suburbs of Chicago in March of 2009. They have two small children. The Smith family chose Redding because of the reputation of its public schools. They also enjoy and take advantage of the town’s ample open space. Scott is a regular at Men’s Poker Night.
Liz Champagne
Co-Fundraising
Liz lives in Redding with her family.
Alexis Bennett
Co-Children’s Programs
Alexis lives in Redding with her young children.
Melissa Moreau
Co-Children’s Programs
Melissa and her husband Dana moved to Redding in January of 2009. At that time they had 2 small children and were expecting their third. The family joined the club in August of that year looking for more ways to be involved in the community. We love all the children’s events and are looking forward to getting out to more adult activities.
childrensprograms(at)reddingneighborsandnewcomers.org
Laurie Mayper
Webmaster
In 1994, after six months of househunting in Fairfield, Easton, Trumbull, Monroe, Westport, and Weston, Laurie and Tom Mayper bought a house in Redding. They loved Redding. In 2000-2001, when they had two preschoolers, Laurie quit her job in corporate marketing management, and the Mayper family moved to Redding Ridge and joined Redding Neighbors and Newcomers. She soon got involved in the club by chairing Children’s Events. Laurie also co-chairs Ladies Night Out. She teaches yoga and yogalates at various locations in Fairfield County.
Erin Wandelt
Marketing
Erin, originally from Springfield, Massachusetts, moved from New Canaan to Redding in 2006. Previously she was a personal trainer. She is now a stay-at-home mom of school-age kids and house manager. She enjoys fitness, skiing, reading, cooking, and baking.
Lisa LeBlanc
Immediate Past President
Michael and Lisa moved to Redding from Easton in April 2003 with their two children and 7 months pregnant with twins. They looked for homes all over Fairfield County and stumbled on Redding and fell in love with it right away. They loved the charm and sense of community that Redding offered. It took a while for Lisa and Michael to get involved in the newcomers group because of their busy schedule, having twins and a two toddlers. Once they got involved, it made living in Redding that much better. We have met some wonderful friends through the group and hope to be members for long time. Redding is where they consider home to be for the long haul!
Christine and Frank Polio
Honorary Members
Christine and Henry Polio became honorary members of the club in 2004. Both Christine and Henry were chosen to be honorary members because of their many years of service and participation. Christine has been on the Board of RN&N for 10 years, 6 of which she served as President. And if that weren’t enough, Henry has been our “Santa in disguise” (shh, don’t tell the children) for more than 12 years! But their participation doesn’t end there; you will always find one, or both of them, still enjoying the activities and interest groups that the club offers. Thank you, Christine and Henry, for the years of dedication and energy that you poured into the club!
marketing(at)reddingneighborsandnewcomers.org
First Selectman, Natalie Ketcham
Honorary Member
First Selectman, Natalie Ketcham, became an honorary member of Redding Neighbors & Newcomers in 2003. She was chosen to be an honorary member of our club because of her many years of service to Redding and also because of her years of service to RN&N (she was President of the RN&N club during the years 1985 and ’86).