The Community Foundation of the Lowcountry has announced its board of director officers for the 2017 fiscal year.

They are: John Weymouth, chair; Jeri Farren, vice chair; Beth Mayo, treasurer; and Denise Spencer, president/secretary (non-voting staff liaison).

Additionally, three new directors have joined Community Foundation’s board of directors:

• Toni Bailey, of Bluffton, is a retired corporate vice president of community and education relations at The Boeing Company, where she worked for 25 years. Prior to Boeing she was employed at McDonnell-Douglas Aircraft Company as a division director of human resources.

Earlier in her career she was employed as both an equal opportunity investigator and a counselor for the hearing impaired.

Bailey has also served as an adjunct professor of nonprofit management at Washington University (St. Louis) and Webster University (Webster Grove, Mo.) She has served on numerous boards in Chicago, St. Louis and Washington, D.C. She currently serves as chair of the Hampton Hall Charitable Fund.

• Cheryl Comes, of Beaufort, is retired from Philip Morris USA, where she held positions in research and development, operations and corporate affairs. There, she built partnerships with national and local nonprofits and managed a $6 million corporate grants program. She also directed the development and implementation of the Philip Morris Employee Community Fund, which raised more than $2 million annually to support nonprofits.

Comes’ board service includes the YMCA of Greater Richmond, CAPA of Beaufort County and Friends of Carolina Hospice.

• Sandra Benson is the owner of Custom Audio Visual in Bluffton. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacy from Northern Ohio University and holds active pharmacy licenses in Pennsylvania and South Carolina. She worked as a pharmacist until 1996, when she moved to the Lowcountry.

Her community service includes current board appointments to the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra and Hilton Head Wine &amp; Food Festival and past board service to Volunteers in Medicine.

Benson has also been involved with the Gullah Celebration, Mitchelville Project, Hilton Head Choral Society and the Hilton Head International Piano Competition.

Since 1994, the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry has been connecting people, resources and needs by helping build stronger communities and assisting donors in making a difference through charitable giving.

With over 380 charitable funds, combined assets totaling $63 million and grantmaking and scholarships reaching $58 million, the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry is the largest source of unrestricted philanthropic resources dedicated to Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper counties.

For more information, visit www.cf-lowcountry.org.

<em>Top photo: New members of the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry’s board of directors are, from left, Toni Bailey, Cheryl Comes and Sandra Benson.</em>