Meet the Board

Rebecca Blaisdell moved from Georgia to Vancouver eight years ago with her husband and two children for a better quality of life. Growing up in a military family, Rebecca moved every few years, with very little chance to make long term connections as a child. Having found a true “hometown” in Vancouver, Rebecca feels it is extremely important to give back to the community that has welcomed her so warmly.

Rebecca has been Vice President of Management Services at the Management Group since moving to the community. She has served as Vice-Chair of the Fair and Affordable Housing Committee for the Clark County Association of Realtors and is currently a member of the Leadership Clark County Class of 2007. Rebecca also volunteers with the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce and Co-Chairs the Ambassador Program.

Because of her passion for creating life-long readers, Rebecca feels strongly about the importance of public libraries in our children's future.

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Cara Cantonwine moved to Vancouver in 1995 and immediately obtained her Fort Vancouver Regional Library Card! She enjoyed participating in summer reading programs as a child and teen and is a proud supporter of the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District. Cara is a graduate cum laude of the University of Puget Sound with a B.M. in Vocal Performance and Music Education. She is the City of Vancouver's Program & Event Coordinator and has volunteered with other service organizations including the Evergreen School District's Foundation.

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A native of the Midwest, Madeleine Dulemba grew up in, studied in, canoodled in, and worked for libraries from coast to coast before moving to Vancouver in 1990. Nowadays, she is a Technical Editor/Writer for BERGER/ABAM Engineers Inc., where she works on documentation for projects as close to home as streets in downtown Vancouver and as far away as a port on the west coast of Africa. Madeleine lives in the Arnada Neighborhood with her daughter, a cat, and piles of books.

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As a graduate of Washington State University, Courtney Givens knew she wanted to create her own event planning business very early. She pursued and obtained certification as a Certified Event Planner, while working with Events & Adventures, an event-based social club. From this starting point, Courtney grew her organizational skills and broadened her contacts by working with such high profile organizations as the Multnomah Athletic Club, Hilton Hotels and Self Enhancement Inc. (SEI) in Portland, Oregon.

For the last several years, she has been responsible for coordination and planning of the Vancouver Sausage Fest, which is the third largest event in Clark County, behind the Clark County Fair and The Fourth of July FIreworks Festival. It brings in over 32,000 people to St. Joseph School in three days. In addition, she also handles their largest, private, fundraising auction and other smaller annual events.

In addition to this busy schedule, Courtney manages her time to work with other clients whether it is event planning, consulting or graphic design. Some of her clients include the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, The Sheldon Company and the Vancouver Business Journal. Courtney is also an active member of the Fort Vancouver Regional Library Foundation Board, the International Society of Meeting Planners and Women Entrepreneurs Organization.

When she isn't working, Courtney enjoys spending time with her husband, Adam, her two cats and her French Bulldog, Rocco.

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Annette Hunt was born and raised in Vancouver and moved to Battle Ground 12 years ago with her husband, son and daughter, to provide a better environment to raise the children. She is a graduate of Concordia University with a B. S. in Social Work and she continued on to Portland State University to work towards her Masters in Social Work Administration.

Annette's love of the library has a long history. She spent most of her childhood at the FVRL in Vancouver with her mom and grandmother. “We have always read books in our family and it continues on for me today. I have many fond memories of the children's reading time and just being adventurous in the library as a child. I have tried as a parent to share this love of books with my children.”

Annette is the Executive Director for an Assisted Living Facility in Vancouver and has previously worked in the mental health field as well as with the YWCA's Domestic Violence Program and Sexual Assault Programs.

Annette is also involved with the Civil Service Commission for the City of Battle Ground, the Lewis River Rotary CLub, and is Vice-Chair for the advisory board for Loaves and Fishes in Battle Ground.

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Dennis Johnson is a retired electrical engineer with the U.S. Department of Energy, Bonneville Power Administration. Since retiring ten years ago, Dennis has been very active in his volunteerism with the local food bank and is also part of the Clark County Bicycle Advisory Committee. He is currently a board member of the Fairgrounds Neighborhood Association and is part of the core committee for Vancouver's annual Discovery Walk Festival.

Dennis' involvement in local library issues began in 1998 when he assisted with the campaigns to establish the Three Creeks Library Capital Facilities Area and the bond measure to fund construction of the Three Creeks library branch. He has served as Secretary and Co-President of the Friends of the Three Creeks Library and has been an active member in the group since 1998.

Dennis currently resides in Ridgefield, Washington with his wife, Karen.

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Michael Langsdorf is the President of the Law Offices of Michael G. Langsdorf, a Family Law law firm. He graduated in 1963 from Oregon State University and again in 1969 from the University of Washington with his MBA and JD. Michael was a Navy Officer from 1963 until 1966.

Michael has worked with for-profit business organizations, nonprofit organizations, governments, and Community Services Northwest. He has served on the Vancouver Board of Adjustment, 12 years on the Vancouver Planning Commission, five years on Regional Planning, and Co-Chairman of Oregon Washington Bi-State Commission on Education, air quality and transportation issues. He has taught at Clark College (criminal and real estate law), and in the Marylhurst College MBA program.

Michael was raised in Vancouver and graduated from Fort Vancouver High School in 1959. He has been married to Carole Langsdorf since 1971 and has two grown children in their 30's. His mother, Dorothy Langsdorf, was the first Fort Vancouver Regional Library Foundation President.

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Paul N. Montague III was born and raised in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and moved to Vancouver from Los Angeles 14 years ago. He is an accomplished sales and marketing professional, with more than 20 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, including roles in training, sales and marketing. Paul holds a master's degree in Communications Management from the Annenberg School of Communications, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and a bachelor's degree in Speech Communication, Economics and Computer Science from North Carolina State University, Raleigh.

For the past three and a half years, Paul has had the pleasure of working in several roles at the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce. He is currently working as a Membership Account Executive, meeting and recruiting new member businesses into the over 1,100 member Chamber. He is also currently an Adjunct Professor at ITT Technical Institute in Portland.

Paul is currently involved in the Greater Clark County Rotary, the Hazel Dell Salmon Creek Business Association, East Vancouver Business Association, the Hazel Dell Parade of Bands, the West Clark County Relay for Life and his church. He has a twelve year old daughter Emma, who is in the sixth grade at Thomas Jefferson Middle School and is an active softball player. Paul is also a licensed commercial and private pilot.

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Christy Osborn was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest and has been a resident of Vancouver since 2003. She is a graduate of Eastern Washington University with a degree in Urban and Regional Planning.

As a practicing professional land use planner since 1989, Christy has worked for both public agencies and private sector firms where her expertise is focused on growth management planning, environmental analysis and project management.

Christy has been active in many professional organizations and activities and is a recent graduate of Leadership Clark County. She also has been active in many community related organizations including volunteering for youth soccer and baseball, Battle Ground Harvest Days, and the Conservation District Envirothon and Kids in the Creek.

Being the mother of two young children and a strong proponent of life long learning, Christy realizes the value that a strong library system provides.

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Donna Rush first came to the Pacific Northwest on vacation. Immediately she decided to sell her current home and settle in the Columbia River Gorge. The first move was to White Salmon in 1971. A second move was in 1975 to Stevenson. Donna began her career in banking at this time and has continued in the banking profession ever since. Currently, she is a Vice President and the Branch Banking Administrative Manager.

A mother of four grown children and grandmother of two, Donna fully believes in the value of education. Throughout her banking career, Donna has continued to expand her education. Three of her four children have become educators, teaching in the local communities. An important part of Donna's professional role is coordinating training and mentoring others. In order to be an effective leader, Donna recognizes the importance of reading in order to keep abreast of things. And, of course, reading is a vital component in the training process.

In addition to her roles within the Bank, Donna has been active for the last 30 years in the communities in which she has lived and worked. Her roles have included a member of the Stevenson City Council for 8 years, multiple executive board positions for the Skamania County Chamber of Commerce, Stevenson Business Association, and Skamania County Economic Development Council, a board member of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area and Washington Economic Investment Board since the early 90's, and a member of numerous other organizational boards.

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Lisa A. Schmidt moved to Southwest Washington in 2002 from the Chicago land region after developing the largest group (100 stores across five counties) of Papa Murphy's pizza stores in the country. She currently resides in Ridgefield, Washington with her husband Bill and children.

In her capacity with the Nutter Corporation, Vancouver, WA, Lisa convinced her employer to allow her to pump up the marketing efforts for Dozer Day, a day for kids to ride the big, yellow, heavy construction equipment for the benefit of parks. The event became so large that it is now managed by the Nutter Foundation in continued efforts to give the proceeds back to the community.

Lisa and her family enjoy visits to the library and attending library programs, which the library foundation supports with funding. She has served on the FVRL Foundation Board since 2008.

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As a Board member and an avid reader, Linda Thomas is enthusiastic about being able to assist in making certain that everyone has the ability to utilize their local libraries and their vast resources.

Linda was born in Idar Oberstein, West Germany to a military family. This gave her the opportunity to travel not only in Europe, but throughout the United States. Books were her constant companions on these many moves.

She earned her Associate degree in Accounting from Front Range Community College. In 1994, she received her Brokers Associate license from Colorado and worked with the developer of a 980-acre Inverness Business Park.

In 2000, she and her husband transferred to Vancouver, Washington where she now works as the Senior Property Manager, Commercial Division for The Management Group, Inc. Her current portfolio includes the new 140,000 square foot retail center Battle Ground Village.

She serves on the Board of Directors for the Battle Ground Chamber of Commerce, as the Chair-Elect and has served on a special commercial lease review committee for the RMLS.

She looks forward to working with the Fort Vancouver Regional Library for many years to come.

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Joe Toscano and his wife Christine moved to Vancouver about 10 years ago and have never looked back. In Joe's words: “What a marvelous community and what a wonderful library system we found here. The FVRL System is, in fact, one of the finest that I have ever encountered.

“I have always been involved with libraries since I was a child. I can remember as a young boy going to the library on Saturday and getting a book for the following week. And I always participated in the summer reading program at my local library. In high school, it was my number one research tool and in college I had a favorite carrel where I went to study and find a refuge from the distractions of campus life.”

Joe graduated cum laude from Brown University in 1967 and from Columbia University Graduate School of Business in 1970, with an MBA in Finance and Marketing. After he retired, in 1992, he received another B.A. in Italian Language and Culture from the University of Maryland.

In 1978, he joined with 3 others as a principal founder of Equitrac Corporation, a computer applications company offering specialized financial services to law firms, management consultancies, and large CPA firms. He was the Vice President for the mid-Atlantic region and later the Managing Director in the United Kingdom. He lived for three years in London and later worked on assignment in Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand where he set up dealerships for the company. They grew this business into a very successful organization that was taken public on the NASDAQ in an Initial Public Offering in 1992. He retired from the firm at that time. Equitrac was, in 1998, acquired by a venture capital organization and taken private.

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