Board of Directors
North Hatley Library
North Hatley Library has a volunteer board, made up of twelve interested citizens. Board members are advocates for the library, and they ensure that the library is always improving, thinking about our future and how to best serve the citizens of the area. The Board has the authority for full management and control of the Library and assumes the duty to oversee the framework, governance, and operation of the Library, including the purchasing of books.
The Board employs the Librarian, who in turn implements the policies and manages the daily operations of the Library. The Librarian is accountable to the Board. The volunteers who serve at the front desk are accountable to the Librarian. The Librarian is a non-voting member of the board.
The board has a subcommittee that oversees the investment of an endowment, which is an important revenue source and has been carefully stewarded by the board for many years.
The board meets once every two months, with an Annual General Meeting in October which is open to the public.
Margot Heyerhoff
President, Buyer – English Adult Books, Exhibitions, Investments
Margot joined the Board of the North Hatley Library Association in 2003 and was elected President in 2004. She is currently the Library’s longest serving President. Margot is also a Founding Trustee of the Massawippi Foundation and was its Chair from 2011 to 2019 and is presently its President, as well as a Trustee of the Massawippi Conservation Trust. Margot has also served on the Boards of Bishop’s College School and the Colby Curtis Museum. Margot lives in the Canton de Hatley where she pursues her artistic pursuits as a painter and enjoys long walks across fields and forests with her dog, Jazz.
Kate Andrews
Buyer – Large Print Books
With over 20 years of experience in marketing & communications, Kate Andrews is proud to share her skill set with the North Hatley Library Board which she joined in 2018. A relative newcomer to the North Hatley area, one of Kate’s first introductions to village life was through the library. Welcoming and friendly, the library was one of the first places that made North Hatley feel like home to this avid reader and her 2 girls. Kate has also been actively involved with North Hatley Elementary’s Home and School Committee and is a past board member of the North Hatley Recreation Society.
Claire Grogan
Buyer – English Children’s Books, Exhibitions
Claire Grogan joined the Board of the North Hatley Library Association in 2011 shortly after moving to the area. Her love of books, archives, and literacy in general led her to serve as such an amazing local resource. She is a professor in the Department of English at Bishop’s University and currently serves as the Dean of Arts and Science.
Margot Dionne
Director
Actor, director and playwright Margot Dionne was an Associate Professor at Dalhousie University, teaching Acting and directing extensively at the Fountain School of Performing Arts. Margot has also taught and directed at Bishop’s University, Bishop’s College School, the National Theatre School of Canada, and the Horace Mann School in NYC. An artist/educator, Margot’s professional acting career spans four decades: she has appeared in theatres across Canada and the US, including eight seasons as a leading actor at the Stratford Festival and five seasons at the Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, RI. An acclaimed audiobook narrator, she is best known for her rendering of Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin and Mavis Gallant’s Montreal Stories. Margot is now retired, enjoying golf, tennis, and North Hatley’s splendor.
Louise Thibault-Gearey
Director
Louise Thibault-Gearey is a local singer, songwriter, artist and teacher. As a professional jazz singer, she performed around the world before settling down to raise a family. That family moved to North Hatley from Montreal in 2012 and embraced the village as home. She has volunteered in the past with the NHRS, working on their board of directors. She was also on the board of directors of the North Hatley Elementary School for several years. A lover of books since a small child, Louise and her family are ardent supporters of the North Hatley Library volunteering annually to perform a fundraising concert together with husband, Jon, on guitar and son, Michael, on fiddle. Currently, she is one of the voice instructors at Bishops University and spends much of her time writing songs and working at other creative activities.
Frances Noble
Treasurer
Frances Noble was born and raised in the Eastern Townships and has always had a great love of reading, a passion she shared with her two children and her elementary school students. She has been a member of the North Hatley Library’s Board of Directors for at least 14 years, serving initially as its secretary and more currently, as its treasurer. A long-time volunteer, Frances has served as President of Lennoxville and District Community Aid, the AGRHS Parents’ Committee, the Lennoxville Youth Center, the (former) Dixville Home Board of Directors, as the Parent Representative to the Eastern Townships School Board, as the first female councilor of the (former) Lennoxville Town Council and as a member of several other volunteer groups within her Church and community. She and her husband, Jack, retired to Lennoxville two years ago however they both remain strong supporters of the Library.
Mary Hill
Secretary
Mary has raised three children in North Hatley, and has experienced nothing but blessing as a result of her association with the library. The children’s section is a delight. A bastion of story, creativity and community, the library is certainly a focal point of this little village. Mary has been on the board off and on for over a decade.
Kathy Ciencalla
Director
A summer resident of North Hatley and proud member of the library for over 60 years, Kathy joined the board in May 2022. She is an architect who has studied, worked and lived internationally; she and her husband John, also an architect, retired in 2020 and now live in North Hatley. She is currently pursuing her artistic and recreational passions while working with John on completing their house. An avid reader she is thrilled to help steward the future of the library, our North Hatley treasure.
Monique Baril-Jones
Director
Isabelle Lebire
Librarian