Princeton Area Community Foundation officials have appointed two new members to its board of trustees.
Those two new members are Jeanne Besser and Michelle Everman.
According to PACF officials, the organization promotes philanthropy and builds community across Mercer County and central New Jersey.
Besser, who is from Princeton, is an author, a former syndicated newspaper columnist, and previously served as a second vice chair, chair of the Nominating Committee and a Grants Committee Member of the Board of the Partners for Health Foundation.
Michelle Everman, who hails from of Lawrence, is a managing director at the Mercadien Group and principal at Mercadien P.C.
Officials said Besser and Everman were appointed to three-year terms on the board of the foundation, a nonprofit that awards grants to charitable organizations and helps individuals, families and businesses connect with the causes that matter most to them.
“Our Board of Trustees is replete with extraordinary individuals and I’m so pleased that Michelle and Jeanne have decided to join us,” said Anthony Cimino, Community Foundation board chair.
According to officials, Everman, provides tax, estate, financial and strategic planning to high net-worth families and individuals through her role at Mercadien in Hamilton.
She is a previous Princeton YWCA Tribute to Women Award winner, and she is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants.
Everman is a committee member and former Chair of the Princeton Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce Women in Business Alliance. She is also a member of the Community Foundation’s Professional Advisors Committee and Treasurer of the Board of Dress for Success Central New Jersey.
Officials added that she holds a degree in accounting from North Carolina State University, and she is also a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. Everman previously worked a Big Four accounting firm and ran a successful catering business. She and her husband have two high school-age children.
Besser, a food and health writer for 25 years, is the author of four award-winning books for The American Cancer Society. She co-authored “Tell Me the Truth, Doctor: Easy-to-Understand Answers to Your Most Confusing and Critical Health Questions” with her husband, Dr. Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She wrote two nationally syndicated weekly food columns for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, according to officials.
Besser served as a Trustee for Partners for Health, a grant-making, health-based foundation in Essex County, and also serves in many other volunteer roles. She is a Board Member of Prindie, the Princeton Independent Film Festival and a judge for the James Beard Journalism Awards. A graduate of Brown University, she and her husband have two adult children.
Besser and Everman fill two seats vacated by two board members, Meredith C. Moore and Thomas Weidner, who recently completed their terms of service.
“I want to thank Meredith and Tom for their invaluable contributions to the Board,” said Jeffrey Vega, president and CEO of the Community Foundation. “As a communications expert, Meredith helped raise the visibility of the work we do for our community, and Tom’s sharp legal mind and attention to detail was an incredible asset to our Committee on Trustees.”
