Get to know the dedicated team behind the Bozeman Library Friends and Foundation. Our work is guided by a passionate, all-volunteer Board of Directors, while a skilled professional staff focuses on raising and managing gifts to support impactful Library programs. Together, we’re dedicated to enriching the Bozeman community through our beloved public library.
Janay grew up in the Midwest and has called Bozeman home since 1992. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of Kansas. Most of her professional life has been
spent in development and leadership roles for local nonprofit organizations, including the Yellowstone Park Foundation and American Prairie Reserve. Janay became Director of the Library Foundation in January of 2017. She is thrilled to spend her days raising funds to support the community’s top-notch library and its programs. She enjoys spending time outdoors skiing,
hiking and camping with her husband and daughter.
Sonja is a born and raised Montanan and a long-time Bozeman resident. She has spent most of her professional life with nonprofit organizations to support the arts and education. In 2022, she earned the Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) credential by meeting a series of professional standards and passing a rigorous written exam. Sonja holds an A.A. from The Art Institute of Seattle and a B.A. in Liberal Studies from Montana State University. She currently serves on the Board of the Clearwater Resource Council and the Professional Development Committee for the Association of Fundraising Professionals - Montana. Outside of work, Sonja enjoys spending time at the small cabin she and her husband designed and are building, cheering on her MSU Bobcats, painting, cross-country skiing, and being on the water. She is an incredibly proud mom of two fantastic "kids", her son and daughter-in-law.
Amy was raised in the Red River Valley of North Dakota before making her way to Bozeman for college. She has bachelor's degrees in English and Spanish Education from MSU. Amy worked as the Coordinator for the Friends of the Bozeman Public Library since September 2019 through their merger with the Bozeman Public Library Foundation. As a child, Amy had a personal exemption from the checkout limit at her hometown library and held the record for the most pages read in Mrs. Knutson's 5 th grade class for nearly two decades. Amy and her husband enjoy life just outside of town where they are raising two boys and too many chickens.
Andrea grew up in the Flathead Valley and moved to Bozeman to obtain her Bachelor's degree from MSU. Over the past few years, she has served on the Dog Ball Committee for Heart of the Valley and the Board of Directors for Headwaters Community Housing Trust. She has always had a soft spot for libraries, even going so far as to intentionally miss the bus after school to spend more time browsing books and attending teen programs.
Marley is co-owner of McKenna Adams Commercial Realty, which specializes in creating long-lasting relationships to foster healthy and sustainable growth and development in and around Bozeman. Marley has a passion for community involvement and previously sat on the BridgerCare board, the Women’s Business Center advisory board and the Downtown Bozeman advisory board. She is currently on the Prospera Business Network board and the Downtown Urban Renewal District board. Marley is a 5th generation Montanan and enjoys biking, skiing, boating, and playing in the great outdoors with her husband and daughter. She has a M.A. in Literature and was an adjunct professor at MSU, and continues to write and read as much as possible.
Cindy retired from the Children's Room at the Bozeman Public Library in August 2021, after 33 years of helping kids find books and planning programs to welcome kids and families to play and learn at the Library. She was active in creating the Children's Festival of the Book in 2008, and was awarded the Montana Librarian of the Year in 2020. For two decades, Cindy worked on early literacy issues with the Montana State Library and was involved in the national Collaborative Summer Library Program. She volunteers with several organizations, works part-time at Country Bookshelf, and enjoys time with her friends, her family, and granddaughters.
Tom’s grandmother instilled in him a lifelong passion for reading and curiosity through regular visits to the local library. He believes public libraries play a vital role in strengthening communities, expanding opportunity, and fostering lifelong learning. He is honored to support the Bozeman Public Library Foundation and its mission to expand access to knowledge and educational resources. Tom is the VP, Finance at Measured, a technology company in the Analytics space. He has built his career helping scale high-growth technology startups and advising companies on strategic finance and mergers and acquisitions. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Elon University and a Master’s degree from Wake Forest University. Tom lives in Bozeman with his wife, their son, and two dogs, and enjoys fly-fishing, rafting, hiking, and spending time outdoors in Montana.
Elizabeth is a former public relations professional and copywriter with a decade of experience serving a variety of industries including oil and gas, high tech, and consumer products. She and her family have lived in Bozeman since 2011, and she has valued her connection to the library ever since. Mother of two school-aged boys, Elizabeth strives to balance the endless pull of digital interaction with meaningful in-person engagement and believes that the library provides people of all ages a dynamic community space that blends both worlds in inclusive, inspiring ways. Elizabeth’s interests include nutrition and foreign language studies, volunteering at her sons’ elementary school, and sailing the waters of Montana and her native New England.
Katherine was born in Denver Colorado and moved to Montana, graduating from Montana State University with a degree in Geographical Planning. As an intern in the planning office, she inventoried the City of Bozeman for the 1983 Master Plan. She was active in her children’s schools serving as Co-PAC president at Wilson Science and Technology School. She served on the City and County Planning and Zoning Board, Cemetery Board, and the Friends of the Bozeman Public Library Board for eight years.
She currently owns and operates a cut flower farm. Katherine believes it is important to give back to the community that gives us so much. What really makes her happy is getting her hands in the soil and her nose in a good book.
Graham Conran is Managing Director of Frontier Angels. He joined after four years at a Bozeman-based technology company, where as CFO and later Co-CEO he guided the firm through its first product launch and eventual sale to a private equity firm. Before that, he co-founded TAG Asia, a boutique investment advisory firm later folded into the Alberleen Group, and spent over a decade in corporate finance at JPMorgan and Nomura structuring leveraged buyout financing for private equity firms in the U.S. and Asia. Graham brings a blend of startup and corporate finance experience, along with a broad network across investment banking, private equity, and venture capital.
Cathy, a native of Missouri, originally moved to Bozeman from Colorado when her husband took a position at Montana State University. They and their three children developed a love for the community and activities available in the mountains. An opportunity in administration at Auburn University prompted a move to Alabama; later they retired permanently in Bozeman. Cathy has a MLS from the University of Alabama. Her library career has varied with positions held in a public library, a school library, and academic libraries. She is a supporter of public libraries for their importance as cornerstones of democracy and loves the vitality that Bozeman Public Library contributes to the community.
Kit currently serves as a Professor of Management at MSU and a Board Director for several multi-national companies while also actively supporting Montana’s small business start-up community. He spent the majority of his career working in Southeast Asia and Africa, first managing companies for Chevron and then building start-up companies in frontier markets such as Myanmar and Cambodia. Kit received his Bachelor’s degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He has lectured at Harvard Business School on globalization and emerging markets. Kit believes that engaging with the outside world is vital to our long-term success, here in Montana and for the United States as a whole.
Marilyn’s love of libraries started when she was eight in a township outside of Chicago. Since then, she has been involved with libraries everywhere she has lived. Marilyn firmly believes in the role of the library as a resource for the entire community. She currently volunteers with the Used Book Sale committee. She graduated from Washington State University with a degree in Radio and Television Production. After working for ten years in television production in Seattle, she moved to rural Oregon where she worked in Community Mobilization as Director of the Commission on Children and Family for two counties. Mother of four and grandmother of nine, she is lucky to have three of her grandchildren in Bozeman and watch them play hockey and MSU football.
A proud Butte native, Connie left Montana to attend the University of Southern California. After the birth of her son, she and her family moved to Bozeman to return to a life of authenticity and outdoor magic. Her background includes public relations specializing in product publicity and event planning, working as a Pilates instructor, and participating in other entrepreneurial endeavors. Her passions include Holocaust education and instructional programs that combat discrimination and prejudice. Connie fosters the ideal of the public library being a community gathering place, an inclusive safe place for all.
Kelly Ramirez is the founder of Elemental Leadership, an executive coaching practice that works with founders, business owners and senior executives navigating pivotal moments in their businesses. Her professional path spans outdoor guiding in Wyoming and Chile, farm and ranchland conservation in Montana, a marketing executive role at Google, and founding a seven-figure growth consulting firm based in Bozeman. She holds a BA in Cultural Anthropology and Psychology from Dartmouth College. Kelly believes deeply in the power of possibility and connection that public libraries offer their communities, and she is thrilled to return for a second season on board. She and her husband, Marcus, moved to Bozeman in 2006, where they are raising twin teenage daughters. Their family absolutely never leaves the house for an adventure of any type without at least one stack of books in hand.
Rachel has spent most of the last decade teaching technology and library sciences in rural school communities in the Gallatin Valley. She received her Bachelor's degree in geology in 2001 and worked in the oil and gas industry for several years prior to pursuing a Master's of education in curriculum and instruction. She has called Bozeman home since 2001. Rachel treasures the many facets of the library and the community it continually offers her and her family. She prefers wearing skis to shoes — you can often find her at Bridger Bowl chasing her kids down the slopes or shooting biathlon at Crosscut.
Tom is from the Midwest, principally Indiana. He enjoyed a wide-ranging law practice with larger firms in Chicago for 18 years and thereafter, beginning in 1993, in Bozeman where he co-founded a law firm with a strong Montana-based civil practice. He has canoed many of Montana’s wild rivers and became a solidly mediocre skier. He has been a supporter of the MSU and local libraries for years, for he believes they are enriching and, for some, life-changing. Tom graduated from Dartmouth College in 1968 with a degree in philosophy and from the Indiana University School of Law in Bloomington in 1974. In between, he was a member of the United States Army and spent a year in Vietnam, serving in the field artillery.
