Christine Amer Mayer, president of the Akron-based GAR Foundation, has been named to the board of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Amer Mayer, 45, replaces former Beacon Journal publisher Jim Crutchfield, another Akron connection on the board of trustees for the Miami-based nonprofit organization. Crutchfield retired from the Knight board after being term-limited. Trustees can be elected to two six-year terms on the board.
The Knight Foundation invests in journalism while supporting arts, education and civic-engagement programs in the 26 communities — including Akron — where the Knight brothers once owned newspapers. The foundation was started in Akron before relocating to Miami.
“I am honored and thrilled to be a part of such a groundbreaking, important organization,” Amer Mayer said in a telephone interview Wednesday from Akron, where she had just returned from her first board meeting.
“I hope to bring them some perspectives from Akron, which was a place near and dear to the Knight brothers, and I also hope to learn a lot that can benefit Akron,” she said.
Amer Mayer was approved to join the board at its quarterly board meeting in New York on Tuesday, along with Marty Baron, executive editor of the Washington Post and former editor of the Boston Globe.
Amer Mayer will be the second person from Akron, joining Akron Children’s Hospital President William “Bill” Considine. Also on the 15-member board is Christopher Austen, managing director of a Boston-based private equity firm, who has strong ties to Akron. Austen’s father, Dr. Gerald Austen, a former chair of the Knight board and onetime physician to the Knight brothers. The Austen family has maintained close ties to Akron.
In a statement, Alberto Ibargüen, president of Knight Foundation, said of the newest board members: “As editor of one of America’s greatest news organizations and head of Akron’s leading foundation, Marty Baron and Christine Mayer bring two lifetimes of experience in promoting informed and engaged communities.”
Amer Mayer has been president of the GAR Foundation, a private foundation focused on education, basic needs and independence, arts and culture and civic enhancement since 2012. She took over from her longtime mentor, Rob Briggs, who also is a former Knight Foundation board member.
The Akron native also practiced commercial litigation and business law for eight years with Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs.
She is actively involved in the community, serving as vice chair of the board of the United Way of Summit County and vice chair of ArtsNow, a nonprofit with the mission of advancing arts and culture in Summit County.
She was honored as Woman of the Year for Innovation in 2015 by the Summit County Historical Society and was named as one of Inside Business Magazine’s top 100 most influential people in Northeast Ohio.
Amer Mayer earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Duke University and a law degree from the Ohio State University.
She lives in Solon with her three children.
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her @blinfisherABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/BettyLinFisherABJ and see all her stories at www.ohio.com/betty.