Honoring our Founding Board President

Founding Board President Emeritus

It’s not often that someone can change the lives of hundreds of people, but that’s exactly what Zane Torgrude has done.

Zane is a founding Board President of GiGi’s Playhouse Madison and has been inspired to make our Playhouse the best it can be by his grandson, Noah.

He has worked tirelessly for over 7 years to ensure our Playhouse had a permanent home, to establish impactful programming and has built strong relationships in our community. 

It’s hard to thank someone that has been a mentor and leader at this level so we decided to honor Zane in the best way we know how. 

There is  a category of Board member known as Board Member Emeritus. A Board Member Emeritus is a board member that is recognized for serving on the board with distinction and outstanding service.  

Past Board President, Bill Henry shared the following:

“I’d learned early in my term on the board the efforts that Zane, Patrick, Amy and several others committed to bringing GiGi’s to life in the Madison community. It was a truly remarkable effort that took determination and grit to accomplish.

Zane was a founder and first Board President of Gigi’s. Over the past 4 years Zane and I have had hours and hours of interactions via phone calls, coffee at Panera, on the golf course, all of our board meetings and at our GiGi’s social gatherings. During our time together we’ve shared some difficult and challenging conversations on several topics. These aren’t always fun but Zane was always focused on what he felt was right for our participants, their families, and the success of the Playhouse. Regardless of the topic of conversation, I’ve found Zane to be an amazingly calm and consistent communicator, and possibly the best listener that I’ve ever known.

In addition to his passion for programs, program development and Amina Grace Zane has lead by example by personally volunteering over 1500 hours, being a top tier donor and being a champion fundraiser.

Perhaps the best result in all of Zane’s efforts over the past 8 years is that it’s brought this amazing group of people together, all working towards a common goal.”