Welcome to our new Board President at GiGi’s Playhouse Milwaukee

It’s been a super busy last few months at GiGi’s and I am truly astounded at how fast time is flying! I am long overdue in introducing myself as the new president of GiGi’s.  We will miss Sarah Koehn and truly appreciate all the work and time she has committed to the Playhouse. She was also fun to work with! We wish her the best as she takes on her new role in the business community as a working mom. I will be sincerely bummed if I don’t see her every so often at a program, event or committee meeting.

I joined the board almost three years ago after some serious stalling and then finally having my arm twisted by Lisa Kocab. I was nervous about how my professional experience as a landscape architect and my years as a SAHMom to four kids and wife to a traveling husband would be helpful to a non-profit like GiGi’s Playhouse. I’m really good at getting kids to sports practices, finding hidden soccer fields and volleyball gyms, creatively parking at band concerts (because we are not that family who gets there for the front row parking and seats), figuring out how to attend four school open houses at the same time, attending PTO events, IEP meetings, and managing Destination Imagination teams. Little did I know that all of that was training to apply my creative problem-solving skills, project management, budgeting skills, and juggling skills to being president at GiGi’s Milwaukee. I’m still trying to figure out how my horticulture design skills fit in but I wouldn’t be surprised if those get tapped in the near future. I can tell you that I have learned a ton about the non-profit world over the last few years and even more over the last few months. I am eager to learn, remain passionate about GiGi’s mission and am super glad to have a great team to help me figure it all out.

Our board has undergone some great changes over the last few months and I look forward to introducing everyone to our newest board members and telling all about the great people who help make GiGi’s tick. Look for future blogs to feature all the behind the scenes people and their contributions. All are welcome to attend our full board meetings that now occur every other month on the second Wednesday. Our next big meeting will be on September 11th at 7:30pm. We’ve also been in contact with some fabulous professionals within the non-profit and corporate world to assist us in developing our Playhouse and taking it to the next level. We are a passionate and committed group with huge dreams and plans. We all look forward to rolling out our new programming ideas, bringing in new families and changing the way the world sees Down syndrome together.

Sue Pelikan

Board President – GiGi’s Playhouse Milwaukee