March 28, 2024

The Picture of a Leader

Nov. 1, 2014


Liz Ahrens Opens Up About Inspirations, Women and Leadership

Liz Ahrens, 52, is executive director of Petoskey’s Crooked Tree Arts Center, soon to merge with Artcenter Traverse City (see sidebar). Once the merger is complete, she’ll lead the new merged organization. As if this weren’t a large enough role to fill, Liz is also active on many boards in the Petoskey/ Harbor Springs area, a member of Rotary, a mentor in Leadership Little Traverse and an active volunteer.

An Iowa native who moved to southeast Michigan when she was 13, Liz graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in humanities, specializing in art history and business. She moved to Petoskey 18 years ago and assumed the position of marketing director at Crooked Tree Arts Council in 2000, where she was named executive director in 2006.

Ahrens and her husband, abstract painter Neil Ahrens, live a mile from downtown Harbor Springs on property that boasts a cottage, a studio and–soon–a gallery.

Northern Express caught up with Ahrens in Traverse City between meetings to formalize the Artcenter/Crooked Tree merger.

NORTHERN EXPRESS: Do you consider yourself a feminist?

LIZ AHRENS: I guess if I have to hesitate on that question "¦ I don’t know what that means anymore. Isn’t that sad? I think there was a conversation that was started and I think it’s a conversation that’s been dropped. I don’t know today what that means.

I think it’s all part of a discussion about [being] nonjudgmental, trusting people to be the right person for the right job, the right relationship, the right family. I think it feels like our world is so quick to make judgments and to label people. I think it’s a conversation that needs to be inclusive of everyone.

EXPRESS: Have you encountered hurdles because you’re a woman?

AHRENS: My mom, who was my biggest cheerleader and she passed away six years ago, was a great example for me. She worked for a national company as a bookkeeper at this big store and wanted to take the next step, be an assistant manager or manager.

And they said to her, "˜Well, we have an opening, perhaps, in Alaska.’ They didn’t have any stores in Alaska. They were saying to her, no way are you going to be part of the corporate world. She should have filed complaints.

This was in 1964-65, but it stuck with her. She instilled in my sister and I, "˜do your best work that you can, man or woman shouldn’t matter,’ and I’ve always believed that. You should have the best people in the job, matching the skill set, male or female.

I’ve encountered it along the way, when I was married the first time and we had this huge financial services company and I was part of the business. And when things started to go bad, I had a couple lawyers say to me–and this was in 1994–who were our attorneys– I paid them–say to me, "˜You don’t need to be in all these meetings.’ Really? I’m the owner of this business. One of them said, "˜This has been an all men’s game, an old boys network, and this is all stuff that’s way over your head.’ They wouldn’t have said that to a guy.

Since I’ve been up here, there have been some fellow board members, people from the previous generation ... from that era when they all had secretaries and they were all women. They still say, "˜Someone’s secretary can do that.’ I have to say, "˜We don’t have secretaries anymore.’ And yet, I don’t look at that 81-year-old like he’s bad; that’s just the era he grew up in.

I still get people handing me something in a meeting and saying, "˜Hey, will you go make a copy of this?’ And I think it’s a generational thing. It bothers me, but yet it doesn’t. I say, "˜Hey, this is not GM in 1952. If you don’t know how to use the copy machine, come with me and I’ll show you how to use it.’

"¦ I’ve been head hunted for positions outside the area. I don’t want to leave the area, but when someone calls you "¦ I did a Skype interview with one of the interviewers and he said, "˜You’re going to be working with a lot of men. How are you going to handle that?’ What do you mean, "˜how am I going to handle it?’ You should never ask that question. What kind of people are you working for? It was just really odd. I was really surprised that in 2012 someone would ask that.

I’ve been told I can be a little bit pushy, too. Actually, at the very beginning of my career at Crooked Tree, I was called on the carpet for a local business owner by my boss, the executive director. I’d only been on the job for a couple months and I guess we had a conversation that he didn’t like and he called my boss and said, "˜You hired this new person who is really pushy and aggressive and I don’t like the way she treated my staff.’ People had heard the conversation and said, "˜You weren’t pushy or aggressive.’ We were striking a business deal is what we were doing; we were negotiating. They just didn’t like that here was this woman and it was her job and they didn’t like the fact that I was negotiating.

EXPRESS: Who are your mentors or inspirational people?

AHRENS: My seventh grade social studies teacher was the best teacher and she taught us current events and she was a Spartan, she’d gone to MSU. She talked a lot about going to school. She got me involved in student government. That opened the door to me for leadership roles. Plus, there was a volunteer component.

A woman I met while I was in college, she and her husband founded a theater school at Cranbrook. I was working for her in the summers, behind the scenes; it was a children’s theater. She was in her 80s, but nothing rattled her. She had a passion. It was very cool to see a woman run a business.

I have a person I met about seven years ago, but he’s a guy. He’s been kind of a coach, a mentor. Then there’s a group of us in Petoskey who meet every two or three months and have lunch, a peer group–private business people, nonprofit leaders, and we use that as kind of a sounding board. What’s said in that room stays in that room. There’s an element of trust, which is very important. You have to find that trust to have mentors. It gets more difficult to find that as you get older and it’s important, especially in a small community– because it is a small community.

We have a lot of strong female leaders running nonprofits in our community, too. I look to them and I don’t call them on a daily basis, but they’re steadfast in their goals as leaders of nonprofits.

EXPRESS: Do you talk about feminism with your mentees?

AHRENS: We talk about career choices. I talked recently with one who wanted to progress in her company and wanted to adopt children. She said, "˜I don’t think I’m going to adopt the children because I know people will say I’m not going to have time to do my job.’ What a sad thing that she thought that was still going to be an issue, and obviously the people she works for thought that was going to be an issue.

But I tell people I’m not a working mom, and I really have huge respect for working moms because I had one, but there’s a disconnect. I can’t say what it’s like to get the kids out the door and the family issues. I just talk about the fact that you should make that choice. I tried to have children, but I didn’t. So, the one thing I tell young women is, "˜I’m an example. Don’t wait too long.’ Have your career, but know if you really want to have children, find your own balance.

EXPRESS: What career advice do you offer to anyone, male or female?

AHRENS: I tell them to take risks that don’t hurt you or other people. Do good work. When you’re younger, you don’t think things will change, but a small opportunity can turn into big opportunities. I know. I’ve been there. I’m always No. 2. I’ve been married twice. I was vice president of my class in junior high and the president got in trouble, so I was president. I was vice president of my sorority in college and there was drama and I became president. I was marketing director and now I’m executive director. Don’t give up. Stick with what you want to do.

I’m at the top of my organization and we have more women on staff than men, but I hire people that I think can do the best job. I’m a "˜work hard, be dedicated, do the ethical thing’ person. This is a lifestyle job. We have events that run until midnight, events on Saturdays. It’s not 9 to 5.

THE CROOKED TREE/ ARTCENTER MERGER

Liz Ahrens expects the merger to be finalized by the end of the year. The merged organization will be like "one college, two campuses," she said, and will probably be called Crooked Tree Artcenter Petoskey and Crooked Tree Artcenter Traverse City. The boards of the two organizations will become one board. The 13 staff members (including Ahrens) in Petoskey will keep their jobs. The one staff member in Traverse City will stay and one more will be hired.

The combined group will operate under one 501(c)(3) nonprofit status.

As for the Traverse City campus, "We have to have a building," Ahrens said. "We can’t plan programming without a building." Artcenter Traverse City has proposed moving into the Carnegie Building on Sixth Street, most recently the home of the History Center. Artcenter Traverse City presented its proposal to a city task force at a public meeting in October.

"Without a consistent space, people can’t find it, can’t touch it, can’t walk in the door," Ahrens said. Plus, "more exhibit space is always needed." The groups proposed using the building for three years initially–"to test the market, see how we’re embraced"–and if the Carnegie Building proposal doesn’t go through, another location will be sought.

"We’re doing this because it’s a great opportunity," Ahrens said. "We would love to be part of this market and Artcenter Traverse City wanted to catch up with the rest of Traverse City."

Ahrens said the Traverse City location will stick with the visual arts for now (Crooked Tree in Petoskey has a youth orchestra and dance studios, among other things) and will continue to host the annual Outdoor Art Fair and Art in the Garden, as well as other events and classes.

"The conversation actually started almost a year ago," Ahrens said, "because we thought we wanted to collaborate, share instructors, have traveling exhibits, so that’s what we’re hoping for."

Crooked Tree in Petoskey has 3,000 members in 48 states, including many in the Grand Traverse region, and a $2 million budget. Artcenter Traverse City has 300 members and a budget of about $100,000.

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