The Fort Atkinson Community Foundation is pleased to announce that Robert Cassiday will be joining the Foundation's Board of Directors in 2024 for a five-year term. Cassiday, an Assistant Vice President for Business Banking at Johnson Bank, was nominated by the Fort Atkinson City Council and will be taking the seat of the Foundation’s 2023 Chairman, Sue Johnson.
“Robert will be a wonderful Foundation board member,” stated Chairman Johnson. “His strong background in finance and his enthusiastic adoption of the Fort Atkinson community will serve the Foundation well.”
Born and raised in a small farming community in west central Illinois, Cassiday graduated from Monmouth College in 1999. Over the next 24 years, he assumed various leadership roles in the retail and financial services industry, eventually settling in Madison for ten years. His career with Johnson Financial Group in Fort Atkinson started in 2018. “After only a few months,” he recalled, “and a personal tour of the community and history lesson by Joel Winn, my heart knew where my home needed to be and we moved to Fort Atkinson in 2019.”
Cassiday wasted no time in getting involved in the community, serving on the City’s Loan Review Committee as well as on the City’s Parks & Recreation Advisory Board, helping the Fort Atkinson Youth Soccer Association as a team manager, and graduating from the Chamber of Commerce’s Project Lead program in 2020.
Cassiday has three sons – Ryan, a freshman chemistry major at Lawrence University in Appleton; Andrew, a junior at Verona High School; and Michael, a 7th-grader at Fort Atkinson Middle School. In addition to supporting his sons in all their activities, in his spare time he can be found on local bike trails, tackling DIY home projects, or trying to sneak in some reading time.
“It is an honor to be appointed and serve on the Board of Directors for the Fort Atkinson Community Foundation,” Cassiday stated. “Over the last five years, I have witnessed the positive impact this Foundation has had on our community. Since 1973 the organization has helped to cultivate, support, and enhance the lives for those that call Fort Atkinson home. Through the generosity of area residents from the past, present, and future, it will be a privilege to continue to carry out the vision of a better community.”
The Community Foundation’s Board of Directors consists of five members, each serving a term of five years. These volunteers are chosen for their community involvement and knowledge of the educational, cultural, civic, public, and charitable needs of the Fort Atkinson area.
Appointments to the Board are made, in turn, by the School District of Fort Atkinson, PremierBank as trustee, the Fort Atkinson Area Chamber of Commerce, the Fort Atkinson Historical Society, and the Fort Atkinson City Council. However, directors represent the community in general and do not represent or act as advocates of their respective appointing bodies.
Members of the Community Foundation’s 2024 Board of Directors are Chairman Sally Koehler, Vice Chairman Lisa Caras, Treasurer Jim Schulenburg, Secretary Bonnie Geyer, and Director Robert Cassiday. The Board of Directors is supported by the Foundation’s executive director, Sue Hartwick.
More information about the Fort Atkinson Community Foundation is available at www.fortfoundation.org or by contacting Hartwick at (920) 563-3210 (office), (920) 222-1191 (mobile) or via email at facf@fortfoundation.org.