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New Executive Director Begins New Chapter At Fairfield's Pequot Library

SOUTHPORT, Conn. -- When Heather-Marie Montilla took over as the new executive director of Southport’s Pequot Library, she said she wasn’t intimidated or overwhelmed as some might have expected for the successor to legendary Martha Lord.

Heather-Marie Montilla stands in the original stacks of Southport's Pequot Library.

Heather-Marie Montilla stands in the original stacks of Southport's Pequot Library.

Photo Credit: Salvatore Trifilio

In fact, the Columbia University graduate had a different way of looking at a situation many would have found crippling. Montilla’s first day -- Oct. 14 -- happened to be on one of the library’s most important fundraisers of the year, creating what she saw as the perfect storm that allowed her to hit the ground running.

“It was the perfect time for me because I love art and 50 percent of the people were wearing name tags,” Montilla joked.

Montilla, who currently lives in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx, N.Y., said she deals with an “unpleasant” commute everyday to her new place of employment that she calls, “professionally, a perfect fit.”

And that might be putting it lightly. A brief conversation with the Schenectady, N.Y., native revealed how her previous experiences led her to the more than 125-year-old library.

After graduating with a master's in public administration from Columbia, Montilla stayed in Manhattan to work at the Ivy League school’s Community Impact program. There, she worked to organize groups that help more than 8,000 underserved people a year.

From there, she found herself moving back into Westchester County, where she spent more than eight years in development for the Neuberger Museum of Art at SUNY-Purchase.

“I was tasked with the job of growing the Neuberger family,” Montilla said. “It was my job to provide better programs to the community at large.”

And it was her time spent building a community that led her to her most recent work as executive director of Doing Art Together - a nonprofit that brings art to under-resourced children in New York City.

“I always look at art as the window into learning,” Montilla said, describing her experience at the nonprofit.

She loved the work she was doing but missed her time working in a museum and for an organization. Montilla said she saw the Pequot Library job as an opportunity to bring all of her experiences together for the good of Southport’s community.

In her first month, Montilla has taken the torch from Lord - who remains a volunteer and resource to Montilla - and ran with it. She has reached out to principals at local schools and universities, asking them “what can we do for you."

“My vision has to be in collaboration with the community, board and staff,” Montilla said.

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