{"id":13433,"date":"2026-02-19T04:18:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T11:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/womens-resource-center-in-durango-appoints-new-executive-director\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:37:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:37:19","slug":"womens-resource-center-in-durango-appoints-new-executive-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/womens-resource-center-in-durango-appoints-new-executive-director\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s Resource Center in Durango appoints new executive director"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Kathleen
Kathleen \u201cKatie\u201d Jones will be taking over as executive director of the Women's Resource Center effective March 2, following several difficult months for the organization. (Shane Benjamin\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Women\u2019s Resource Center has found a new executive director after several months of searching, according to a news release from the organization.<\/p>\n

Kathleen \u201cKatie\u201d Jones will begin her tenure March 2, the release said, and will be taking over for interim director Christy Schaerer.<\/p>\n

Jones \u201cbrings more than 20 years of leadership experience addressing some of the world\u2019s most complex challenges\u201d to the role, according to the release.<\/p>\n

Past positions held by Jones include humanitarian adviser with the United Arab Emirates Foreign Aid Agency, peace-building and humanitarian adviser with the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and chief of staff to the director general at COP28, also in the UAE, according to her LinkedIn page.<\/p>\n

Jones has been working as a ceramic artist in Durango since September, according to her LinkedIn.<\/p>\n

\"Jones\"
Jones<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cKathleen\u2019s ability to lead with clarity, compassion, collaboration, and strategic focus makes her an exceptional fit for this moment in our organization\u2019s history,\u201d WRC Board President Ashley Truitt said in the release.<\/p>\n

Jones could not be reached for comment Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The announcement comes after several difficult months for the center.<\/p>\n

Former executive director Tammy Tyner left the center abruptly in November after nine years in the role, and died by suicide<\/a> several days later.<\/p>\n

The board, after initially declining to give a reason for Tyner\u2019s departure from the executive director role, later said she had been fired.<\/p>\n

In December, volunteers and staff members walked out amid allegations<\/a> of unethical behavior and practices on the part of the board, and the center closed temporarily.<\/p>\n

Allegations described a misuse of funds and \u201cbullying\u201d behavior from the board.<\/p>\n

The board told The Durango Herald<\/em> in a written statement that the allegations were \u201cunfounded and potentially damaging to the vital mission of the WRC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schaerer, who originally hired Tyner, was the former Women\u2019s Resource Center program director from 2010 to 2016 and its former executive director from 2016 to 2023.<\/p>\n

Schaerer has served in the interim role since mid January, and told the Herald<\/em> last month that she felt it was time to \u201cstep up again,\u201d and lend her knowledge and expertise to the organization.<\/p>\n

After a several month closure, the center has added a banner on its website announcing a reduced-hours reopening.<\/p>\n

As of Wednesday, the banner said operating hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday and Thursday with a \u201cfull time schedule coming soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

epond@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kathleen \u2018Katie\u2019 Jones brings more than 20 years experience \u2018addressing some of the world\u2019s most complex challenges\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[364,255,28,1269,994,1283],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-community","tag-death-and-dying","tag-headlines","tag-nonprofits","tag-trueanthem","tag-womens"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13433"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18974,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13433\/revisions\/18974"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13433"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}