Naples Children & Education Foundation Welcomes New Trustees

The Naples Children & Education Foundation (NCEF), founders of the Naples Winter Wine Festival, has added Nancy and Ted Koenig, Sherie Marek, and Amy and John Quinn as Trustees. In this role, they will support NCEF’s vision of making a profound and sustaining difference in the lives of underprivileged children in Collier County.

“These new Trustees have impressive and varied backgrounds, which will contribute greatly to the wonderful array of expertise among our other Trustees,” said Valerie Boyd, NCEF Chairman of the Board.“ Each of them also shares a deep, heartfelt commitment to supporting a wide range of charitable causes in the community and are past patrons of the Naples Winter Wine Festival.”

Nancy & Ted Koenig

Theodore L. Koenig is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Monroe Capital LLC, a premier boutique asset management firm that provides private credit solutions to borrowers in the United States and Canada. He is a graduate of the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, earning a B.S.in accounting with high honors, and Chicago-Kent College of Law, with a J.D. with honors. His career includes 13 years as a partner at the Chicago-based law firm of Holleb & Coff.

Nancy Koenig is an active community philanthropist and volunteer. Both she and her husband attended the 2022 Naples Winter Wine Festival. Both of them have spent extended time learning about NCEF’s programs and have already visited several beneficiaries with NCEF staff. Nancy Koenig has volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, helping to build homes in Immokalee. In 2021, the couple co-founded HOPE Chicago, a first-of-its-kind two-generation scholarship model serving Chicago students and their parents, covering both tuition and non-tuition expenses.

Sherie Marek

A consistent patron of the NWWF, supporting the Festival and NCEF for years, Sherie Marek has been a winning bidder and a Tastevin Society member for several years. She taught art for 15 years or more before moving to Cincinnati in 1985 from her native Missouri. Marek, a University of Missouri graduate, at one time had her own gallery, a decorating business and owned a travel agency. Since the late 1990s, she has devoted herself to a wide range of civic and charitable causes. In 2001, Marek was honored as one of Cincinnati’s “Women of the Year”, and in 2022 she was named “Outstanding Philanthropist” for St. Vincent de Paul and the Cincinnati Opera. Her husband, Len Marek, was employed by Kroger Co. and in 1987 made the change to Empire Marketing Strategies. He passed away in 2015 after an extended illness (multiple myeloma).

A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy who served five years as a nuclear submariner, John Quinn is Managing Director of Fountain 33, leading all of his family businesses, private equity investments and real estate development. As President of Fountain 33 Foundation, he shepherds the deployment of family foundation assets to maximize impact, with a current focus on education and mental health.

John & Amy Quinn

Amy Quinn is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and is currently working on her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership at Northwest Nazarene University. She also has a master’s degree in organizational behavior and evaluation science. The Quinns, Tastevin Society members, were generous bidders at the 2022 Naples Winter Wine Festival. The couple was recognized by Gulfshore Life magazine as 2021 “Forces of Philanthropy” in Southwest Florida.

About Naples Winter Wine Festival

One of the world’s most prestigious charity wine auctions, the Naples Winter Wine Festival offers a weekend of unforgettable memories. Guests enjoy world-class food and wine during intimate private dinners and are invited to bid on once-in-a-lifetime travel and wine experiences in an electrifying live auction. Since its inception in 2001, the Festival has raised nearly $244 million, making a profound difference in the lives of hundreds of thousands of children in Collier County.

 About Naples Children & Education Foundation

The founding organization of the Naples Winter Wine Festival, the Naples Children & Education Foundation (NCEF) is improving the educational, emotional and health outcomes of underprivileged and at-risk children in Collier County. Through its annual grants and strategic initiatives, NCEF has impacted more than 50 of the most effective nonprofits in the community, providing over 300,000 children with the services and resources they need to excel. NCEF’s unique approach, which emphasizes collaboration between organizations and bridges public and private resources, has become a blueprint for how to transform a community, one issue at a time.