Whitefish Theatre Company has a new director.

Kathryn McEnery became the new executive director of the theater group Wednesday, taking over the position from longtime director Carolyn Pitman, according to a news release from Whitefish Theatre Company.

Originally from Oak Park, Ill., McEnery moved from Seattle to the Flathead Valley in 1997 with her former husband John Zoltek, music director of Glacier Symphony and Chorale. In 2007, she went to law school at Valparaiso University in Indiana, near her family.  McEnery came back to the Flathead so her daughter, Geneva Zoltek, could be near her father and finish high school here.

“My intention was always to come back to western Montana,” McEnery said.

She went to law school with the goal of using her degree in the nonprofit arena. McEnery has experience working with license and trademark issues, and has worked at several museums in Seattle and the Hockaday Museum of Art in Kalispell.

McEnery also has a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Montana, which she says will be useful in her new position. She will also rely on help from her predecessor.

“My goal is to learn as much as I can from Carolyn in the next few months,” McEnery said.

Pitman was one of the founding members of Whitefish Theatre Company and served as managing director for years before becoming executive director when the organization took on the operation of the O’Shaughnessy Center.  

“It has been very satisfying to watch WTC develop credibility, stability and value to the community,” Pitman said. “At first no one believes you will survive. It took time to become a valued entity.”

Pitman said she considers the O’Shaughnessy Center the biggest challenge — and the biggest accomplishment — of her more than three decades with the theater group. She recalled the challenge Whitefish Theatre Company faced in taking on the project.

“As an organization, we had 20 years under our belt, but once it was built, could we pay the bills, expand our programming to include music, hire more staff and still make it as a viable organization?” she said. “It worked. In March 2013, we will have been in this building 15 years.”

That success wouldn’t have been possible without support from the community, a “small but mighty staff” and a host of dedicated volunteers, Pitman and McEnery said. McEnery added that being part of a stable, well-established organization will allow her to be forward-looking in her new position.

“I am thrilled to become part of this very collaborative organization,” she said. “I can’t wait to see where we go and what we can offer this growing, changing community.”