FARGO, ND.- A public open house reception will be held at Plains Art Museum from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, October 6 to honor retiring staff member Sue Petry, public information manager. Petry joined the Museum staff in May of 1982 and has served in a variety of positions, including Public Information Manager, Special Resources Administrator and Charitable Gaming Manager.

Petry’s last day of employment with the Museum will be October 15. She said, “My 27 years working at the Museum have been very rewarding because of the wonderful people I have worked with: our board, staff and creative community. I am especially proud of assisting with the Museum’s accreditation process and for being part of locating it in the heart of downtown. I am so pleased to have been a part of the revitalization of our stellar downtown—it has been so gratifying to live and work in what is now a very hip place. I look forward to seeing the Museum’s current campaign come to fruition and the continuation of the downtown renaissance.”

Joni Janz, Museum director of development and marketing said, “I am honored to have worked with Sue, the Museum’s longest serving employee. Her contributions have taken the Museum through growth and change in many areas and her relationship building has cultivated and secured many Museum friends. She has participated in two capital campaigns, marketed more than 180 exhibitions and worked with close to 100 board members and other volunteers here. Her involvement in multiple research, assessment and development projects and on Museum accreditation has helped set our future direction.”

Petry was a pioneer of charitable gaming in North Dakota and Minnesota, helping to craft law and regulation ensuring that gaming proceeds benefited nonprofits. She worked with regulatory and legislative bodies in both states, served on the N.D. Attorney General’s Gaming Advisory Board, was a founding director of several allied nonprofit organizations and consulted with a variety of government, nonprofit and tribal entities to assist them with this unique form of earned income. Petry has participated in a number of research projects, some of which she has presented at nonprofit and regulatory conferences across the United States.

During her time with the Museum, Petry became a charter organizer and presenter in the Essentials of Nonprofit Administration program offered to leaders of nonprofit organizations at Minnesota State University Moorhead. She did extensive volunteer work in leadership capacities with organizations including the FM Chamber of Commerce, PTA, FM Symphony Guild, League of Women Voters and Charitable Gaming Association of N.D. She worked to provide opportunities for girls who wanted to play hockey, helping found area youth programs and the Fargo All City Girls International Hockey Tournament. She also assisted with the sanctioning of girls high school hockey.

Petry graduated from NDSU in 1977 with a B.A. in French. She received the Fargo Moorhead Convention and Visitors Bureau Community Service Award for helping bring in tourism via the arts and youth sporting events. She also received the YWCA’s Woman of the Year in Arts and Communications award for her work with nonprofit causes and to benefit girls through athletic endeavors.

Petry and her husband Charlie live in Fargo and will spend more time traveling and at their homes in Surprise, Ariz. and in Ottertail County near Vergas, Minn. They have four adult children who live in Fargo and Minneapolis.