By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Lindsey Bohra cheerfully admits she has always loved to organize events, whether it was the neighborhood scarecrow-making event or coordinating classroom events at her children’s elementary school in Lawrence.
So when the opening for the executive director’s post at Lawrenceville Main Street arose, Ms. Bohra jumped at the chance. She started last Friday.
”The timing was perfect,” Ms. Bohra said. “I was looking to go back to work. I want do something creative. I love to organize things, and this sounded like it would be a good fit for me.”
Lawrenceville Main Street is a nonprofit organization that oversees the business district in the historic village of Lawrenceville. It is part of the Main Street New Jersey program, which helps communities revitalize their business districts.
Ms. Bohra learned of Lawrenceville Main Street when she picked up a brochure about it soon after moving to Lawrence with her family in 2000. But it never occurred to her that she would one day become its executive director.
The vacancy occurred when Arthur Schonheiter, the most recent executive director, retired last month. He had served since 2008, and was a former president of the group’s board of directors before taking on the post.
Ms. Bohra, meanwhile, brings a strong business background to the job. She earned a bachelor’s degree in management science and statistics from the University of Maryland, and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Virginia.
Before taking time off from her career to raise her family, she had been involved in analysis and marketing for the Maryland Insurance Group, T. Rowe Price Associates and Kimberly-Clark Corporation.
But Ms. Bohra also comes from a strong, small-business background. Her father owned a video store in Ocean City, Md., and she has never lost her affection for small businesses. She said she tries to “shop local” and prefers to buy in smaller stores.
”Small businesses are the backbone of America,” she said. “I love Lawrence. If the businesses thrive, then the homeowners thrive and the schools thrive. It’s trickle down. I would like to have more businesses (on Main Street). I am always thinking about it.”
Acknowledging the contributions of her predecessors, Ms. Bohra said she wants to bring her own stamp to the job. She said she would like to reach out to young families to become involved in volunteer activities with Lawrenceville Main Street, such as the landscaping committee.
Parents can literally “get on the ground” with their young children if they volunteer on the organization’s landscaping committee, helping to beautify Weeden Park, she said. Older children can become involved in other projects, she said, adding that she wants to bring in volunteers to Lawrenceville Main Street.
Howard Nelson, who is the president of Lawrenceville Main Street’s board of directors, agreed. There is a need to do more to attract a “younger audience” to bring young families into the group as volunteers, so they will have a stake in the community and ensuring that the business district thrives.
The makeup of the business district and the businesses that locate there should be ones that appeal to younger families all over Lawrence Township from the southern part of the township to the northern part, Mr. Nelson said.

