Staff

Dail Frates
Executive Director

Dail Frates, inspired by the love of her stepson, Zack Frates, co-founded Zack’s Place in 2006, together with her husband Norm Frates. Dail graduated from Woodstock Union High School in Vermont in 1976, and thereafter attended Edison State College and the University of South Florida. She enjoyed a long career in the airline industry, first as a station agent and later as a travel agent. She then moved back to the Woodstock area in 2001, where she fell in love with an old high school acquaintance, Norm Frates. They soon married and combined their families which included five children. Dail became a licensed real estate agent in 2002, and enjoyed a successful career selling real estate in the Woodstock and Upper Valley areas. Subsequent to the of founding ZP, Dail served as a ZP Board Member and Chair of the Fundraising Committee which established three highly successful annual fundraisers to sustain the now IRS approved 501 (c)(3), not-for-profit enrichment center. In 2010 she relinquished her role as a board member and became the interim executive director after a series of rapid turnovers in this position. A few months later, the Board overwhelmingly approved Dail’s permanent role as the executive director. Under her tutelage, the center flourished and participation grew at an incredible rate, now serving over 40 participants. New enrichment programs were introduced, the program day was extended to full time, and interesting and exciting field trips were added to the calendar. Volunteers from the community flocked to the Center as never before to offer their skills and financial support. Dail’s passion and experience as the parent of a special needs child combined to make this enrichment center a truly unique place where, not only people of all ages meet to partake in the varied programs, but where they make real friends both within the ZP family and with the community at large.