Jessica Stewart Lendvay
Board President
After receiving her Masters in Architecture from the University of
Texas at Arlington, native Dallasite Jessica Stewart Lendvay has been
honored to work on some of Dallas' great private residences. Don't tell
anyone but she is still seeing circles from her favorite recent dream
project - the renovation and addition to an amazing Round House with
Emily Summers Design Associates. Secretly, Jessica is illustrating a
book of dog poems by writer and playwright Leigh Tomlinson. She is
continually unable to resist the magic surrounding LRTX.
Lisa Taylor
Vice-President, Secretary
Lisa Taylor is owner of Taylor-Made Press, a marketing and event
production service specializing in the arts. Formerly Assistant Editor
of the Dallas Times Herald Datebook for six years, Taylor brought her
writing and press relations skills to her own business 16 years ago.
Her clients have included the Dallas Museum of Arts' Arts & Letters
Live Literary series for which she was the Literary Cafe producer, the
tour producer and the marketing director; DNA Productions (the creator
of the Academy-Award nominated "Jimmy Neutron" film); KERA-TV; Meadows
School of the Arts; Nasher Sculpture Center; The Dallas Art Dealers
Association; The Crow Collection of Asian Art; Dallas Theater Center;
Undermain Theatre; Pan American Art Gallery; and The Dallas
Architecture Forum. Her honors include recognition by the Dallas
Business Journal in its annual "Forty Under 40" Awards and a nomination
for the Golden Rule Award from JCPenney.
James Earl Estes
Treasurer
An accountant with SSP Consulting, James Earl Estes is a native
Dallasite and graduate of Leadership Dallas who has served on various
boards and worked for many arts-related non-profits including The
Dallas Museum of Art, Art Reach, the African American Museum, the
Center for Nonprofit Management, Dallas Black Dance Theater, The Dallas
Symphony Orchestra, and the Junior Black Academy of Arts and Letters.
He is also a musician at heart who plays the radio.
Jamie Baker
Board Member
Jamie Baker is a practicing attorney with the Dallas law firm,
Thompson, Coe, Cousins & Irons, L.L.P. She has over 15 years'
experience working with arts non-profit organizations including the
Texas Accountants and Lawyers for the Arts. She received her J.D. from
South Texas College of Law in Houston, Texas and her B.A. in Art
History from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Jamie is
currently on the Board of Directors of Texas' Next Top Designer and the board of La Reunion, TX. She has served as staff counsel for
the Trey McIntyre Project ballet company, an associate producer of a
documentary film in progress, and a contributing author to the Bead
Museum of Washington, D.C.
Mark Gunderson
Board Member
Gunderson is a practicing architect in Fort Worth, Texas and is past
president of the Dallas Architectural Foundation. He currently serves
on the board for Dallas Architecture Forum and writes and lectures
frequently on architecture. In 2006, his alma mater, Texas Tech
University, presented Gunderson with Distinguished Alumnus Award from
its College of Architecture. He has been a visiting critic at both
Texas Tech and the UTA School of Architecture. Currently at work as a
co–author to “Buildings of Texas”, a new 1,000–page double volume in
the series “Buildings of the United States,” published by the
University of Virginia Press for the Society of Architectural
Historians.
Dan Hughes
Board Member
Daniel James Hughes is the father of Sarah Elizabeth Hughes and Ayesha
Camille Hughes. He loves wide open spaces. In another life he is a
rogue architect. In this life he is a philosopher of the continental
variety and an executive for a global secure logistics outfit that's
been around longer than most nation states. He likes textures and
smells and succinct implication. An expat who grew up in South Asia,
Dan is a global nomad who has only of late come to realize that most
people actually do feel at home wherever they are from. Having come of
age in an accelerating global culture of immediacy, interactivity and
the archive Dan is a collector of inspiration despite the gnawing sense
that collecting itself is a subtle violence.
Noel Navarette
Board Member
Eight years teaching experience at Pegasus School, a charter school
serving 4-12 in the heart of down town Dallas. Fine arts instructor
including middle school and high school art and high school theater.
College counselor; guiding students through the dual credit program and
college preparation. 1993 BA in American Studies from Wellesley
College. 1997 NOLS semester in Kenya. Currently enrolled in TX A&M-
Commerce teaching program.
Katherine Owens
Board Member
Katherine Owens is a founder and Artistic Director of the Undermain
Theatre. At the Undermain, she directed the premiere of Mac Wellman's
Two September, Murder of Crows, and Hyacinth Macaw. She has also
directed Sam Shepard's The Late Henry Moss, Moira Buffini's Silence, Shakespeare's Macbeth, Chekov's The Seagull, Goose and Tom Tom by David Rabe, Cat's-Paw by Mac Wellman, A Man's Best Friend and Night Coil by Jeffrey M. Jones, and Poor Folks Pleasure by Len Jenkin. In 1997, Katherine directed the premiere of Mac Wellman's The Lesser Magoo for Bottom's Dream Theatre in Los Angeles. She has appeared in Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury adapted by Erik Ehn, The Possibilities and The Castle both by Howard Barker, All Night Long by John O'Keefe, and Love Trouble by Jeffrey M. Jones. She also narrated Mark Birnbaum's documentary, Las Mujeres del Valle, for CARE Ecuador, and a number of programs for PBS. In New York, Katherine directed Lenora Champagne's Coaticook
at SoHo's THINK TANK's Ice Factory 2000, designed the video for Erik
Ehn's Gold Into Mud at HERE's American Living Room Festival, and
directed Glamour at the Ohio in April of 2002 and A Man's Best Friend
at Walkerspace. She directed the premieres of Bruce DuBoses' Waiting for a Train: The Life and Songs of Jimmie Rodgers, Lynne Alvarez's The Snow Queen for Undermain and Neil Young's Greendale
for Undermain and for the Ice Factory in New York in 2008. She received
a Texas Woman of Distinction Award from the AAUW in 2008.
Catherine Horsey
Advisor
Catherine Horsey is a consultant on resource-efficient buildings and nonprofit governance and works as a volunteer with the Texas Music Center, Friends of Fair Park, the Fair Park Trust Fund, North Texas Master Naturalists and the U.S. Green Building Council. Past projects include Urban Reserve; the Trinity River and Dogwood Canyon Audubon Centers; and Park Row Estates, an affordable housing development in South Dallas. She has a long history of nonprofit management, including seven years as executive director of Preservation Dallas. In 2000, Mayor Ron Kirk proclaimed Catherine Horsey Day in recognition of her contributions to Dallas; in 2004, Mayor David Cicilline of Providence, Rhode Island, where she was then living, recognized her for her “overarching advancement of our cultural life.” She returned to Dallas for good in 2004, where she plays left-handed mandolin and right-handed banjo.
Allison V. Smith
Board Member
Allison V. Smith is an award winning photographer whose career started in photojournalism at the Dallas Morning News. Some of her clients include The New York Times, KIPP Schools, and The Omiydar Network. Her work is in the permanent collections at The Dallas Museum of Art and Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Smith and her mother published a book of photographs taken by Stanley Marcus called Reflection of a Man: The Photographs of Stanley Marcus. Allison and her husband, gallerist Barry Whistler reside in Dallas with their two dogs Bucks and Daisy.
Walton Muyumba
Board Member
Walton Muyumba is a writer and arts critic living in Dallas, Texas. He is the author of The Shadow and the Act: Black Intellectual Practice, Jazz Improvisation, and Philosophical Pragmatism (University of Chicago Press, 2009) and has published essays and reviews in Oxford American, The Washington Post Book World, The Chicago Tribune, The Dallas Morning News, The Dallas Observer, The Indiana Review, College Literature and Fluent Collaborative. Muyumba is an associate professor of American literature and African American Studies at the University of North Texas, Denton.
Jessie Marshall Zarazaga
Board Member
A practicing architect working across the fields of architecture, landscape and urbanism, Jessie has worked and taught internationally, in Hong Kong, Tanzania, Finland, UK, as well as the US, focusing on the operation of the devices of landscape, and their insertion into urban territories. She recently returned from a Fulbright in Chile, at the Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso, where she taught and undertook research on the territorial practice at the Open City at Ritoque; and is working on a PhD on landscape theory at the AA in London.
Barry Whistler
Board Member
bio forthcoming
Edith Baker
Advisor
For more than 20 years, Edith Baker owned an eponymous gallery, the
first in Dallas to showcase contemporary art. She is a founder of EASL,
the Emergency Artists Support League, which has provided financial
assistance to visual arts professionals since 1992. In her honor, the
Dallas Art Dealers Association gives the Edith Baker Art Scholarship
each year to a graduating senior from Booker T. Washington High School
for the Performing and Visual Arts. Edith is also an artist currently
working in clay sculpture.
Rob Baldwin
Advisor
Rob Baldwin is a Principal with Baldwin Associates, an urban planning
and land use consulting firm in Dallas. Rob has extensive experience in
crafting and interpreting land use regulations and navigating municipal
approval processes. Rob's clients include municipalities, developer and
not-for-profits. Rob has sat on the City of Dallas Urban Design
Advisory Committee and is a member of the Honorary Order of Kentucky
Coronels'.
Neeki Bey
Advisor
Multi-talented multi-instrumentalist Neeki Bey is a minister of
music and outreach (uplifting CityChurch of Dallas by day) and a jazz
musician (rockin' crowds from Lakewood to Lower Greenville by night).
After attending an arts magnet high school with Beyonce, he earned a
degree from Morehouse College in Atlanta. A world tour including stops
in Vienna, Austria and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania concluded in his
native Texas, where he still conducts a men's chorus in his hometown of
Houston. In 2006 he earned his Master of Music Education degree from
Southern Methodist University.
Rebel Brown Calhoun
Advisor
As the CEO of RebelRebel,Inc., a business consulting firm, Rebel
specializes in business and technology planning, marketing and sales
staffing as well as performance audits.She is also founding a
healthcare advocacy business focused on what is best for patients,
rather than insurance companies, hospitals or doctors. Originally from
Shreveport, LA, Rebel graduated from LSU with a degree in accounting,
minoring in computer science. Having moved from Houston to Dallas in
1981, Rebel has a very broad-based involvment in the Dallas community.
She is former Chair of The Dallas 40, the former President of the Board
of the Women's Center of Dallas, former member of the Board of the
Dallas Women's Foundation, serving on their grants committee and
finance committee. She is a gradutate of the LEADERSHIP Texas program
and has been active the the LEADERSHIP Alumnae Association. Rebel is a
longtime member of The Dallas 40 and the Dallas Friday Group. She
currently volunteers with TexProtects, LaReunionTX, The Women's
Museum/Wine Women & Shoes, Church in the Cliff and City Gallery of
Dallas. Rebel and her dog daughter, Goldie, live in the Oak Lawn area
of Dallas and spend as much time at Cedar Creek Lake (Goldie's original
home) as possible.
Jesus Chairez
Advisor
Jesús Chaírez, a native Dallas resident, presently serves on the Board
of Directors of non-profit and non-commercial radio KNON 89.3 FM The
Voice of the People. From 1993 to 2005, Chaírez produced and hosted Sin
Fronteras (Without Borders) on KNON. Chaírez is a regular contributor
to The Dallas Morning News Neighbors ' M Street/Lakewood/White Rock
supplement where he writes with an emphasis on Latino arts and culture
within his community. Chaírez is also a regular contributor for The
Dallas Voice, the premier source of news for the GLBT Dallas/Fort Worth
community. Chaírez is a founding member of DFW Network of Hispanic
Communicators and is a founding artist member of the M Streets &
Lakewood Artists Studio Tour. Chaírez is also the founder and first
president of A.R.T.E. (Artists Relating Together & Exhibiting) and
Chaírez has an alterlatino art space and studio, ArteFacto, in Old East
Dallas.
Viola Delgado
Advisor
Viola Delgado attended the Art League School in Alexandria, VA and
Dallas Baptist University. Her career experiences include teaching
after school programs for 14 years with Junior Players and curating at
the Bath House Cultural Center, Art Center of Plano, Mundo Latino at
The Women's Museum, and recently the Latino Cultural Center. Ms.
Delgado is also an artist who has exhibited in several solo and group
exhibits throughout Texas. She was selected to design an art pieces for
the DFW International Airport Art Project, Dallas Area Rapid Transit
Lake June Station, and Greyhound Trailways. She has also served on the
Dallas Public Art Committee and been a juror and panelist on several
competitions in Dallas, Houston, Sherman and San Antonio. She has
lectured at Austin College in Sherman, Texas and Texas A & M
University in Kingsville, Texas.
Danette Dufilho
Advisor
San Antonio native Danette Dufilho moved to Dallas in 1998. Shortly
thereafter, she started working at the Conduit Gallery, where she is
now assistant director and project room curator. She also encourages
and promotes her musician husband (who records under the names John
Dufilho, The Deathray Davies, I Love Math, and other aliases).
Graham Greene
Advisor
Graham Greene began his professional practice in Chicago, Illinois in
1980 with Lohan Associates, a nationally recognized architecture firm
working on major architectural commissions throughout the country. In
1989, he formed a practice, in Dallas Texas, focusing on excellence in
sustainable design in urban planning, housing and educational
facilities with a special emphasis on the vitalization of culture
through the development of project prototypes. In 1995, his firm
consolidated with the Oglesby Group to form Oglesby ' Greene
Architecture. Graham received a Master of Arts in Architecture from
Tulane University in 1979, and has continued to expand his education
through involvement with the Collaborative Processes Institute, the
Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture and on the Dean's Advisory
Council at Tulane University. He also has served as a Visiting
Instructor for a graduate design studio at University of Texas -
Arlington School of Architecture and as been both speaker and panelist
on design issues and sustainable urban vitalization strategies at the
Urban Land Institute and other conferences. Through his professional
work Graham has earned numerous awards, including a 1991 City of Dallas
Urban Design Award, 1994 and 2003 AIA/Dallas Design Awards, 1995 UT
School of Urban and Public Affairs - Urban Entrepreneur Award, 1998
Best Real Estate Deal, 2000 Preservation Achievement Award, 1998
AIA/Dallas Honor Award for Outstanding Achievement, 1999 'Chautauqua'
Award for Historic Preservation, 2006 CLIDE (Celebration of Leadership
in Design Excellence) Award and a 2007 Texas Society of Architects Firm
Award. Graham is active within the community with memberships with the
National Trust for Historic Preservation, United States Green Building
Council, Green Space Design and currently serves on the Board of
Directors of the Forest Heights Community Development Corporation,
Dallas Downtown Partnership and the Undermain Theater. He is a
Registered Architect in the State of Texas, a member of the American
Institute of Architects, and a LEED Accredited Professional.
Lisa Hembrey
Advisor
Lisa Hembry is President/CEO of Dallas iMedia Network, the public
access television system for Greater Dallas. The Dallas native has
extensive professional experience in communications, commercial real
estate and treasury management having served as Dallas County
Treasurer, president of the Dallas Historical Society, Director of
Marketing for the Staubach Company and owner of March Forth
Communications. In addition, she was News Director at KKDA and Public
Affairs Director at KRLD radio stations in Dallas. Lisa served
appointments to the Texas Commission on the Arts (1989 ' 1995),
Institute for Museum and Library Services (1992 ' 1995) and currently
the Texas Historical Commission (2007 ' 2013). She is a co-investor in
PAZ Energy, LLC, a minority natural gas investment firm and working
interest owner in the DFW Barnett Shale Project.
David Hopkins
Advisor
David Hopkins is a comic book writer and essayist, a regular
contributor to D Magazine and the Smart Pop Series from BenBella Books.
David was recognized in the Dallas Observer's Best Of 2006 as "Best
Local Comic Book Writer." He produces and co-hosts Fanboy Radio's
monthly Indie Show, broadcasting from KTCU 88.7 FM. David teaches
English and Creative Writing at Martin High School. David serves as a
member of the advisory board for La Reunion. He is most proud of his
three year old daughter Kennedy.
Antihero Comics.
Harley Jebens
Advisor
Harley Jebens worked on the arts and entertainment desk of the The
Austin American-Statesman and co-founded website GuideLive.com at The
Dallas Morning News before pursuing his dream of cracking cases and
foiling ne'er-do-wells as an unlicensed, untrained private detective
(if you've got a crime, he'll find the time). He is on the board of
directors of the non-profit organization For The Love of the Lake,
working to keep White Rock Lake clean (if not pirate-free). At Tribal
DDB-Dallas, he demonstrates formidable new media and marketing savvy.
Ben Jenkins
Advisor
Native Texan Benjamin Jenkins founded
OneFastBuffalo in 1999 after
completing his MFA in Art & Technology at The School of the Art
Institute of Chicago, where he focused his studies on new media arts,
design, film, philosophy, and current social issues of the American
Indian. Ben studied graphic design and architecture as an undergraduate
at Mississippi State University while playing baseball for the
Southeastern Conference school. After college, Ben spent time as a
minor league baseball player for the Philadelphia Phillies where he
also started working on freelance design projects to pass the time
while sitting in motels and riding in buses. His digital films and
experimental video work have been screened in international film and
video festivals. His work has been featured in design publications such
as Communication Arts and Print. OneFastBuffalo is a full time endeavor
for Ben, be he also serves as teacher and instructor at local
universities, creative institutes, and seminars. Ben has 10 years
experience working with companies large and small to improve, reinvent,
and strengthen their brands.
Alejandra Martinez
Advisor
With more than 18 years of experience in both US Hispanic and Latin
American marketing, Alejandra Martinez has been a key component of
Verizon's communications team since 2001. Her responsibilities include
directing, controlling, planning and the overall management of local,
High Speed Internet, FiOS, Long Distance International products,
cultural and acquisition promotions and affinity programs for the
Hispanic Consumer Market. In addition, Martinez serves as the
Spanish-language spokesperson for Verizon where she communicates the
company's strategic direction and position with the media. Verizon's
media efforts played a key role in being honored in 2005 with the
corporation of the year award by the Hispanic Public Relations
Association (HPRA). Prior to joining Verizon, Alejandra Martinez worked
at Square One Advertising Agency where she was a senior project
manager, supervising consumer accounts such as Miller Lite, Dr Pepper,
Cadbury Beverages/7UP, Whataburger, Banco Popular, Major League
Baseball, Hispanic Syndication Network and Latin Quarter Restaurants.
Alejandra graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Instituto Universitario de
Nuevas Profesiones in Caracas, Venezuela where she obtained a Superior
Technical Degree in Advertising and Marketing. She also holds an
Executive Masters degree in Business Administration from Southern
Methodist University in Dallas, TX.
Diana Marquis
Advisor
bio forthcoming
Laura Neitzel
Advisor
Laura Neitzel is a documentary writer and producer at AMS Pictures in
Dallas, Texas. She previously served for nine years as Executive
Director of the Video Association of Dallas aka the Dallas Video
Festival, and has been a teacher of English and a corporate and
securities paralegal. Last year, she produced and directed a
documentary film, "Bodacious Boots," which is a high-spirited ode to
the cowboy boot featuring bootmakers and boot lovers like Lyle Lovett
and the late Sydney Pollack. She holds a BA from UT Austin and an MA in
English from the University of North Texas. She is a proud resident of
Oak Cliff, where she lives with her husband and three cats.
Salim Nourallah
Advisor
Salim Nourallah is a Texas based singer-songwriter. Born in Alton,
Illinois and raised in El Paso, Texas, the brothers Nourallah were
mutually obsessed with the Beatles at an obscenely young age. Many
years later they recorded, with boxing gloves and occasional
instruments, the indie cult classic "Nourallah Brothers" CD on Western
Vinyl/Secretly Canadian. That was the year 2000. Since then Salim has
gone on to release 2 full-length solo albums ' 'Polaroid' in 2004 and
'Beautiful Noise' in 2005. Both helped him earn an extraordinarily
well-mannered European fan base. He also founded Dallas' mod-est
recording studio, Pleasantry Lane, in 2003 and has recorded the
Deathray Davies, Rhett Miller, the Damnwells, Old 97's, and Sorta. The
German record label, Tapete, re-issued "Beautiful Noise" which garnered
2006 Dallas Observer Music Awards for Salim in three categories: Best
Album, Best Song and Best Producer.
Jason Roberts
Advisor
Jason Roberts is a songwriter, activist, and entrepreneur hailing
from the Oak Cliff neighborhood. He co-founded the Happy Bullets, a
nationally touring band Entertainment Weekly dubbed a "literary-minded
indie group that hits its target," and which D Magazine featured as
"Best Live Act in Dallas." Jason passionately leads grassroots efforts
to support arts and urban renewal community programs. In 2005, he
co-founded The Art Conspiracy, a Dallas-based collaborative uniting
artists, musicians, and business leaders to fund local charities while
promoting the arts. Also, Roberts recently spearheaded the Oak Cliff
Transit Authority, a non-profit that seeks to restore urban streetcar
lines in South Dallas. Jason attended University of North Texas and is
currently president of PC Paramedics, a computer consulting firm. As a
homeowner, husband, and the father of two, he has a personal stake in
the future of Oak Cliff.
David Rodriguez
Advisor
David Rodriguez is Vice President of Ware Architecture and a LEED Accredited Professional (LEED AP) who’s firm specializes in green, sustainable high performance design and consulting for both commercial projects and private residences. He is the immediate past Chairman of the Board of Directors and now Chairman Emeritus for the North Texas US Green Building Council whose organization has responsibility for 16 counties, Fort Worth and Dallas included. His expertise is in green, sustainable methodologies and the LEED rating system to those owners and developers who are strongly considering programming projects for green / LEED consideration and/or who may need sustainable consulting on existing and future projects. His passion is teaching, training and is a requested speaker in providing public lectures and discussions on creating a healthier, green built environment thru good design. He provides green charrettes on potential projects and explains how sustainable, high performance design can bring added value to any project and community.
Mr. Rodriguez also volunteers his time in a mentoring role with young, emerging professionals in the architectural, engineering and construction community. Because he has spent time in each industry, he strongly believes that the built environment is a strong collaboration of these three. It has served him well with the many organizations he has been associated with such as La Reunion Tx, The Greater Fort Worth Real Estate Council, American Institute of Architects, Vision North Texas, The Association of General Contractors, The Texas Society of Professional Engineers, The Urban Land Institute (ULI), The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), and Fort Worth BOMA to name a few.
Rose-Mary Rumbley
Advisor
Rose-Mary holds a PH.D. in communications from the University of North
Texas. She has written four books on her native city - Dallas, Texas,
the latest being STROLLING THROUGH THE PARK, 100 YEARS OF THE DALLAS PARK BOARD. She has written a cook book, WHAT! NO CHILI,
and a book about the 300th anniversary of the invention of the piano.
She has appeared on the stage at the Dallas Summer Musicals and at Casa
Manana in Ft. Worth. Rose-Mary was head of the drama department at
Dallas Baptist University for 12 years and served on the staff at First
Baptist Church, Dallas, for 7 years. Today, she is on the speaking
circuit and enjoys researching each and every topic. Rose-Mary is
married to Jack Rumbley, a professional musician and they have two
grown children and one grand child.
Jim Sargent
Advisor
Waxahachie-based custom home builder Jim Sargent began his business in
the 1970s during the oil embargo and ensuing energy crisis. He began
the practice of monitoring the energy consumption of each home he
built, a practice he continues today. His understanding of what works
and why in healthy, energy efficient construction has made him a
popular guest on radio, TV, and the teaching circuit. He has been
recognized by the National Association of Home Builders and U.S.
Department of Energy, but he's far too humble to mention it.
Harold Spiegel
Advisor
Harold is committed to planting, nurturing and preserving one of our
most precious resources: trees and their associated plant partners. He
has an educational background in plant culture and plant maladies. A
particular passion for Harold is the preservation of trees in the
construction site and he has worked extensively in the Dallas-Fort
Worth residential and commercial sector in this behalf for over 25
years. Prior to establishing his arborist career and business, he was a
commercial artist and technical illustrator for McDonnell-Douglas Corp.
His educational experience includes doctorial studies in plant
pathology and nematology at Oklahoma State University and the
University of Florida. He earned his bachelor of science degree in
botany and chemistry from Southeast Missouri State University. He has
also completed additional work in landscape design and construction.
Harold is past Chair, Board of Directors - Texas Discovery Gardens;
Horticulture Chairman, Design and Construction Committee for Texas
Discovery Gardens; founding member, past president, and member of the
board of Trinity Blacklands Urban Forestry Council, as well as a member
of American Society of Consulting Arborists, International Society of
Arboriculture and Tree Care Industry Association.
JoAnna St. Angelo
Advisor
Joanna St. Angelo has served the Sammons Center for the Arts from
opening day, March 1, 1988 to present. Under her stewardship the Center
has developed into the largest private nonprofit arts incubator in the
country serving twelve resident performing arts groups and more than
forty non-resident arts organizations. There is a long waiting list of
groups wanting to locate in the Sammons Center due to the high quality
and low cost of the facilities. In addition to running the Sammons
Center for the Arts, she is a nationally recognized consultant in the
development of arts incubators and community arts centers and has
consulted on more than a dozen successful arts projects in Texas and
other states. With more than twenty years experience in nonprofit
management, she is active on a number of boards and advisory boards
including the Dallas Area Cultural Advocacy Coalition, Dallas iMedia,
USA Film Festival, the Mexico Institute, the TACA Board of Governors,
the President's Advisory Council for the Dallas Center for the
Performing Arts, and LaReunion Texas.
Cris Worley
Advisor
Cris Worley has been working in the Dallas gallery world for six years
and has worked in the role of Director at two galleries including her
current post at Pan American Gallery. The gallery focuses on bridging
the gap between North and South America by representing and promoting
artists of both regions concurrently. Worley graduated with a BA in Art
History from the University of the South in 1993 and a Master of Art in
Art History from Southern Methodist University in 2000. She has served
on committees for the Dallas Art Dealers Association and the Junior
Associates at the Dallas Museum of Art. She has also acted as juror for
numerous art organizations across the region and has served frequently
on panel discussions as a consulting art professional.
Kris Youmans
Advisor
Kristofer Youmans is a director, producer, and photographer who resides
in Dallas, TX. His production company, Tactics Productions, has created
music videos for bands such as Centro-matic, the Deathray Davies, the
Rocket Summer, and the pAper chAse. But Youmans' interest in music
doesn't end with his videos. He is an accomplished cellist, performing
and recording with critically acclaimed bands the pAper chAse and the
Happy Bullets. His creativity also extends into writing, as he works to
complete his third screenplay. In his spare time, Youmans gets active
in local politics.
Jeff Wooten
Advisor
Jeff Wooten (PE, LEED AP) is the Land Development Manager at Bohannan Huston Inc. and has more than 15 years experience in Civil/Site Engineering. He specializes in Private/Public Sector Land Development projects. Jeff is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP). Jeff has a wife of 15 years (Michelle) and two daughters (Kimberly and Olivia). In his spare time, Jeff is an avid photographer and mountain biker. He also spends time serving his church.
Angela Fisher
Advisor
Angela Johnson-Fisher serves as the Executive Director for Deaf Action Center, a Texas based non-profit dedicated to providing direct services to the individuals with hearing loss locally, nationally and internationally. Both a strength and personal passion, Angela focuses her energies on bringing about systematic change. She holds a BA from Dallas Baptist University, an MBA and MA from Texas Woman’s University, and a certificate of Non-profit Leadership from SMU/Center for Non-profit Management. An avid writer, aquaponics buff, and community volunteer, Angela resides in McKinney, TX, with her husband, Andrew.
Stephanie Hindall
Advisor
Stephanie Hindall is a grant writer, jewelry designer, event promoter, and community volunteer. She owns Tefi Designs LLC, a one-woman jewelry design studio based in Oak Cliff that specializes in quality materials and craftsmanship. In 2007 Stephanie founded, and continues to lead Etsy Dallas, a local craft collective of over 60 artists and designers. Each year, Stephanie co-organizes the Spring Bash and Jingle Bash, two distinct top-notch art/craft events in Dallas. Stephanie is a published print writer and blogger, and writes for several blogs including Tefi Designs, Life With Ian, and Etsy Dallas. She sits on the Board of the Oak Cliff Artisans, is an active member of the North Cliff Conservation District neighborhood association, and has recently begun volunteering for the Jefferson Median Beautification Project. Recently, Stephanie became a first-time mother to Ian Alejandro, her darling boy wonder. A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Stephanie received her BA in English and Italian in 1998 and Bilingual Educator Certification in 2002. At any given point in time, you'll likely find Stephanie blazing a trail or two.
Sharon Van Buskirk
Advisor
Sharon brings a background of public relations, marketing, corporate communications, and publishing to her Marketing Director position at Preservation Tree Services. Her interest in green, growing things goes back to “tromps” in the woods behind her East Dallas home and horticulture classes at Skyline High School. She’s had to push through intervening years and jobs with the Hong Kong government, the British Parliament, and her own trade magazine for the funeral industry, to wend her way back to trees and nature preservation.
The Dallas native is also a board member of the White Rock Lake Foundation and the Friends of Buckner Park.
Catherine Horsey
Advisor
Catherine Horsey is a consultant on resource-efficient buildings and nonprofit governance and works as a volunteer with the Texas Music Center, Friends of Fair Park, the Fair Park Trust Fund, North Texas Master Naturalists and the U.S. Green Building Council. Past projects include Urban Reserve; the Trinity River and Dogwood Canyon Audubon Centers; and Park Row Estates, an affordable housing development in South Dallas. She has a long history of nonprofit management, including seven years as executive director of Preservation Dallas. In 2000, Mayor Ron Kirk proclaimed Catherine Horsey Day in recognition of her contributions to Dallas; in 2004, Mayor David Cicilline of Providence, Rhode Island, where she was then living, recognized her for her “overarching advancement of our cultural life.” She returned to Dallas for good in 2004, where she plays left-handed mandolin and right-handed banjo.
Ryan Hunter
Advisor
Ryan Hunter is Meridian Solar's General Manager of North Texas. Ryan is a LEED AP, holds a BS from the University of Texas, and has five years of experience in the solar industry. He is passionate about the economic and environmental promise solar energy holds for Texas and our world. As an artist, he has showcased at SXSW as both a filmmaker and a musician. He has toured around the country, and recorded 2 full-length albums with his band. Supporting LRTX is a satisfying synergy of his enthusiasm for renewable energy with his reverence for art.
Helen Manning
Advisor
Helen Manning. In awe of all things arts related, Manning has been a volunteer working behind-the-scenes for LRTX where she has been thrilled to be a part of this exciting adventure. She is a graduate of the Leadership Arts Institute and currently serves on the Board of the Museum of Geometric and MADI Art, as well as on the Steering Committee of the Leadership Arts Alumni Association. She earned bachelors and masters degrees from the Florida State University. She and her greyhound, Poppy, are a therapy dog team, and visit nursing homes in East Dallas.