The Fund’s People: Officers, Advisors, Staff and Consultants

 
Paul H. Elicker has been Chairman of The Fund since 1997. His background is in private industry and more recently in government-oriented service. He was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SCM Corporation, a $3.4 billion Fortune 500 conglomerate company. He was Executive Director of The Center for Privatization, the first and largest consulting firm devoted exclusively to privatization work in about eighty countries, and has personally participated in assignments in about thirty countries. By Presidential appointment, he is a member of the Board of Directors of the Baltic American Enterprise Fund, which is responsible for U.S. foreign aid to small and medium-sized private enterprises in the Baltic countries.
 
Jillian H. Poole is CEO of The Fund, which she founded. She has a wide background in institutional development for museum and performing arts organizations, government liaison, and nonprofit management, including public relations and fundraising. For nineteen years she was responsible for planning and executing the development programs of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, America’s National Cultural Center, a responsibility that ultimately included its partner The National Symphony Orchestra. Prior to that, she held a similar position at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. She was also Adjunct Professor of Arts Management in the graduate school of the American University for sixteen years. She has been retained as consultant to a variety of cultural organizations. Trusteeships included The North Carolina School for the Arts, The National Building Museum, the Acting Company and the Erick Hawkins Dance Company. She currently serves on the Board of the Amadeus Concerts.
 
Sally Yerkovich is President of The Fund. Previously, she was President of The Tribute Center that opened in 2006 at the World Trade Center, and President and Chief Executive Officer of The New Jersey Historical Society. Dr. Yerkovich also has over twenty-five years of leadership experience in various arts and nonprofit institutions on the East Coast of the United States.

Frank S. Johnson, Jr. is Corporate Secretary of The Fund. He has served as top public relations executive to some of the nation’s best-known corporate, government, and not-for-profit organizations, including NASA, the U.S. Postal Service, USIA, the Chicago Board of Trade, General Dynamics, Revlon and others. He is also a former President of the Revlon Foundation, and served as assistant to the President of the Solomon R. and the Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Foundations. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Acting Company and The Virginia Opera.

David F. Graling, CPA, has been Treasurer of The Fund since its inception. He is a Managing Partner of Gelman, Rosenberg & Freedman.

Marc Breslaw is Vice President, Development and Communications, Jewish Social Service Agency. Prior to this, he was Operating Officer and Director of Development of the New Israel Fund and Associate Museum Director at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
 
Stephen Brown, Company Manager of the Metropolitan Opera Association in New York, joined the MET in 1979. His extensive career in international theatre, opera, and ballet has also included the Opera Company of Boston, the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain, and the Royal Court Theatre, London.
 
Karen Franklin is Director of Family Research at the Leo Baeck Institute in New York, serves on the AAM/ICOM Board, and is Treasurer of the Lower Hudson Conference of Museums and Historical Societies. She is a past Chair of the Council of American Jewish Museums.
 
Lyndel King has been Director and Chief Curator at the Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota since 1981. She has a Ph.D. in art history.


 
Patrick Sears is Co-Director of the Rubin Art Museum in New York City. Prior to this, he was Associate Director of Exhibitions and Facilities at The Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

Robert Workman is Executive Director of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. Prior to this, he was Deputy Director at the Amon Carter Museum.
 
Rena Zurofsky is a consultant specializing in museum marketing and retail development. She has worked at the Worcester, Massachusetts Art Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Brooklyn Museum of Art.

Robin Berrington, former Deputy Director of President Bill Clinton’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities and Cultural Attaché to the Court of St. James in London, retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 1999. During his 32 year career, much of it spent in Japan, he was awarded the U.S. government’s Meritorious Honor award and the Superior Honor.

Harold Burson is Founding Chairman of Burson-Marsteller. Burson-Marsteller is the world’s largest communications counseling firm.
 
Martis “Marty” Davis, a past Fund consultant, has an extensive background in public affairs, public policy, marketing communications, crisis management, branding, and advertising.  Experience includes senior positions in public relations at the Washington Post, AT&T, Burson-Marsteller, New York City’s Health and Hospitals Corporation, and AARP and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at HHS during the Clinton administration. His interest in the arts includes managing both performing and visual artists and running the  Duke Ellington School for the Performing Arts, a well-respected high school in  Washington, DC, where he established a museum studies program. 

Robert W. Duemling served as President and Director of the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. He is a member of The Trustee’s Council of the National Gallery of Art.

Jay A. Levenson is Director of International Programs at the Museum of Modern Art.

Senator Richard G. Lugar is Ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
 
Marc Pachter is former Director of the National Portrait Gallery. From 1985 to 1990, he was Senior Cultural Advisor to the United States Information Agency. Dr. Pachter is an historian author and editor.

Scott Pickens has 30 years executive experience in a variety of service industries including information technology, non-profit health plans, consulting for local governments and strategic planning for such organizations as Habitat for Humanity. In 2003, he and Jamie Solak founded JSP Solutions Group, Inc. specializing in strategic planning, operations management, and organizational development for organizations in transition and growth.
 
Julius Rudel was General Director and Principal Conductor of the New York City Opera for twenty-two years, and now conducts worldwide.

Blair A. Ruble is Director of the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies of the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. He also serves as Program Director for Comparative Urban Studies at the Woodrow Wilson Center.
 
Jane Safer has held senior positions at the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York Hall of Science. As a consultant, she has worked with the Andrei Sakharov Museum in Moscow, the Kunstkammer in St. Petersburg, the National Museum of the American Indian and the Arts and Business Council, New York City.

John C. Whitehead is past Chairman of AEA Investors Inc. and a former Deputy Secretary of State. He currently serves on the following boards: Chairman of the Goldman Sachs Foundation, Co-Chairman of the Greater New York Councils of the Boy Scouts, the Nature Conservancy, the East-West Institute, and the Eisenhower Exchange Fellowships. In late 2001, he was appointed Chairman of the Board of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the organization responsible for the rebuilding and revitalization of Lower Manhattan. He is also former Chairman of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation.

  Ward Mintz is Executive Director of The Coby Foundation in New York City. He was Deputy Director for Programs and Collections at The Newark Museum, responsible for curatorial, education and collections-related activities, including the exhibition program. Prior to that he was Assistant Director of Programs of The Jewish Museum in New York City.

Jillian H. Poole, CEO of The Fund. [more]
 
Catherine Schwoeffermann is Executive Director of the Stewart W. and Willma C. Hoyt Foundation in Binghamton, New York. She was previously Curator and Program Director at the Roberson Museum, also in Binghamton. Ms. Schwoeffermann has served on panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Association of Museums, the Institute for Museum and Library Services, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Sally Yerkovich, President of The Fund. [more]
 
Deborah Ziska is Chief of Press and Public Information at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. She has thirty-seven years experience in communications, marketing, public affairs and management.

 
Michael Brewer was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Symphony Orchestra for five years and has been a member of the board since 1994. He also sits on the boards of the Youth Orchestra of the Americas in Arlington, VA, the Joyce Foundation in Chicago, and the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC.

Stephen Brown, The Fund board member. [more]
 
Stefano Carboni is Curator and Administrator of the Department of Islamic Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.


 
Barbara Fahs Charles is Managing Partner of Staples & Charles, Ltd., a museum interpretative planning and design firm in Alexandria, Virginia. Recent projects include the reinstallation of the permanent galleries of the Louis Kahn Building at Yale University Art Gallery and the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the design of the major traveling exhibition Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World. Her firm is working on the exhibitions for the new visitor center at Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson.
 
Deborah Edward was Founder of the Austin Children’s Museum, which she led for sixteen years. For the past five years, Dr. Edward was the Executive Director of Greenlights for NonProfit Success, providing consulting, education and resources for nonprofits of all kinds. In 2006 she took a lead role in launching Psychology Without Borders, an international nonprofit alleviating suffering caused by disasters.
 
Stephen Feber has twenty-six years of experience in the leisure and tourism sectors with a particular focus on visitor attractions, urban regeneration, heritage and project inception, development, and operations. He has worked as consultant, development director, and chief executive for museums, National Trust properties, and interactive centers.
 
Barbara Franco, is Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Prior to this she was been President and CEO of The Historical Society and the City Museum of Washington, D.C. She has wide experience in promoting community history and heritage tourism.
 
Elaine Heumann Gurian is a consultant/advisor to a number of museums and visitor centers that are beginning, building or reinventing themselves. Her current clients include the Nassau County Parks and Recreation Service, Nassau County, New York; the Museum of the City of London; the National Children’s Museum, Washington D.C., and The National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C.
 
Honee A. Hessis Director of Education at the Worcester (Massachusetts) Art Museum.

Lyndel King, The Fund board member. [more]
 
Christine M. Miles is Director of the Albany Institute of History & Art. Prior to that she worked at six museums, and has served as President of both the Museum Association and the Gallery Association of New York State.
 
Ward Mintz is Executive Director of The Coby Foundation in New York City. He was Deputy Director for Programs and Collections at The Newark Museum, responsible for curatorial, education and collections-related activities, including the exhibition program. Prior to that he was Assistant Director of Programs of The Jewish Museum in New York City.
 
Amy Módly is the former International Liaison/Special Projects Director of the Cultural Office of Deputy Mayor of Budapest.
 
Susan Nichols is the Lunder Education Chair at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She was the founding director of Save Outdoor Sculpture! Heritage Preservation, an award-winning national cultural program to inventory all public sculpture in the United States.

Jillian H. Poole, CEO of The Fund. [more]
 
Kathy Dwyer Southern is President and CEO of the National Children’s Museum in Washington, D.C. She serves on the Boards of the American Association of Museums, and the International Committee on Museums, U.S.


 
Gary Sturm is Chair of the Division of Music, Sports and Entertainment at the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution, and is responsible for its diverse collection of 5,000 musical instruments.
 
Sonnet Takahisa is Director of Education, National September 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center. Prior to this she was Co-Director of the New York City Museum School, and Assistant Director for school, youth and family programs at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and the Children’s Museum of Manhattan.
 
Linda Vadász is the former Executive Director of Arts Worcester in Massachusetts. She founded the Friends of the Budapest Fine Arts Museum, the first museum volunteer group in Hungary.
 
James Weaver was Curator of Cultural History at the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Mr. Weaver is especially noted for creating public programs that expand the reach of individual exhibits to include concert performances, lectures, recordings, and radio and television broadcasts.
 
Carole J. Wysocki is the Director of the National Symphony Orchestra Education Program and a senior staff member of the Education Department of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. During her 25-year tenure at the Kennedy Center, Ms. Wysocki has built the NSO Education Program into a vibrant force to further classical music education for young people.

Sally Yerkovich, President of The Fund. [more]
 
David Young is the graduate research professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. For more than 15 years, he was the Producing Director of the American College Theater Festival (ACTF) at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C.

 
Ralph Appelbaum, President of Ralph Appelbaum Associates, a New York City- based firm that plans, designs and produces museum exhibitions, visitor centers, and educational environments, including the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Corning Museum of Glass, and the Rose Center for Earth and Space of the American Museum of Natural History.

James C. Armstrong was a Principal in the management-consulting firm Armstrong/Stelzer in New York City.

Hubert Bari, an independent museum consultant. Works include the Neaderthal Museum and the Charles Rennie Mackintosh exhibit in Glasgow.

Paxton Barnes, an exhibit designer with recent projects at the Tyler Arboretum, Bronx Zoo and New York Botanical Garden.

Guillermo Barrios, former National Director of Museums, National Council of Culture in Venezuela.

Graham Beal, Director of the Detroit Institute of Arts. He has held directorships at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska.

James Bradburne, a British-Canadian architect and designer and museum specialist has designed World Fair Pavilions, Science Centers and international Art Exhibitions. He is Director General of the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence.

Teresia Bush, Senior Educator, Department of Public Programs at the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Gardens.

Kathleen Charla, a Russian language scholar and a communications expert, has consulted for various Russian cultural institutions. She ran her own advertising/ marketing firm and was named Detroit Adwoman of the Year in 1991.

Patricia Ciraulo was the Deputy Director for External Relations, Russian National Orchestra, Moscow.

Andrzej Choldzunski is an award-winning Polish architect and teacher of architecture currently residing in France.

Ruth Anderson Coggeshall, was Chief Development Officer of the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. She is now an independent consultant.

Martis Davis, a Senior Advisor of The Fund. [more]

Louise Douglas is the General Manager of the Audience and Program Division at the National Museum of Australia, Canberra, the major institution charged with researching, collecting, preserving and exhibiting historical material of the Australian nation.

Jacqueline Duke has been Deputy Director at the Museum of International Folk Art in New Mexico since 2000.

Paul Elicker, Chairman of The Fund. [more]

Miguel Ferná¡ndez Félix, Director of the National Museum of Viceroyalty in Mexico City. He was Mexico’s cultural attaché to UNESCO and followed this assignment with the directorship of the Dolores Olmedo Patiño Museum.

Karen Franklin, The Fund board member. [more]

James H. E. Finke was President and Chief Operating Officer of Commodore International, Ltd., and Vice President of European Operations for Data General.

Patrick Gallagher, President and Founder of Gallagher & Associates, a leading professional design firm that creates exhibits for public and private sector museums, visitor centers, and natural science centers. Clients include the Gettysburg National Military Park, Oceans Hall at the Smithsonian Institution, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.

Anton Ginzburg, Partner in the design firm Studio RADIA. In 2004, he created a collection of products for Cooper-Hewitt and the National Design Museum.

Jessica Glass, a video producer, editor, technical director, audio-visual installation consultant and technician, and film/video projectionist with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Wayne Harvey is Comptroller for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. He is a former CFO of several nonprofits including EastWest Institute, Big Apple Circus, Orbis International and Center for Reproductive Rights.

Kenneth Haas* was Managing Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Jonathan Hess, AIA, is Executive Vice President of Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Architects in Indianapolis, Indiana. Mr. Hess’ work has included museum design expansions, including the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and the Children’s Museum in Indianapolis.

Michalann Hobson, an arts management consultant with extensive experience with theaters and theatrical programs.

Virginia Hubbell, is President of Virginia Hubbell Associates. She serves as Executive Director of The Mental Insight Foundation in Sonoma, California, and Grants Program Consultant to the Louis R. Lurie Foundation in San Francisco, California.

Aldona Jonaitis, has been the Director of the University of Alaska Museum since 1993.

Robert C. Jones is President and Executive Director of Opera Pacific. He has extensive background in museum and arts management.

Jerold Kappel is Director, External Affairs, at Opera Pacific. He was Director of Development at the American Association of Museums in Washington, D.C.

Brian Lacey, former Director of the Museums of Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

Gilbert Levine, conducts worldwide. In 1986, Sir Gilbert Levine became the first American to head a major orchestra in the East Bloc when he was appointed Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Krakow Philharmonic.

Sharon Litwin, is Senior Vice President, External Affairs of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. She was formerly Assistant Director of the New Orleans Museum of Art.

Elaine M. Lomenzo, was Managing Director of the Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema.

Laura Longley was Director of Communications at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. She is now an independent consultant.

Sandra Lorimer, an independent museum consultant from Ontario, Canada, specializes in the communication and management aspects of museum exhibition development.

Peter Lyman is University Librarian for The University of California, Berkeley.

Jack McAuliffe, founded Engaged Audiences LLC as an executive coaching service to help orchestra leadership teams develop the strategies, infrastructures, and skills necessary to retain engaged audience members. He is the former Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, American Symphony Orchestra League.

Ann Mintz was director of the Berkshire Museum. In this position she oversaw the general museum with a collection comprising art, archaeology, natural science and history,

Valerie Morris, the Dean of the College of Charleston, SC, School of the Arts.

Klaus Müller is a museum and web consultant, independent filmmaker, and European Program Coordinator for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C. Dr. Müller is based in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Pamela Myers is Director of the Asheville Art Museum in North Carolina. Prior to that she was Director of Exhibitions, Guggenheim Museum, which included responsibility for exhibition and public programming at New York City, Venice and Bilbao sites.

Barbara Niemczyk was Director of St. Petersburg 2003 for CEC International. She has taught literature, culture and film of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in several U.S. universities.

Jane D. Norman, Exhibits Conservator for the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, museums of Asian art of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Gary Osland is the Principal of Osland Design Associates, Inc. in New York City.

Marc Pachter, Senior Advisor of The Fund. [more]

Jack Pascarosa was formerly with Ralph Applebaum Associates.

M. Drake Patten is Executive Director of the Millay Colony for the Arts in Columbia County, New York, a retreat for writers, visual artists and composers.

Elisa Phelps was the Director of Collections and the Curator of Anthropology at the Witte Museum in San Antonio, TX.

Jill Emery Phillips was Director of International Visitor Programs at the United States Information Agency.

Ihor Poshyvailo, Deputy Director of the Ivan Honchar Museum in Kiev, is a scholar and researcher in arts and crafts and has published numerous articles and several books.

Charles R. Ritcheson was Vice Provost and Dean of Libraries of the University of Southern California, and former U.S. Cultural Attaché in London.

Julius Rudel , Senior Advisor of The Fund. [more]

Jane Safer, Senior Advisor of The Fund. [more]

Lady Sainsbury was prima ballerina of the Royal Ballet. She is a teacher and coach at the School of the Royal Ballet and the Ballet Rambert.

Lord Sainsbury is former chairman of Sainsbury’s Ltd., former chairman of the Board of the Royal Opera and Ballet and a member of the board of the National Gallery, London, and of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

A.N. Scallon, former Director of the Corporate Support Program for IBM.

Sheldon Schwartz was Executive Director of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.

Patrick Sears, The Fund board Member. [more]

Mary Delle Seltzer, former Director of Corporate Advertising And Cultural Sponsorships for AT&T, and former Director of the Oklahoma Art Center.

George Stuart Sexton, III, Principal, George Sexton Associates, a Washington, D.C. consulting firm providing services in the areas of architecture and museum services.

Ken Shifrin has been Principal Trombonist of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Radio Stuttgart Orchestra, and Associate Principal with the Israel Philharmonic.

Julian Spalding, was former Director of the Glasgow Museums and Galleries with overall responsibility for ten venues for the Museum.

Robert Staples is Design Partner of Staples & Charles, Ltd. a museum interpretative planning and design firm in Alexandria, Virginia.

Chris Stager, Principal of CR Stager, a marketing and audience development firm. He has consulted with The Cleveland Orchestra, The Boston Pops, Houston Grand Opera and many symphony orchestras around the U.S.

Cathy Card Sterling an independent consultant, served as Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations with The Phillips Collection and Administrative Officer and Exhibitions Manager with The Corcoran Gallery of Art, both in Washington, D.C.

Martin Sullivan, Director of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, is former Chief Executive Officer of Historic St. Mary’s City, Maryland, an outdoor museum of history and archaeology, and the Heard Museum in Phoenix, a renowned museum of American Indian cultures and art. He is  past Chairman of the U.S. Advisory Committee for the UNESCO Convention on Cultural Property.

Larry Tamburri, president, CEO and Managing Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony.

Wendy Tiffin, former Director of sponsorship for the Southbank Complex in London.

Allen Townsend Chief Librarian at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. Formerly he was the Arcadia Director of Library and Archives at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Albert K. Webster, an arts consultant and former Managing Director and Executive Vice President of the New York Philharmonic.

Peter Wexler Principal of Peter Wexler, Inc. which produces programs for organizations including the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic and the Smithsonian Institution.

Rena Zurofsky, The Fund board Member. [more]

Hugh Southern, Program Director. Hugh Southern, a graduate of King’s College, Cambridge (UK) has had a long and varied career in arts management. After working for Robert Whitehead and Elia Kazan in the original Repertory Theatre of Lincoln Center and for Kurt Herbert Adler at the San Francisco Opera, Mr. Southern was the founding Executive Director of the Theatre Development Fund in New York City in 1968. For the Fund he established the TKTS half-price tickets booth in Duffy Square in 1974. In 1982 he was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the position of Deputy Chairman for Programs at the National Endowment for the Arts, where he also served as Acting Chairman, until 1989. Mr. Southern has served on a number of nonprofit boards and as a consultant to many arts organizations.

Nancy Robinette, Executive Assistant. Nancy Robinette is part-time assistant to The Fund. She is also a long-time professional actress, having appeared in shows on most Washington, D.C. stages for over 25 years. She first worked with Jillian Poole in the development office of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as Manager of their Corporate Fund.

Monika C. Jansen is a freelance writer and editor. She joined The Fund in 2002 as Jillian Poole’s executive assistant. Since 2003, she has been editing the consultant, semi-annual, and annual reports, overseeing website content, and managing FundLink. Prior to joining The Fund, Ms. Jansen worked in marketing and public relations.

The Officers of The Fund are also grateful
to Officers and Advisors who served in earlier years:

Madeleine K. Albright
Raymond J. Batla, Jr.
Grant Beglarian*
Charles C. Bergman
Livingston Biddle*
Alexander Brody
John L. Callahan
Jean-Claude Carriere
Milton Cerny
C. Mathews Dick, Jr.
Milos Forman
Andre H. Friedman
Leo-Ferdinand Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck
Heyward Isham
Robert C. Jones
Bradford Kelleher*
Roger Kennedy
Martin Klingenberg
Charlotta Kotik
Robert Lantz*
Gilbert Levine
Wendy W. Luers
Lorin Maazel
Garrett Mitchell
Garrick Ohlsson
Senator Claiborne Pell*
Peter Shaffer
The Honorable Leonard L. Silverstein
Alexander C. Tomlinson

THE FUND FOR ARTS AND CULTURE in Central and Eastern Europe 2016 N. Westmoreland St., Arlington, VA 22213
secretary@fundforartsandculture.org