united arts funds
Council
Bios
- Jeanie P. Duncan
- Lee Keesler
- Daniel Adolphson
- Rie Poirier-Campbell
- Beauchamp Carr
- James M. Clark
- Allan Cowen
- Bruce W. Davis
- Jeff Hawthorne
- Eleanor Oakley
- Margot H. Knight
- Benjamin Krevolin
- Janet Langsam
- Mary McCullough-Hudson
- H. Perry Mixter
- Joanne Riley
- Susan M. Schadt
- Steven D. Speiss
- Gary P. Steuer
- James Tune
- Bruce Whitacre
Jeanie P. Duncan, CFRE, Chair
Jeanie P. Duncan has served organizations in the nonprofit sector for more than 13 years. Most of her experience during this time has been specifically related to arts and culture. Duncan is president and CEO of the United Arts Council (UAC) of Greensboro, NC. She has served the organization since 1996 as director of development and later as interim president before becoming president in 2003. The UAC fulfills its mission of championing the arts for everyone by focusing its efforts on development and advocacy for the arts in Greater Greensboro. Under Duncan’s leadership, the UAC raises $1.2 million annually, awarding grants and services to more than 50 arts organizations, schools, and artists. Duncan is a native of Greensboro, where she now lives with her husband and son. She earned her B.S. from UNC-Greensboro, a certificate in nonprofit management from Duke University, and the status of Certified Fund Raising Professional from the Association of Fund Raising Professionals. She is on the faculty of the Duke University Certificate Program in Nonprofit Management and is an instructor and guest speaker for UNC-Greensboro, the North Carolina Arts Council, North Carolina Center for Nonprofits, and Americans for the Arts.
Lee Keesler, Vice Chair
Lee Keesler’s life-long passion for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg region is evidenced by his more than two decades of commitment to the corporate community and significant volunteer leadership roles in the nonprofit sector. Keesler served as board chair of the Arts & Science Council from 1998–1999 before joining the organization in 2004 as president & CEO. He also serves as president of the Foundation for the Arts & Sciences. At the national level, Keesler serves on the United Arts Funds Council of Americans for the Arts. Former senior vice president and commercial banking executive for Wachovia Bank’s Carolinas and Georgia Regions, Keesler provided strategic and financial leadership for the bank’s middle market commercial banking activities in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Additionally, he led the company’s Government & Institutional Banking business enterprise-wide. Keesler also enjoys extensive involvement as an active volunteer in the community. He currently serves on the Capital Campaign Planning Board, the McColl Graduate School of Business Board of Advisors, and the boards of ArtsTeach and Charlotte Center City Partners. He is a past board member and chair of Spirit Square Center for the Arts, the Uptown YMCA, and Charlotte Advocates for Education. He has also served on the boards of the YMCA of Greater Charlotte, the United Way of Central Carolinas, the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, Junior Achievement of Charlotte, The Presbyterian Home at Sharon Towers, Alexander Children’s Center, the Charlotte Regional Partnership, the UNCC Athletic Foundation, and Levine Museum of the New South. A native of Charlotte, Keesler is a graduate of Duke University and holds a master’s degree in business administration from Wake Forest University’s Babcock Graduate School of Management. He and his wife, Garrell, have a son, Andrew, and daughter, Anne Chambers.
Daniel Adolphson
Dan’s passion for workplace giving comes from being a recipient of arts residencies as a student growing up in Washington state and a music educator in Minnesota and Nebraska. Since joining COMPAS in March, Dan has been instrumental in refining the mission and vision of United Arts, including creation of new campaign materials and the tagline: Changing Lives Through the Arts. He brings to COMPAS a background in sales and marketing, education, nonprofit management, and tourism. Dan has served on various board and committees including: North Central American Choral Directors Association, Nebraska Choral Directors Association, Valentine Area Arts Council, American Bus Association, Visit Omaha, Greater Des Moines Convention & Visitors Bureau, and Grand Island/Hall County Convention & Visitors Bureau. He completes his term as president of Tour Minnesota Association later this year and recently joined the board of The Singers—Minnesota Choral Artists. In December, he will complete a Mini-M.B.A. in Nonprofit Organizations at the University of St. Thomas.
Rie Poirier-Campbell
Rie Poirier-Campbell is the deputy director of the Greater Hartford Arts Council, and manages the organization’s annual United Arts Campaign, which raised a record $4.2 million in 2007 to benefit more than 150 arts & heritage organizations. Rie has been with the Arts Council for seven years, most of that time as cultural promotions & marketing Director. In 2006, she took on the additional role of development director. She has planned and produced several major community events which draw tens of thousands of people to Hartford each year, including United Technologies Symphony on Ice®, Connecticut Veterans Day Parade, and University of Connecticut NCAA Basketball Championship victory parades. Rie has more that 20 years experience promoting Greater Hartford and its organizations, having held marketing and communications positions in the fields of politics, television, real estate development, insurance, government, consumer products, and economic development before joining the Greater Hartford Arts Council in 2000. She also has served on a number of local boards, presently including those for Nutmeg Big Brothers/Big Sisters and The Clare Gallery.
Beauchamp Carr
Beauchamp Carr is the executive vice president of Atlanta's Robert W. Woodruff Arts Center, Inc. He has held that position since 1984 and was the vice president from 1977 to 1984. The Woodruff Arts Center is a nonprofit umbrella organization for the Alliance Theatre Company, Atlanta College of Art, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, High Museum of Art, and 14th Street Playhouse. He was the president of Atlanta Landmarks, Inc. from 1977 to 1988 and a trustee and executive committee member since 1976. Atlanta Landmarks, Inc., a nonprofit organization, owns and operates the 4,500-seat Fox Theater. Carr is on the board of trustees of Atlanta Speech School and The Halle Foundation. His other affiliations include being a member of the Atlanta Rotary Club, Leadership Atlanta, Atlanta Landmarks, Inc., and the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts and Culture Coalition. He is a recipient of the Atlanta Preservation Center’s 2003 Keystone Award.
James M. Clark
James M. Clark accepted the position of president and CEO of the Lexington (KY) Arts and Cultural Council in October 2002. Before coming to Lexington, Clark served as president and CEO of Culture Works in Dayton, OH, since 1998. Prior to that position, he managed a graduate-level program at the Pratt Institute in New York City, and was the executive director of the Public Arts Fund of New York City. Clark is a graduate of the University of Southern California and received his master's degree in public administration from New York University. His impressive career path has also included other positions of public service, as well as owning and managing a private art gallery in Los Angeles.
Allan Cowen
Allan Cowen was appointed executive director of the Fund for the Arts in Louisville, KY, (the oldest united arts fund in America) in November 1976, and in May 1982 was named president and CEO. In his first campaign in 1977, the fund raised more than $600,000; in 2003, the amount raised exceeded $7.6 million. Donors to the fund have also increased from 5,000 in 1976 to more than 30,000 in 2003. In celebration of its 40th birthday in 1989, the fund purchased and renovated its own more than 17,000-square-foot, $950,000 riverfront office center, made possible by gifts from three Louisville arts patrons. As well as housing the fund offices, the building serves to augment its income stream through commercial rentals. In 1997, the historic Brown Theatre was deeded to the fund and Cowen developed its restoration and revisioning plan, and oversaw the capital drive to raise $4.3 million for the project. This restoration was recognized by a Louisville Cornerstone 2020 Award, a preservation award from the Louisville Central Area and the Louisville Historical Society’s Downtown Preservation Award. In 1992, Cowen received the Michael Newton Award from Americans for the Arts for excellence in united arts fundraising. In 1998, he was just the second recipient of the newly established Hugh Finn Community Service Award in the Arts. In 2000, Cowen also received, on behalf of the fund, the 1999 Governor’s Award for the Arts, Pioneer Award in celebration of the fund’s achievements over its 52-year history.
Bruce W. Davis
Bruce W. Davis has served as the executive director of Arts Council Silicon Valley, the largest nonprofit arts council in California, since September 1993. Under Davis’ leadership, the Arts Council has grown approximately 10 percent each year and has established numerous partnerships and initiatives to support the local arts community. This includes distributing nearly $6.5 million to local arts and cultural organizations, individual artists, schools, and community groups and raising $1 million to implement a collaborative arts marketing program, Artsopolis Marketing Partnership. Before coming to the Arts Council, Davis served as the Northern California coordinator of People for the American Way, a 300,000-member public interest organization, founded by Norman Lear and based in Washington, DC. Recently included in San Jose Magazine’s prestigious “Power 100” for the third year, Davis is a 2003 graduate of the American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley, Class XIV. He has also served as a grant panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, Arts Council of Santa Clara County, and Marin Community Foundation.
Jeff Hawthorne
Jeff Hawthorne is the director of community affairs for the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) which serves three counties in the Portland, OR, metropolitan area. His responsibilities include developing new revenues for the local arts community from a variety of sources including government agencies, private foundations, and Work for Art, RACC’s workplace giving program. He also coordinates local arts advocacy efforts and oversees a variety of research projects to help quantify the size and scope of the local arts community each year. A Portland native, Hawthorne has a strong arts fundraising background that includes nine years at Portland Center Stage, where he led two annual fund campaigns as director of development, increasing contributed income levels by 55 percent from 1998 to 2000. Other fundraising projects have included the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Project 180 in San Francisco, DC Central Kitchen, and Metro Regional Parks and Greenspaces. He has co-produced several popular charitable fundraising events in Portland, including Sing-A-Long Sound of Music, The Raised Umbrella, and The Red Dress Party. Hawthorne graduated cum laude from the University of Portland with a bachelor’s degree in theater management.
Eleanor OakleyEleanor H. Oakley is a professional arts administrator with more than 30 years’ experience in nonprofit management, fundraising, and corporate communications. Since 2002, she has served as president/CEO of the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County, an organization raising $1.8 million annually for arts programming in Wake County, NC. For the previous ten years, she managed Raleigh Little Theatre, one of the nation’s largest and oldest continuously operating community theaters. Eleanor holds a B.A. and M.B.A. from Meredith College and is the mother of two grown daughters. A member of the Raleigh Professional Women’s Forum, Woman’s Club of Raleigh, and Triangle Chapter of the Association of Fund Raising Professionals, she was inducted into the Triangle YWCA’s 2006 Academy of Women.
Margot H. Knight
Margot H. Knight currently serves as president and CEO of United Arts of Central Florida, Inc. She was named one of the 100 most influential people in the Orlando Business Journal. Knight also serves on the Greater Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce. Knight served as president and CEO of the United Arts Council of Raleigh & Wake County from 1998 to 2001. She was executive director of the Idaho Commission on the Arts from 1990 to 1997. From 1985 to 1990, she was assistant director of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies in Washington, DC. Following a very brief theatrical career, she was oral historian for the Whitman County (WA) Historical Society, director of the Oral History Office at Washington State University, regional coordinator of the Washington Women's Heritage Project, and interim director of the Washington (State) Commission for the Humanities. Knight has served on the executive committees of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, United Arts Funds Council; Western States Arts Federation; National Assembly of State Arts Agencies; and the Idaho Rural Partnership, which she chaired in 1996. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Russian studies and general social science from James Madison University.
Benjamin Krevolin
Benjamin Krevolin has been the president of Dutchess County Arts Council since September of 2003. Previous to that, Benjamin worked with a number of nonprofit cultural organizations including New York Stage & Film and the Byrd Hoffman Foundation, headed by the avant-garde stage director and artist Robert Wilson. As a freelance director, actor, and producer, Benjamin worked on the premieres of plays and musicals in New York City, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Stockholm, including the Tony-Award winning productions of Titanic and The Lion King. Benjamin grew up in Dutchess County, received a B.A. from Vassar College and went on to receive a post-graduate diploma from the Juilliard School of Drama. Benjamin is an active member of the Mid-Hudson Deaf Awareness Group and has served on the Steering Committee for Pattern For Progress' Global Hudson Valley Initiative and the Board of the Jewish Federation of Dutchess County. He is currently a participant in Pattern For Progress' Regional Fellows Program, Member of the Tourism Committee for Dutchess County Economic Development Corporation, Member-elect to the Board of the Poughkeepsie Area Chamber of Commerce, and a member of Americans for the Arts' Arts Advocacy Captains Network.
Janet T. Langsam
Janet T. Langsam, executive director of the Westchester Arts Council, is an artist, journalist, and senior arts administrator with more than 30 years of experience in the field of arts management. Langsam initiated new arts funding strategies, artist housing, and cultural tourism in New York City and Boston before beginning her 13 years in Westchester. With her board and staff, Langsam raises more than $1.8 million annually to bring the arts to communities, classrooms, youth centers, day care facilities, libraries, and senior centers in every town and village in Westchester. The Arts Council currently funds more than 150 arts institutes and artists and serves more than 120 schools. A tireless advocate for the arts in our communities, Langsam is founding director of the United States Urban Arts Federation and founder of the Queens Museum. She started as district manager in the Office of Neighborhood Development in New York City’s Lindsay Administration, and went on to serve as first deputy commissioner of Cultural Affairs under New York City Mayors Abe Beame and Ed Koch, and later as president and CEO of the Boston Center for the Arts. She currently serves on the boards of the New York State Alliances of Community Arts Agencies and National United Arts Funds Council of Americans for the Arts. Langsam holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master's degree in public administration from New York University. She received the Michael Newton Award from Americans for the Arts in 2003 for her distinguished work in united arts fundraising.
Mary McCullough-Hudson
Mary McCullough-Hudson is president and CEO of the Fine Arts Fund (FAF), a position she has held for nine years, following 10 years as the director of the Fine Arts Fund’s annual united arts campaign. During her tenure, the Fine Arts Fund campaign has grown from $2.5 million to $10 million (2003). In addition to annual fundraising, the Fine Arts Fund manages an endowment for member arts organizations and has established an Office of Planned Giving to serve as a resource for the growth of the endowments of the FAF and its member organizations. The Fine Arts Fund also operates an Arts Services Office to provide technical support for the region’s small and midsized arts organizations. In partnership with the Arts & Business Council of New York, the FAF sponsors a Business Volunteers for the Arts program and American Express’s National Arts Marketing Program. McCullough-Hudson has been a frequent consultant and presenter on united arts fundraising throughout the country. Among her honors have been the YWCA Career Women of Achievement award (2000) and the CCM Distinguished Alumna award (2001). A native Cincinnatian, McCullough-Hudson received both her bachelor's and master's degrees in opera performance from the University of Cincinnati’s College—Conservatory of Music.
H. Perry Mixter
Perry Mixter became president and chief operating officer of The Arts Partnership of Greater Spartanburg in 2007. Prior to that, Perry served as director of corporate and foundation relations at Appalachian State University (ASU). From 1991 to early 2005, he served as director of the office of cultural affairs at ASU. In this capacity, he directed the operations of four major ASU programs: the Performing Arts Series and Forum Series, An Appalachian Summer Festival, the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, and operation of Appalachian’s 1,734-seat Farthing Auditorium. Throughout his career, Mixter has served in a variety of leadership roles in the arts and civic affairs, including serving as president of the North Carolina Presenters Consortium, president of the Boone Sunrise Rotary Club, and president of the High County United Way. He currently serves on the boards of the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce and Arts North Carolina. In 1995, Perry established Mixter Consulting Services, which provides consulting services in organizational development, technology applications, and strategic planning for nonprofit agencies. Mixter served as executive director of the Winston-Salem Piedmont Triad Symphony from 1984 to 1991. He holds a Master of Arts degree from the Arts Administration Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Joanne Riley
Joanne Riley is the executive director of the Cultural Alliance of York County (PA), where she is responsible for administering a newly formed united arts fundraising agency focusing on the corporate community that funds nine member agencies. Before arriving at the Cultural Alliance of York County in 1999, she was executive director of YorkArts. She received a B.S. in communications from Syracuse University.
Susan M. Schadt
Susan M. Schadt joined the Greater Memphis Arts Council as president in January 2002. A native Memphian, she brings great energy and drive, as well as business expertise, to the arts council. Her priorities as president are building capacity in the fundraising drive, advocating for the arts, and broadening the arts council's community education and outreach efforts. Another major effort begun during her tenure is the historic Memphis for the Arts endowment campaign, created to raise $25 million to secure the future of the arts in this community. As of April 2004, the campaign has raised $19.1 million. Before joining the Arts Council, Schadt was the national director of development for the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. During her tenure there, she secured a $475,000 challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation and obtained a truly innovative corporate partnership package with Denny's restaurants. Prior to her work with the Civil Rights Museum, Schadt founded and ran her own company in California. The home furnishing product line generated revenues in excess of $1 million a year.
Steven D. Spiess
Steven D. Spiess, CPA, is the executive director at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, a leading New York City law firm. He previously held the positions of director of administration, director of finance, and tax manager at Cravath. Prior to joining Cravath, he worked in public accounting and specialized in taxation. He currently serves as the chair of the Americans for the Arts Board of Directors. He was a founding board member of Americans for the Arts and previously served as its treasurer. Spiess also serves on many of Americans for the Arts’ committees and is a member of the Board of the Coalition of United Arts Funds, which Americans for the Arts oversees. He is actively involved in several community-service projects in the New York metropolitan area and consults with a variety of charitable organizations on a regular basis. He is a regular guest speaker on tax matters as well as issues affecting nonprofit organizations and high net-worth individuals.
Gary P. Steuer
Gary P. Steuer is the executive director and the Arts & Business Council of Americans for the Arts and vice president of Private-Sector Affairs at Americans for the Arts. Steuer served as the president and CEO of Arts & Business Council from 1996 to 2005, when the council merged its operations with Americans for the Arts. From 1993 to 1996, Steuer was director of New York programs for the council. Under his leadership the council’s budget grew by more than 400 percent and included the creation of such programs as the National Arts Marketing Project, with a total of over $4.5 million in support from American Express to date; the MetLife Foundation National Arts Forum Series; and the New York State Cultural Tourism Initiative. Steuer has written, lectured, and taught extensively on arts management and policy issues. He has a B.A. in politics and dramatic literature from NYU and attended NYU’s Stern Graduate School of Business Administration as well as NYU’s M.A. program in performing arts management. He has served on many boards of directors and funding and advisory panels for local, statewide, and national organizations.
James Tune
Upon joining ArtsFund in January 2006, Jim Tune concluded a three-decade career as a corporate lawyer, during which he practiced at Bogle & Gates for 25 years, serving as its managing partner for seven years, and at Stoel Rives LLP for five years, serving as managing partner of the Seattle office for three years. As a practitioner of law, Jim was recognized by his peers for the last seven years as a “Super Lawyer” in Washington Law & Politics and is listed in the 2006 edition of Best Lawyers in America for his corporate law expertise. Throughout his legal career, Jim has been deeply engaged in a variety of community organizations, including the ArtsFund board since 1997, on which he has served as board chair, vice chair, and secretary. He has also held top board positions at the Seattle Repertory Theatre, including chair and president, and United Way of King County, which included terms as board chair (2004) and vice chair and leadership of that organization’s strategic planning task force. He served on the board and as chair of the Economic Development Council of Seattle/King County (now enterpriseSeattle) and as chair of the Group Health Community Foundation. Currently, Jim serves on the United Arts Fund Council under the auspices of Americans for the Arts and on the boards of the Kreielsheimer Remainder Foundation and several for-profit corporations. Jim’s educational background includes a J.D. and M.A. from Stanford and a B.A. with high distinction (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of Virginia. Jim was an officer in the United States Navy from 1964–1969. He and his wife Katherine live in the Madison Park neighborhood of Seattle and have two children.
Bruce Whitacre
Since joining NCTF as executive director in 2002, Whitacre has expanded theater access programs, initiated StageVision, a national media partnership, and a sponsorship campaign, and increased NCTF’s network of theaters. NCTF, which represents 19 outstanding regional theaters and is supported by over 40 corporations and firms, forges strong and productive partnerships between the nonprofit theater community and corporate America. Prior to NCTF, Whitacre was managing director of New York’s Signature Theatre Company for four seasons. He began his career in theater in the Script Department of Manhattan Theatre Club, and he has been a dramaturge at the Mark Taper Forum, ASK Theatre Projects, and other venues. His corporate experience includes accounting, budgeting, and administration in the publishing and banking industries, as well as a three-year stint with the United Nations World Food Programme in Rome. He holds an M.F.A. from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and a B.S. in business administration from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
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