Speaker Bios
Janet Babin (Innovations Reporter, American Public Media's Marketplace) Babin figured out she could be a journalist while studying French civilization, language and culture at the Sorbonne after college. She was rereading Janet Flanner's Paris Journal, 1944-1965. A few years later she started stringing for a suburban Philadelphia newspaper, The Times Herald. Then it was on to radio and television, and finally home to public radio. Janet spent several years as a reporter and show host at member stations in rural Indiana and Cleveland. She's contributed to NPR shows and filled in as a staff reporter in Washington and for NPR West. Her toughest interview was with the Dalai Lama, for a Voice of America story broadcast in Tibet. Her work has won awards from Associated Press, the Radio Television News Directors Association, and the Federation for Community Broadcasters. She was also a finalist for the Gerald Loeb Awards for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism from the UCLA Anderson School of Business. Janet studied dance and business at Long Island University. She has a bachelor of science degree from LIU's School of Business Administration.
Timothy Bond (Producing Artistic Director, Syracuse Stage) is the new Producing Artistic Director of Syracuse Stage and the Syracuse University Department of Drama. He has more than 20 years experience in leading regional theatres throughout the country. Most recently, he served for 11 years as Associate Artistic Director of the famed Oregon Shakespeare Festival where he directed 12 productions, including works by Shakespeare, August Wilson, Suzan-Lori Parks, Edward Albee, Lorraine Hansberry, Lynn Nottage, Octavio Soliz and Pearl Cleage. Prior to that, Bond spent 13 years with the Seattle Group Theatre, serving as Artistic Director from 1991–1996. While there he directed more than twenty plays and oversaw the largest capital campaign in the company’s history, culminating in the completion of a new theatre complex in the Seattle Center. Bond has also directed at such prestigious theatres as The Guthrie, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Milwaukee Repertory Cleveland Play House and Indiana Repertory Theatre. Bond is currently directing Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman for Arena Stage in Washington, DC
Bond received a TCG/NEA Directing Fellowship Award and has twice won Backstage West’s Garland Award for Outstanding Direction for Les Blancs (1998) and Blues for an Alabama Sky (1997). He was assistant director to Peter Sellars on the world premiere of the opera The Death of Klinghoffer at the Brussels Opera; Lyons, France; Vienna Festival; and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He was also assistant director to Ping Chong on the world premiere of Elephant Memories at New York’s La MaMa etc.
Bond holds a BFA from Howard University and an MFA (magna cum laude) from the University of Washington. He has served on the faculties of the University of Washington and of Wisconsin (Lorraine Hansberry Professorship Award). He has been a guest director at Juilliard and Seattle’s Cornish Institute. In addition, he taught master classes and was an adjudicator at the first and third annual Chinese Universities Shakespeare Festival, and taught classes in association with Seattle Children’s Theatre, Seattle Repertory and Howard University, among others. Bond has also served on the Board of Directors of the Communications Group from 1993–1997 and ASSITEJ, the United States Center for the International Association of for Children and Young People, a national service organization promoting the power of professional theatre for young audiences, from 2001–2003.
Jessica Chao (Vice President, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors) is a noted expert in foundation and program management, and has launched numerous major multi-million-dollar grant programs in various fields. Among other responsibilities at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, she leads the American Red Cross Recovery Grants program and The New York State Music Fund, two grantmaking initiatives of $95 million and $36 million respectively, as well as the Cultures of Giving Fund, which promotes increased impact among emerging donor communities. Prior to joining Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, she launched the Coalition for New Philanthropy, an initiative to strengthen philanthropy in African American, Asian and Latino communities. Prior to that, she was vice president of the Wallace Funds, where she designed and developed one of the largest national arts programs in the country, which received the Presidents Medal of Arts. Jessica frequently writes and addresses conference audiences on numerous philanthropy-related topics, notably on the traditions and preferences of the multi-cultural donor. She has advised many leading foundations, including the Ford, Kellogg, Packard, Rockefeller, Twenty-First Century, Asia and Gill Foundations. She has been a member of the Advisory Committees of the National Center for Family Philanthropy, the Ford Foundation’s Social Justice Initiative, the Smithsonian’s Asian American Initiative, and on the Board of the New York Regional Association of Grantmakers. Currently she is a member of the New York Times Non-profit Excellence Awards selection committee. Jessica holds a B.A. from Barnard College, and an M.A. from Teachers College/Columbia University.
Mark Halperin (editor-at-large and senior political analyst, Time) In The Undecided Voter’s Guide Halperin provides a political expert’s guide to the issues and debates facing the undecided voter in the 2008 national election. With no incumbent or clear front runner in the field, even the most conscientious voters can be forgiven if they are having a hard time telling the 2008 presidential candidates apart without a scorecard. He examines the candidates’ biographies, policies, political skills, and presidential prospects, with sharp analysis and his trademark accessible, often humorous style. The seven candidates Halperin covers in detail are Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Fred Thomson, plus his insight into the potential dark horse candidates.
Prior to joining Time, Halperin worked at ABC News for nearly 20 years, where he covered five presidential elections and served as political director from November 1997 to April 2007.In that role, he was responsible for political reporting and planning for the network’s television, radio, and Internet political coverage. He also appeared regularly on ABC News TV and radio as a correspondent and analyst, contributing commentary and reporting during election night coverage, presidential inaugurations, and State of the Union speeches.
At ABC, Halperin reported on every major American political story, including working as a full-time reporter covering the Clinton presidential campaign in 1992 and the Clinton White House.He also covered major non-political stories, such as the O.J. Simpson criminal trial and the Oklahoma City bombing.
Additionally, Halperin founded and edited the online publication The Note on abcnews.com, which has been characterized as the most influential daily tip sheet in American politics by publications including The New Yorker, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Vanity Fair. He is the co-author of The Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008. Halperin received his B.A. from Harvard University and resides in New York City with Karen Avrich.
Arrangements for the appearance of Mark Halperin made through HarperCollins Speakers Bureau, NY, NY.
back to topCheryl Ikemiya (Program Officer for the Arts, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation) is Program Officer for the Arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The mission of the Arts Program is to support performing artists with the creation and the public performance of their work. The Foundation provides approximately $17 million annually to the fields of dance, jazz, theatre and presenting. She has worked closely with TCG and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation on the New Generations Program since its inception in 2000. As the co-chair of the New York Grantmakers in the Arts, she organizes programs for more than 50 grantmaking institutions in New York City to discuss issues related to grantmaking and to the visual, performing, literary and media arts fields.
Prior to joining the Foundation, Ms. Ikemiya was the Assistant Director of the Performing Arts Program at the Japan Society, Inc., a national not-for-profit, cultural and educational institution in New York City. She produced and managed the annual season of traditional and contemporary Japanese performing arts, artists’ residencies, commissioning projects, national tours and arts-in-education programs, and additionally developed and executed fundraising and marketing strategies.
Ms. Ikemiya received a degree in Art History from Oberlin College and a master’s degree in Asian Art History from the University of Hawaii, where she studied under an East-West Center fellowship. In addition, she has studied at Tsuda Women's College and Waseda University both in Tokyo, Japan.
Leonard Jacobs (First-String Critic, New York Press; author of the blog The Clyde Fitch Report) has written about, and often worked in, the professional theatre since 1990. Currently he is the first-string critic for the New York Press and host of the Leonard Jacobs podcast on nytheatre.com. He was also the founding editor of Theatermania.com.
Jacobs is a Tony voter; a member of the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, American Theatre Critics Association and Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas; co-chair of the New York Innovative Theatre Awards; an adjudicator and judge for the New York International Fringe Festival; associate editor of the 2006 edition of the Cambridge Guide to American Theatre; and the author of Historic Photos of Brodaway and the blog The Clyde Fitch Report.
Mia Katigbak (Artistic Producing Director, National Asian American Theatre Company) is the Artistic Producing Director and co-founder of the New York City based, 19-year-old NAATCO (National Asian American Theatre Company). She is a founding member of the newly formed Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists (CAATA) and chairs its Strategic Planning Subcommittee. Together with two other founding members, Jorge Ortoll of Ma-Yi Theater and Tisa Chang of Pan Asian Rep, she was one of the organizers of the First National Asian American Theater Festival in 2007 and along with Lloyd Suh of Second Generation, will spearhead the Second Festival scheduled for the fall of 2009. In 2006, she and NAATCO were the recipients of the Rosetta LeNoire Award, given by Actors Equity Association in recognition of their "artistic contribution to the universality of the human experience in the American theater." She received New Dramatists' Charles Bowden Actor Award in 2006 and the Distinguished Award for Artistic Excellence from Ma-Yi Theater in 1999. She has served in panels for the theater programs of the New York State Council on the Arts (2003-05), the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (2006), the Nancy Quinn Fund for Emerging Theaters and the Fund for Small Theaters, both administered by ART/NY (several years), and the Asian American Arts Alliance (2005). She has been a guest speaker for forums sponsored by the New York Times, Actors Equity Association, Lincoln Center, and the New World Theater in Amherst, Massachusetts.
She has acted extensively in New York City with Target Margin, Intar, New York Theatre Workshop, the Public Theater, Women's Project, Pan Asian Rep, New Federal Theater, Henry Street Settlement, and in several productions with NAATCO. Regionally she has acted at Berkeley Repertory Theater (CA), Swine Palace (LA), and the Guthrie (MN).
She holds a B.A. from Barnard College and an M.A. from Columbia University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
Peter Lobo (Deputy Director, Population Division, New York City Department of City Planning) is the Deputy Director of the Population Division of the New York City Department of City Planning. The Population Division serves as the city’s in-house demographic consultant and applies its demographic expertise to issues of concern to the city, including the development of population projections for infrastructure and capital planning. Peter earned his Ph.D. in sociology, with a concentration in demography, from the University of Michigan in 1993 and has been with the department since then. Peter is a co-author of Puerto Rican New Yorkers in 1990 and the lead author of The Newest New Yorkers, 2000. He has authored papers on the effects of changes in immigration law on the occupational background of immigrants and on the demographic effects of immigration on New York City’s neighborhoods. Peter has also worked collaboratively with Federal Highway Administration, the Boston Health Department, Fordham University's Hispanic Research Center, New York Medical College, and with the Ford and Russell Sage Foundations.
Peter has served on the Commerce Secretary's Census Advisory Committee and in 1999 he received the Hammer Award, established by Vice President Gore to reward excellence in government service, for his work on the American Community Survey.
Paul Nicholson (Executive Director, Oregon Shakespeare Festival) has been executive director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival since 1995, having spent the prior 16 years as the Festival's general manager. A native New Zealander, Mr. Nicholson served for six years as the administrative director of Downstage Theatre, New Zealand's largest and longest-established professional theatre. Prior to becoming involved in professional theatre, Nicholson worked for ten years in the corporate world. He has a B.C.A. Honors degree (the New Zealand equivalent of an MBA) from Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand. He has been a guest lecturer at Stanford University, Victoria University of Wellington and other education institutions, and has acted as a management consultant for many not-for-profit organizations. He is actively involved in arts advocacy efforts for the state of Oregon, and is currently the president of the Oregon Cultural Advocacy Coalition. He was a founding faculty member of the Western Arts Management Institute and since 1984 has been an adjunct professor at Southern Oregon University. He has also served on a number of panels for TCG and the NEA. He is a past-chair of the Ashland Community Hospital Board of Directors, a member of the Southern Oregon University Advisory Board, a member and prior director of Rotary, has served on the board of directors of the Ashland Chamber of Commerce and has participated on many local committees and boards.
Frank Rizzo (Veteran Arts Reporter, Hartford Courant) has been covering the Connecticut arts scene for 30 years, 25 of them for The Hartford Courant.
During his tenure he has written about disco, rock and punk; covered the Oscars, the Grammys, the Tonys and Live Aid. He was in Cincinnati for the Maplethorpe Obscenity Trial, at the U.S. Supreme Court for the NEA Four case and at the Dakota for the John Lennon vigil. He's profiled such figures as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Julia Child, August Wilson, Elizabeth Taylor, Meryl Streep and Mischu, the world's smallest man.
His first regular byline was in 1966 writing for his local paper in Maynard, Mass. (He was just a boy.) Rizzo received his degree in journalism at the University of Arizona where he also did his graduate work as a Shubert Fellow in the theater department.
He also contributes to Variety, American Theatre Magazine and other arts periodicals.
Rizzo remembers his first Broadway musical (Funny Girl, with you-know-who), his first off-Broadway revue (The Mad Show) and his first Connecticut show (Stephen Sondheim's The Frogs at the Yale Swimming Pool.) He enjoyed them all, though he felt The Frogs still needed work.
Dan Shelley (Executive Editor, Digital Media, WCBS-TV and WCBSTV.com) has been the Executive Editor of Digital Media for WCBS-TV and WCBSTV.com since July 2008.
A news veteran, Shelley most recently served as news director and assistant program director for WTMJ-AM, Wisconsin's top-rated radio station. As news director, Shelley was responsible for the content of the state's highest-rated radio program as well all other news programming. As assistant program director, Shelley helped craft the station's talk and sports programming.
From 2005 to 2006, Shelley served as chairman of the Radio-Television News Directors Association. RTNDA, which has members in more than 30 countries, is the world's largest professional organization devoted exclusively to electronic journalism. During his term as chairman, he focused the 60-year-old organization on the digital media revolution. Shelley currently serves as chairman of the education arm of RTNDA. He is also a former two-term president of the Wisconsin Associated Press Broadcasters Executive Committee and a former two-term president of the Missouri Associated Press Broadcasters Association.
Shelley began his career in Springfield, Missouri where he served as news director at KTTS-AM/FM and also hosted a number of news and public affairs programs for public television.
Robert Zukerman (Theatre Program Director, New York State Council on the Arts) serves as Theatre Program Director for the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), where he has also worked in the Arts in Education Program, helping to create the Empire State Partnerships. He holds a Ph.D. in theatre history from CUNY’s Graduate Center, and has taught at all levels from elementary school to college. He served as a consultant to the New York City Department of Education, helping to write the curriculum blueprint for theatre. He is the author of a half dozen plays for children, and has worked steadily as a professional actor for 34 years, most recently (in October) on a new play for the Immigrant Voices series at Queens Theatre in the Park.Back to Top