About |
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Board of Trustees
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Laurie Dean
President Laurie Dean is celebrating her 40th year as a registered nurse, 37 in the operating room at the Cleveland Clinic doing emergency surgeries. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Cleveland State University and has authored and presented papers related to her field. Laurie has been recognized by her peers with a Cleveland Clinic nursing excellence award. Ms Dean has also been known to volunteer at the Holy Name Church meals on wheels, the Chagrin Documentary Film Festival and Art by the Falls just to name a few. Laurie is an enthusiast art student, and is receiving her "fine arts education " from many mentors at VAC. She has enjoyed her role as artists assistant to Master artist Bud Diehl on VAC's mural project. Laurie enjoys traveling, swimming, kayaking and her short lived curling career! Laurie is the wife of Jeff Dean and mother of two adult tax paying citizens, Allyson and Christopher.
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Deb Perry
Past President Deb Perry is currently a Business Systems Analyst with Progressive Insurance. She has always possessed an interest in and love for the visual arts. A graduate of Cuyahoga Community College, with continued adult education from the Cleveland Institute of Art, Deb now enjoys incorporating her painting and drawing talents with unique jewelry designs. As a certified Precious Metal Clay® artisan, Deb enjoys teaching classes and sharing her enjoyment of creating works of art from basic materials. Deb continues to be involved with local and national PMC guilds. She currently serves as president of the North East Ohio Precious Metal Clay guild.
Deb has volunteered her excellent organizational skills and understanding of systems to the Valley Art Center Board of Trustees. Currently, she is the Chair of the Education Committee and contributes her systems experience to the Membership Committee towards its database analysis project. |
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Bruce Downie
Member Emeritus Bruce Downie obtained professional experience in a variety of senior financial management positions in both public and privately held companies. Currently, Bruce is a retired partner of The Robert Halliday Co., Ltd., a certified public accounting firm that has served the Chagrin Valley for over 25 years.
His additional industry experience includes public accounting, financial services, and utilities. Bruce is a graduate of Marietta College earning a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting. Bruce is a licensed CPA in Ohio as well as a member of both the Ohio Society of CPA’s and the American Institute of CPA’s. Bruce volunteered many years at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church as the treasurer and also served on the Vestry. His professional expertise has also helped many other non-profit organizations with tax compliance, financial reporting and accounting issues. Bruce is excited to lend his expertise in financial reporting, analysis, budgeting, forecasting and strategic planning to help the Valley Art Center continue its mission to provide high quality programing that presents, promotes and teaches visual arts in the Chagrin Valley as they have for over 40 years. |
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John Cunningham
Treasurer John Cunningham serves as Managing Director, Chemical Bank in the Cleveland/Akron, Ohio area. A graduate of Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School of Management, he previously served as Vice President, Commercial Lending Manager at Home Savings and Loan in the Cleveland/Akron, Ohio Area, Senior Vice President at Huntington National Bank, and Senior Vice President at National City Bank. He looks forward to continuing to serve the Valley Art Center as Treasurer.
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Andrea Dawson
Secretary Andrea Dawson is a staff pathologist at the Cleveland Clinic, where she has spent the past twenty one years providing expert diagnoses for patients with breast cancer. She grew up in Wyoming, which she attributes her love of the outdoors to and went to medical school at the University of Utah. She been on the board of Urban Squash Cleveland, a program for inner city Cleveland children and is an active volunteer in the local squash community.
Her exploration of the art world began in the last several years when she enrolled in classes at the Valley Art Center. At the same time, she had the opportunity to participate in a photography mentorship with a Martha’s Vineyard based photographer. These experiences have inspired her to find the connections between her photography and painting of the natural world and to continue her “art education”. She is very grateful to the teachers and mentors at the Valley Art Center who have been instrumental in encouraging her to show her art in local juried and student art shows. One of these days she will quit her day job and just focus on her art..…in the meantime, she is excited to be a contributing member of the Valley Art Center Board and will work to create opportunities and exposure to the arts for our community. |
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Melissa DeGaetano Bertke
Melissa DeGaetano Bertke is a litigation partner at BakerHostetler. She has successfully represented television stations and newspapers in dozens of First Amendment cases and has significant experience in the defense and prosecution of general business litigation. Prior to attending University of Michigan Law School, Melissa received a B.A. in English from Kenyon College and spent a year serving as an AmeriCorps volunteer. A mother to two young boys, Melissa is passionate about the arts and is a longtime fan of the Valley Art Center and Art by the Falls. She is excited to serve on the VAC Board. |
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Robbie Grodin
Robbie Grodin creates awarding winning wearable art for women. Felting & dyeing are her emphasis as Creator & Teacher. She is well recognized for her ethereal Nuno Felt (with wool from her alpacas) lightly felted onto silk and natural dyeing technique, Eco Printing. Robbie’s background is in Marketing & Corporate Sales. She has served on the Board of Directors for Cleveland Museum of Art Textile Art Alliance and is a long-time resident of Chagrin Falls with her husband of 30 years, Rob. |
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Tricia Kaman
Tricia Kaman has been painting traditional figurative works for over 40 years. She started drawing portraits at Cedar Point Amusement Park and perfected “working from life” on pastel sketches and silhouettes of guests; later in 1971, becoming the Founder/President of Kaman’s Art Shoppes, where she has trained well over 1,000 portrait artists.
She attended Cleveland’s Cooper School of Art, Cleveland Institute of Art and The New York Art Students League. Tricia has also studied under Nelson Shanks at Studio Incamminati, Philadelphia. Tricia has exhibited in hundreds of juried regional, national, and international shows including the Grand National Exhibit at the Salmagundi Club in Manhattan. Recently, her work has shown in group invitationals in New York City at the Agora Gallery and the Amsterdam Whitney Gallery. A lifetime Ohio resident, Tricia teaches workshops for the Valley Art Center. She served for eight years as Ohio Ambassador for the Portrait Society of America. The artist paints, conducts workshops, and displays her original oil and pastel paintings at the Tricia Kaman Studio/Gallery in Cleveland’s Little Italy. Tricia is excited to bring her longtime experience as a professional artist to Valley Art Center. |
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Steve Maier
Steve Maier grew up in Chagrin Falls, graduating from the CFHS class of 2009. He studied political science at The Ohio State University, and graduated magna cum laude from the Cleveland Marshall College of Law. Steve currently practices law at McSherry & Co., LPA, focusing his practice on secured transactions for buyers, sellers, and lenders; corporate law for businesses and entrepreneurs; real estate law, both in a residential and commercial context; and estate planning.
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Shannon Taylor
Shannon Taylor has been enthralled with the creative side of life from a very young age. Growing up she sang, danced, acted, and (attempted to) draw. She now has been with Fred Astaire Dance Studios for over 9 years. She, along with her husband Ethan Konig, often performs and teaches throughout the Greater Cleveland area. She has been a featured dancer on Channel 8, RNC Cleveland events, PRIDE Cleveland, NBA halftime performances, local Chagrin Falls shows, UH Hospital’s “Dancing With the Docs” program, Lake County’s Dancing Under the Stars program, and more. She helped coach the dance team, ‘Dance Does it!’ who earned a Bronze medal at the 2017 World Winter Games: Special Olympics. Shannon started in theater and vocals at 5-years-old, has been training in belly dancing since she was 12, and began studying ballroom at 16. She has helped to, and put together, local and national competitions (Transplant Games 2016), large events, and showcases. Her favorite part about dancing is that it brings together so many different communities. To help do so, she frequently organizes ways to help local and national non-profits & charities
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Yelena Katz
Yelena Katz is an associate attorney in the Labor & Employment practice group at Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLC. Her practice involves defending and counseling employers of all sizes on a variety of federal and state labor and employment matters. Prior to graduating from Case Western Reserve University School of Law magna cum laude with her Juris Doctorate, Yelena received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management (Marketing concentration) also from Case Western Reserve University. Yelena lives in neighboring Orange Village with her husband, toddler son, and Goldendoodle. The family has been attending Art by the Falls for many years and Yelena is excited to serve on the Valley Art Center Board.
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Jason Fisher
Jason Fisher has always had a deep appreciation for aesthetic and visual articulation in all aspects of his life and career. As a graduate of Kent State University, Jason earned his BFA in Visual Communication Design and has spent the past 15+ years bringing brands to life through leadership experience in category-defining marketing and creative strategies.
Jason is currently the Director of Marketing Communications for Moen, where he strives to ignite teams around the spirit of possibility that deliver game-changing results in consumer brand marketing, channel marketing, creative design, and digital ecosystems. As a husband and father of two young kids, Jason enjoys his family time in Chagrin Falls. You can often find him on the soccer field sidelines, adding character to his 1925 craftsman home, and investing in his creative soul - always the entrepreneur. |
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Stephen Burks
Stephen Burks has spent more than 30 years bridging enterprise and creativity. He is the Principal and Creative Director of GoodCity Concepts, a digital storytelling/media production company with local, national and global clients including Unger Enterprises, CT3 Education, the University of Southern California at San Francisco, Deakin University Australia, the Cleveland Clinic and more. Stephen received his degree in Music Theory and Composition with a minor in Marketing from the Dana School of Music in Youngstown, Ohio and held positions with The Nashville Symphony, The Louisville Orchestra, the Hendersonville Arts Council and The Glema Mahr Center for the Performing Arts. Stephen was the founder of the East Asia Arts Partnership and coordinated cross cultural visual art shows and concerts by American artists at the Two Cities Gallery in Shanghai, China, as well as venues in Beijing and Suzhou, China and Bangkok, Thailand. He’s been married to Laura Nealy, a musician he met while working at the Nashville Symphony. Together they’ve travelled the world, camped across America and raised three children during their 33 years of marriage! Now they’re looking forward to meeting and making new friends from the Valley Art Center family. |
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Matt Silla
Matt Silla is a senior manager in the business valuation and litigation consulting group at Apple Growth Partners (AGP). Matt has been responsible for the development of hundreds of business valuation engagements for a variety of businesses and ownership interests covering various industries. AGP provides valuation and litigation consulting services to approximately 150 clients annually in addition to accounting and tax services.
Matt has over fifteen years of professional experience and has focused exclusively on valuation services since 2004. Matt’s areas of concentration include the valuation of businesses, intangible assets and stock options. He has performed valuations for many purposes including estate and gift tax, Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), mergers and acquisitions, succession planning and financial reporting matters, among others. |
Advisory Board
Robert Halliday, Chairman
Barbara Christian
Dana Davis
Hon. Jeff Dean
Lucinda Einhouse
Kathryn Garvey
Russell Hardy
Darlene Jackson
Joan Rusek
David Toole
Mary Urbas
Nick Willis
Barbara Christian
Dana Davis
Hon. Jeff Dean
Lucinda Einhouse
Kathryn Garvey
Russell Hardy
Darlene Jackson
Joan Rusek
David Toole
Mary Urbas
Nick Willis
