Meet the Board

Board Member

Felix Sanchez is the Chairman and Co-founder of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts (NHFA), a veteran media and communications expert, who consults regularly on Latino programming and content.  NHFA was launched in 1997 by then-First Lady Hillary Clinton.  NHFA co-founders include:  Jimmy Smits, Sonia Braga, Esai Morales and Merel Julia.  NHFA ambassadors include:  Melissa Barrera (Starz’s VIDA) and Ryan Guzman (Fox’s 9-1-1).

Felix has created a number of impactful programs focused on creating diverse content and a new generation of diverse content creators. He launched the NHFA scholarship program with eight esteemed universities: NYU, Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Northwestern, USC, UCLA and UT Austin; created the PitchNY program with Governor Cuomo’s Office of Motion Pictures and Television, NBCUniversal and industry leaders to cultivate the talent of higher ed students throughout New York. Developed PitchDC - a content pitch program--made possible through a community grant from the D.C. Mayor’s Office of Latino Affairs. Created PitchLA with VIACOMCBS to connected development executives at CBS, Showtime and C.W. with NHFA’s Artists. Collaborated with Connecticut Public Television & Radio to develop PitchCT and The State of Latinos in Media 2020, which aired last May. 

As a response to COVID 19, Felix created InformGente, a web talk series aimed at bringing current and relevant information to the Latino community on topics like the pandemic, floods, wildfires, earthquakes and other natural disasters.  InformaGente, was created in association with Gov. Newsom’s Office of Emergency Services and LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens.

Felix also launched: “Coctelitos con Rita Moreno and then-Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Joaquín Castro, D-TX;” along with a program highlighting emerging high school talent in a homage to the play: “In the Heights.”

Felix, as NHFA Chairman, led the fight to desegregate the honors and awards programs of major cultural and entertainment institutions. His work resulted in major administrative and personnel changes at the Kennedy Center, and yielded new Latino honorees for Kennedy Center Honors, along with the induction of 22 new Latino members into the Association of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (Oscars). He was also the force behind convincing NBC’s Saturday Night Live to hire Melissa Villaseñor, the first Latina cast member ever in the show’s then-47-year history.

Felix Sanchez was a legislative assistant to then-U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, D-TX, with principal responsibilities for issues arising from the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.  Felix has been an advisor to numerous Democratic presidential and corporate campaigns.  Felix served as the first National Deputy Campaign manager to the Paul Simon for President campaign.  Felix went on to work on the Dukakis/Bentsen campaign as the head of the inaugural Hispanic Outreach office and originated the first Latino celebrity engagement/outreach campaign effort.  Felix duplicated this role in the Clinton 1992, 1996 and Gore 2000 campaigns.  Felix created a signature Florida campaign event with former President Clinton, then-Presidential Candidate Obama and former TV POTUS Jimmy Smits (The West Wing). Felix’s work on behalf of NHFA has been honored by the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP), (Advocacy Award), and the Government of Mexico (Ohtlí Award its highest national honor presented to Mexican American and Latino philanthropy leaders). 

Felix serves on a number of advisory boards: the American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) Latino Jewish Leadership Council; the Kennedy Center Latino Advisory Board, the El Rey Network’s Diversity Council (Robert Rodriguez’s streaming platform); the Creative Thread Foundation and Storytelling Unbound.  He also advises the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Congressional Multicultural Media Caucus; and the Congressional Caucus for Advancement of Studio, Talent (CAST) on diversity and inclusion issues in the entertainment industry. 

Felix is a CNN opinions contributor. Felix has a B.A. in Child Psychology and an M.A. in Curriculum & Instruction from The University of Texas at Austin; Felix also holds a J.D. in International Law from the University of Houston Law Center. Felix’s daughter, Isabella is a 2018 sum cum laude graduate of Boston University and his son Philippe is a 2020 West Point graduate, currently stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson, Alaska. He developed PitchDC—a content pitch program—and PitchLA with ViacomCBS to connected development executives at CBS, Showtime, and CW, with NHFA’s artists. In June, PitchTexas with TelevisaUnivision will launch in Houston.

Board Member

Colleen Jennings-Roggensack, arts leader and visionary is Vice President for Cultural Affairs for Arizona State University and Executive Director of ASU Gammage. She has artistic, fiscal and administrative responsibility for the historic Frank Lloyd Wright designed ASU Gammage, ASU Kerr Cultural Center, with responsibility for Sun Devil Stadium and Desert Financial Arena for non-athletic activities. She oversees the activation and transformation of Sun Devil Stadium into a year-round hub of cultural activity as ASU 365 Community Union. Colleen was also appointed by ASU President Michael Crow to co-lead the Advisory Council on African American Affairs. The council will enhance diversity, growth and opportunity for Black undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff. https://president.asu.edu/sites/default/files/the_lift_report.pdf

She serves on The Broadway League's Executive Committee and Board of Governors; Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee; Government Relations Committee; Labor Committee; and co-chairs the Legislative Council and Road Presenters/Intra-Industry Committees. She is Arizona's only Tony voter. Colleen is a founding and current member of the Creative Capital Board and Senior Advisor to Women of Color in the Arts, former Association of Performing Arts Professionals board president, served on the National Council on the Arts at the bequest of President Clinton and is a Life Director of the Fiesta Bowl. She is a consultant to universities, international governments and a featured speaker at conferences. In 2020, she has served on multiple panels addressing human rights, justice, diversity, equity and inclusion and the future of Broadway; including interviews with W. Kamau Bell and Tony Awardâ director Kenny Leon related to the pandemic of racism; and participated in the TheaterMakers Summit on getting Broadway touring productions back on the road. Colleen was part of the summit with Black Theatre United and The Broadway League on the creation of A New Deal for Broadway. She currently serves on the Black Theatre United 7G Committee addressing EDIAB issues. https://www.blacktheatreunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/BTU-New-Deal-For-Broadway.pdf

Colleen is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2021 City of Tempe Arts and Culture Community Impactor, 2020 National Coalition of 100 Black Women Education Legend, 2019 Valley Leadership Woman of the Year, 2019 ASU West Pioneer Award, National Society of Arts and Letters Medallion of Merit, Valle del Sol’s Mom of the Year, APAP Fan Taylor Award, Black Philanthropy Initiative Honor, The Broadway League's Outstanding Achievement in Presenter Management and Arizona's Governor’s Arts Award. In 2012, The Arizona Republic recognized Colleen for Arizona’s 100th Anniversary as one of the individuals who had the greatest impact in the era.

Former dancer and choreographer, Colleen is married to Dr. Kurt Roggensack, volcanologist at Arizona State University, and the proud mother of Kelsey, an All-American swimmer, a graduate of Williams College, two-time Fulbright Scholar, who earned a master’s degree from Harvard University and currently pursuing a PhD at Cornell University.

Board Member

Patrick Brien has been the Executive Director of the Riverside Arts Council for the past 17 years. In addition to conducting capacity building workshops and providing private consultations throughout Riverside County, he has developed programs that include art as therapy for dementia patients and arts in corrections within the state penitentiary system. Sporting a long list of acting, directing and producing credits that span from Hawaii to Germany, Patrick ran theatre companies in various parts of the world before entering the local arts agency field. On the side, he is Founder and Artistic Director of The Gestalt Theatre Project, where he has directed and produced several regional and West Coast premieres. The numerous boards he serves on include the Riverside Downtown Partnership, Californians for the Arts and California Arts Advocates. He is also the President of the Inland Theatre League and serves on the executive committee of the United States Urban Arts Federation. Patrick is a graduate of Chapman University with a BA in Theatre and in Film. 

 

Board Member

Nolen V. Bivens joined Americans for the Arts in 2021 as president and CEO and has supported and advocated for the arts as a national asset for much of his life. A retired U.S. Army Brigadier General with 32 years of service as an Infantry officer, Nolen is a passionate advocate for the benefits of the arts to service members and Veterans suffering the invisible wounds of war and the role the community plays in transcending trauma. He has advised numerous arts groups as well as federal, state, and local arts agencies, utilizing his unique understanding of operational perspectives of commanders, enlisted noncommissioned officers, and Veterans and family members, to promote connections, advance equitable and collaborative partnerships, and help develop new arts programming for military and veteran communities.

Bivens has testified before the U.S. Congress and State Legislatures and advised creative endeavors such as Healing Wars theatrical dance production and PBS’s Crafts in America— “Service” episode. He has been a guest speaker for national, regional, state, and local conferences such as Independent Sector, Mid-America Arts Alliance, and the New England Foundation for the Arts as well as Americans for the Arts’ National Arts Policy Roundtable and Aspen Seminar for Leadership in the Arts. He has been a contributing writer for the Smithsonian Institution, HuffPost, and American for the Arts’ social media.

In 2010 during the Haiti earthquake, Bivens was instrumental in the Smithsonian Institution’s early access into the country for its Haiti Cultural Recovery Project and its mobilizing of military support of that effort. In 2010, he also joined the board of Americans for the Arts, serving through 2015.

As chair of the National Leadership Advisory Council for the National Initiative for Arts & Health Across the Military (NIAHM) since 2011, Bivens has led the development of the initiative, now coordinated by Americans for the Arts, bringing together a coalition of military, veteran, health, and arts agencies and partners to advance the health and well-being of service members, Veterans, their families, and caregivers. Through advancing the National Initiative, he has modeled his belief in the power of building a network of networks to enact change, facilitating seven national summits and two high level leadership roundtables that resulted in the publication of two white papers outlining recommendations in policy, research, and practice.

Bivens is a staunch believer that the arts’ greatest impact is at the community level. From 2016 through 2019, he served as the senior military community engagement advisor during expansion of the Creative Forces®: NEA Military Healing Arts Network. An initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, and state and local arts agencies, Creative Forces is managed in partnership with Americans for the Arts and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine. In this pioneering work, Bivens advised some 12 separate state arts agencies’ directors and staffs regarding a model for community level implementation, including the eight states plus the District of Columbia where the Creative Forces military clinical sites were located.

During the course of his distinguished military career, Bivens has held leadership and staff positions from company through Army and Joint Chiefs of Staff Pentagon and U.S. Combatant and Special Operations Command levels. Following his retirement from the service, he has VP level executive leadership experience delivering successful results for public, private sector, and nonprofit organizations with $1B (+) in annual revenue, including strategic business development and sales for the fourth largest defense corporation, General Dynamics. He has also founded and started his own private consulting company Leader Six, Inc.

Bivens holds a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from South Carolina State University, a Master of Science in management from the Naval Post Graduate School, and a Master of Science in national security and strategic studies from the National Defense University. He and his wife Pamela have three children, all of whom are now professionals in the fields of creative writing, visual arts, and art history/architecture.

Board Member

Julie C. Muraco, is founder and Managing Partner of Praeditis Group LLC, a capital markets & business consultancy working with serial entrepreneurs, UHNW/family offices and foundations & endowments seeking direct and secondary investments and alternative investment strategies. She founded Praeditis Group with a concentration on the “permanent private capital” and “impact investment” business models in 2008.
 
In early 2015, Praeditis Group partnered with TBLI Group Holdings, B.V. in Amsterdam, The Netherlands assuming the role of CEO and Managing Partner. TBLI is focused on building the ESG community and impact investment by providing advisory services and conference events for global clients and educational services through Stichting TBLI B.V.
 
Prior to founding Praeditis Group, Ms. Muraco was a Senior Managing Director and head of Global Capital Markets for The NASDAQ OMX Stock Market. She was responsible for strategy and client relations with corporate advisors, investment banks and financial sponsors, transitioning private companies to the public markets. She had been with NASDAQOMX since February 2004.
 
Ms. Muraco spent more than 20 years on Wall Street as a vice president with J.P. Morgan’s Cash Markets Division, New York City, and as a managing director in the Capital Markets Division of Smith Barney in Chicago and earlier in Cleveland.
 
She is on the Board of Directors of Americans for the Arts, Washington, D.C., serving as immediate past Chairman of the Board of Directors; the Board of Trustees of the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, New York, NY as Treasurer and Chair of the Investment Committee. She was past board trustee for the Duke of Edinburgh Award U.S.A. Chaired by HRH, Prince Edward, The Earl of Wessex and was a member of the national media advisory council of Springboard Enterprises, Washington D.C., a venture catalyst firm for women owned and women funded businesses.
 
She is FINRA licensed with a Series 7, Series 63, and Series 79.
 
Ms. Muraco holds a B.A. in Finance from Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, Ohio. She resides in New York, NY and Aspen, Colorado.

Board Member

Lyndon K. Boozer is the Chairman of the Arts Action Fund PAC and a partner at Capitol Counsel, LLC and a respected national expert on technology, telecommunications, media policy and advocacy. He has spent over 33 years in the telecommunications sector going back to the breakup of AT&T in 1985 through the expansion of cable and wireless in the 1990s to the explosion of the internet today. Boozer experienced and understands the history and evolution of the internet economy and is uniquely prepared to guide and advocate for clients in this rapidly changing environment.

As an in-house corporate advocate for AT&T, Boozer was responsible for representing the company before Congress and Democratic administrations. National Journal named Boozer among the top Democratic lobbyists, and The Wall Street Journal recognized him as an influential K Street advocate.

 

Board Member

Ken Fergeson has been a major contributor to the banking industry and playing key roles in his community and state as the chairman and CEO of NBC Oklahoma.  He has chaired a number of boards and councils at local, state and national levels in both the banking arena and in his personal area of interest of supporting and promoting the arts. He is a past chairman of the American Bankers Association.  He has chaired the Oklahoma Bankers Association, Oklahoma State Chamber and Creative Oklahoma, Inc.  He also serves on the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority, the Native American Cultural and Educational Authority Board and the Associate Board of Directors of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. Mr. Fergeson continues to be a presence for arts education and is on the boards of various arts associations, including the Oklahoma Arts Institute and the Mid-America Arts Alliance served as the chair of the Board of Americans for the Arts.  His local involvement has benefited the Altus Chamber of Commerce, the Shortgrass Arts and Humanities Council and the JCMH Health Care Corporation. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Heritage Hall of Fame 2009 and has been honored by the Oklahoma Education Association for outstanding service for public education and received the Governor’s Arts Award in 1994 and 2000. He was the recipient of the 2001 Business in Arts Leadership Award by the Business Committee for a Arts, Inc., and Forbes Magazine. He and NBC have been responsible for six pieces of public art, all of which has been used to raise money for charitable and school organizations. Mr. Fergeson continues to search for ways to give back to his community, state, nation, and profession. He and his wife, Mary Ann, are the parents of a son, Jarrod and a daughter, Casey.

Board Member, ArtsVote Chair

Ben Folds is widely regarded as one of the major music influencers of our generation.

The Emmy-nominated singer-songwriter-composer has created an enormous body of genre-bending music that includes pop albums with Ben Folds Five, multiple solo albums, and numerous collaborative records.

For the past three decades, he’s toured as a pop artist, while also performing with some of the world’s greatest symphony orchestras.

A New York Times Best Selling author and podcast host, Ben also composes for film, tv and theatre, guest stars in films and TV, and serves as the Artistic Advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

A longtime advocate for arts and music education funding, Ben launched a music education charitable initiative in his native state of North Carolina entitled “Keys For Keys,” which provides funds and keyboards to existing nonprofits that provide free or affordable music lessons to interested school-age children. On the national level, he’s active as a member of Americans For The Arts and the Arts Action Fund.

Board Member

Mike Kopp has over 30 years of strategic marketing and communications expertise honed on the front lines of both politics and business, with clients that have included Members of Congress, publicly traded and privately held corporations, the NFL and the NBA, as well as numerous regional companies and institutions. A veteran of more than 250 political campaigns on the national and local levels, he served as press secretary to Al Gore for nearly a decade.

In addition to his current role as manager for multi-platinum selling artist Ben Folds, he serves on the Board of the Americana Music Association, is a member of the Recording Academy, and was the founding President of the Music Industry Coalition, Nashville’s first grass roots organization to serve as a voice for working music industry professionals on issues that impact our music heritage and culture.

He also continues to informally advise political, and currently edits and distributes a political/public policy news aggregator for music industry influencers called Backline.

Board Member

Dorothy Pierce McSweeny is Chair Emeritus of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, serving as Chair from 1999-2007 and as Vice Chair from 1996-1999, and as Past Chair of the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation. Mrs. McSweeny received the NASAA Distinguished Public Service Award in October 2012, and was elected to the Washington, DC Hall of Fame Society in 2010. In 2007, she received the Mayor's Arts Award Lifetime Achievement. Additionally, she has been honored with Laura Phillips Angel of the Arts Award, the DC Youth Orchestra Lifetime Achievement Award, National Capital Philanthropy Award, Patron of the Arts Award by the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington and was named Washingtonian of the Year in 1995. She is active as founder, officer and trustee of numerous organizations including The John F. Kennedy Center, National Symphony Orchestra, The Washington Ballet, DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, the Federal City Council, DC Chamber of Commerce, National Museum of the American Indian, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Explore! Children’s Musuem, and Washington Episcopal School.

Board Member

Ann Sheffer is a volunteer, advocate, and patron from Westport, CT and Palm Springs, CA. She is the Secretary/Treasurer of the Betty R. and Ralph Sheffer Foundation, a small family foundation devoted to the arts, education, and community care, now involving a third generation in thoughtful, targeted philanthropy.

In addition, Ann has been deeply involved in private, foundation, and government funding for the arts, on national, state, and local levels. She is currently a trustee of the Palm Springs Art Museum and Chair of the Palm Springs Public Arts Commission. Ann was also the founding Chairman of the Board of the Americans for the Arts Action Fund and PAC.

Board Member

Nancy Stephens has lived in Los Angeles for 35 years with her filmmaker husband, Rick Rosenthal, and their three adult children. Nancy transitioned seamlessly from a long and successful acting career and member of the prestigious Actors Studio to being a full time advocate for both Environmental Sustainability and the Arts. She’s been on the Board of Directors of the Union of Concerned Scientists since 2001, where she is one of just four citizen activists among a host of esteemed scientists and Nobel Laureates. She also serves on the Board of Americans For The Arts, as well as the LA Arts for All Pooled Fund and The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

Nancy has been an Executive Producer on a number of Whitewater Film projects with her husband, including the Sundance and Indie Spirit award-winner MEAN CREEK and together they have supported many documentary projects such as the award-winning film THE SQUARE and the Academy Award nominated short OPEN HEART, full length documentary CARTEL LAND, THE MUSIC OF STRANGERS, 2017’s BENDING THE ARC about Dr. Paul Farmer and Partners In Health, and 2018 executive producer of WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR and DARK MONEY.

Nancy is a frequent and active advocate for strong scientifically based Environmental Policy as well as a passionate advocate in all areas for Federal and State funding for the Arts on every level, especially the crucial inclusion on arts in public school education.

For the last 25 years Nancy has been an active political fundraiser in Los Angeles for Progressive Democrats and consequently has many strong allies in the Senate and the House. Nancy is often the liaison between the Senators and their policy people and the Union of Concerned Scientists and Americans for the Arts.

She is currently on a mission to have every Senator become a member of the Senate Cultural Caucus and every Congressional person a member of the Congressional Arts Caucus.

On the international front, through her family foundation, Nancy supports and raises awareness for two brilliant young women Conservation Biologists who are working with the Maasai in Kenya and Tanzania, in a creative and innovative program called Lion Guardians.

Board Member

Ann Stock served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) from 2010 through September 2013. ECA promotes international mutual understanding through a wide range of academic, cultural, private sector, professional, youth, and sports exchange programs. The exchanges engage youth, women and girls, artists, athletes, and emerging leaders in the United States and in more than 160 countries. Alumni of ECA exchange programs comprise over one million people around the world, including 77 Nobel Laureates and more than 390 current or former heads of state and government.

From 1997 to 2010, Mrs. Stock was Vice President of Institutional Affairs at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where she oversaw the center’s expansion of its national and international profile. She also managed the center’s international arts management programs, and its government relations office, press office, and office of institutional affairs. Mrs. Stock was the Chief of Protocol, served on the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees (Assistant Secretary) and ran the Community Advisory Board.

In January 1993, Mrs. Stock was appointed Deputy Assistant to President William Jefferson Clinton and Social Secretary at the White House. As the Social Secretary, she was responsible for planning and implementing all events and special projects initiated by President and Mrs. Clinton at the White House.

Prior to working in the White House, Mrs. Stock was Vice President of Corporate Communications and Public Relations for Bloomingdale’s Department Stores nationwide. During the 1980 and 1984 Presidential election campaigns, Stock was Deputy Press Secretary to Vice President Walter Mondale. She started her career as the Press Office Manager for Vice President Mondale at the White House.

Mrs. Stock is currently a trustee of: The Women’s Foreign Policy Group (Chair), The White House Historical Association (Retail Advisory Chair), IREX, Meridian International (Co-Chair Development), and Americans for the Arts (Public Sector Task Force Chair).