Board of Directors

Vickie Benson is arts program director for the McKnight Foundation in Minneapolis, MN. Before coming to McKnight, she was vice president of the Jerome Foundation, St. Paul, program director at Chamber Music America in New York and senior program specialist at the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in arts administration from St. Paul's Metropolitan State University, and a master's degree in nonprofit management from the Hamline University Graduate School of Management. An avid advocate for artists, Vickie has a background as a folk singer and guitarist.

Angie Kim is Principal Project Specialist at the Getty Foundation where she is responsible for communications and evaluation as well as special projects, including supporting the professional development of Getty multicultural internship alumni. Prior to the Getty, she managed grantmaking programs serving individual artists, ensemble theatres, and environmental organizations at the Flintridge Foundation. She received her B.A. in Art History and English Literature from Linfield College, McMinnville, Oregon and holds an M.A. in Art History from University of Southern California. She is proud to be a GIA board member, and also serves on the boards of Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC) and the Center for Cultural Innovation.

Alan Cooper is Executive Director of Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation in Baltimore, MD. He is a member of the U.S. Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission Working Group for Education, Sports, Culture, and Mass Media. Previous positions include Associate Director of the North Carolina Arts Council, Executive Director of the Winston-Salem (NC) Symphony and Associate Director of Development for Special Gifts at Washington National Cathedral. He has served as chair of the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations working group and as an advisory board member of National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. He has been a site visitor for the National Endowment for the Arts, and President of the NC Association of Symphony Orchestras.

Regina Smith serves as a program officer, arts and culture at the Kresge Foundation, Troy, MI. Before joining Kresge in 2008, she has held leadership positions at both public and private arts grantmaking agencies including the Arts & Science Council, Indiana Arts Commission, and Culture Works. Regina studied art history at the University of Pittsburgh and received a Masters of Arts in Arts Administration from Winthrop University. She is a past board member of The Women’s Impact Fund, Charlotte, NC and is president-designee for Grantmakers in the Arts.

Rose Ann Cleveland is the Executive Director of The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, the largest independent foundation focused exclusively on the Washington metropolitan area. Previously, she served as Director of Programming for Washington Performing Arts Society, overseeing a multi-disciplinary season of performances and education programs and developed performance series and educational programs for the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and is the author of a scholarly book on writer Caroline Gordon. Rose Ann chairs the Board of Directors of the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers. In recent years, she has also served on the local advisory boards for the Foundation Center and Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC).

Bill Aguado has been Executive Director of the Bronx Council On the Arts since 1981. His current board affiliations include: The Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community College Foundation, Phipps Development Corporation, Citizens Advice Bureau, the Non-Profit Coordinating Committee and the Association of Hispanic Arts. In 2000 he received the New York Governor’s Arts Award. He is also the recipient of the Mayor’s Arts Award in 2006 and was named to NYS Governor Eliot Spitzer’s Arts, Culture and Revitalization Policy Transition Team. He was appointed to the Bronx Borough President’s 2002 Transition Team and facilitated the design of the Arts and Culture Priorities Report.

Michelle T. Boone is the Culture Program Officer for the Joyce Foundation in Chicago, Illinois. In addition to her duties at the Joyce Foundation, Michelle is an adjunct professor at DePaul University, serves on the boards of numerous arts and cultural organizations, and has been a reviewer for the National Endowment for the Arts, the Illinois Arts Council, and the Cuyahoga Arts and Culture program (Ohio), among others. She was previously the director of Chicago’s Gallery 37, and began her career working in television, film, and the recording industry. She served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Chad, Africa. Michelle holds a bachelor’s degree in telecommunications and a master’s degree in Public Affairs from Indiana University, Bloomington.

Robert Booker is executive director of the Arizona Commission on the Arts. He is Co-Chair of the Arts and Culture Committee of the Arizona Mexico Commission appointed by Governor Napolitano. He serves on the boards of of the Leadership Council of the Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits, Western States Arts Federation, and the B and L Charitable Foundation. Previously, Bob was Executive Director of the Minnesota State Arts Board and President of the board of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. He has served as a panelist for numerous state arts agencies and the National Endowment for the Arts. “Booker “is an art collector and a painter.

Derek Gordon is President and CEO of the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge. Previously, he served as President and CEO of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City and Senior Vice President at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC. He has held leadership positions with the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts and Cultural Arts Council of Houston, TX. Derek serves on the boards of directors of Chamber Music America, The Southern Arts Federation, The Debbie Allen Dance Academy and the Louisiana State Arts Council. is a panelist and consultant for numerous grantmakers.

Peter Handler is a playwright whose plays have been produced in Chicago and San Francisco. He has taught playwriting at Columbia College Chicago and he directed an artist residency program at the Chicago Park District. Peter is a Program Officer for The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation. The Small Theater and Dance Company Funding Program is among his major responsibilities, though he reviews proposals from all program areas. In addition to serving on the board of Grantmakers in the Arts, Peter serves on the board of Free Street Theater, an arts education organization in Chicago.

Judi Jennings is Executive Director of the Kentucky Foundation for Women, a private foundation supporting feminist art for social change. Jennings is an active member of the Women’s Funding Network and the working group of Arts and Social Justice Funders. She earned a Ph.D. in British History at the University of Kentucky and is the author of two books on 18th century activists, She was Associate Director of the Kentucky Humanities Council and founding Director of the Women’s Center at the University of Louisville. Jennings is proud of her Appalachian heritage and brings a concern for rural areas, cultural equity, gender issues, and environmental stewardship to the GIA Board.

John R. Killacky is program officer for arts and culture at the San Francisco Foundation. He previously served as executive director of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, and curator of performing arts for the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. Other past positions include program officer at the Pew Charitable Trusts, general manager of PepsiCo SUMMERFARE, and managing director of the Trisha Brown and Laura Dean dance companies. John has served as a panelist, lecturer, and consultant for a broad range of arts and funding organizations. He has written numerous publications on the arts and written and directed several award winning short films and videos.

Justin Laing is program officer for Arts & Culture at The Heinz Endowments, where his major responsibilities include management of the Small Arts Initiative, a program supporting arts organizations with budgets of $250,000 or less, and leadership in the Endowments’ early work in Culturally Responsive Arts Education. He is a member of several cross-programmatic working groups, including the Endowments’ teams focused on African American men and boys and the Pittsburgh Public Schools. Previously, Justin served as the assistant director of Nego Gato Inc., an African-Brazilian arts organization based in Pittsburgh and received his Bachelor of Arts in Black Studies and political science from the University of Pittsburgh.

John E. McGuirk is director of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation's Performing Arts Program. He also assists the foundation president with local grantmaking projects and serves as Hewlett’s liaison to the Community Leadership Project. Prior to Hewlett, John was director of the Arts Program of the James Irvine Foundation, a program officer at the Hewlett Foundation and director of grant programs for Arts Council Silicon Valley. Before that, he worked at the Community School of Music and Arts in Mountain View, California, and held positions at both the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Opera. John earned his master's degree in public management at Carnegie Mellon University, with a concentration in arts management.

Ann McQueen, Director of Programs at the Boston Foundation, advances the Foundation’s strategic interests in Greater Boston’s cultural vibrancy and the health and vitality of the Massachusetts nonprofit sector through grantmaking, research and policy development. She also played a lead role in the recent realignment of the Foundation’s strategic framework and its new emphasis on general operating support grants. Prior to joining the Foundation in 1997, Ann worked in development at the Worcester Art Museum and as an arts administration fellow at the National Endowment for the Arts. She continues to pursue her life-long interest in photography and public art.

Olive Mosier is director of Arts and Culture at the William Penn Foundation in Philadelphia where she also serves on the Mayor’s Cultural Advisory Council. Previously, Mosier served in a White House appointment as director of the Office of Policy, Research, and Analysis at the National Endowment for the Arts working with Jane Alexander and Bill Ivey. Prior to the NEA, she was executive vice president and chief operating officer of the National Assembly of Local Arts Agencies (now Americans for the Arts), and executive director of the National Artists Equity Association, both in Washington, D.C. Olive holds a master's degree in arts management from The American University, and a bachelor of fine arts degree in art history with a minor in studio art from Howard University.

Frances Phillips is program director for the arts and the Creative Work Fund at the Walter and Elise Haas Fund in San Francisco. Prior to her foundation work, Phillips was executive director of Intersection for the Arts (1986-94)—San Francisco’s oldest alternative arts space—and director of the Poetry Center and American Poetry Archives at San Francisco State University. She’s the author of three small press books of poetry and has published poetry reviews in The Washington Post, The San Jose Mercury News, Ruminator Review, and other journals. In addition to GIA, she serves on the boards of the California Alliance for Arts Education, Community Initiatives, and GreatNonprofits.

Lori Lea Pourier is an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Nation in South Dakota and serves as President of First Peoples Fund, a national arts fund advancing American Indian arts. Prior to First People’s Fund, Lori was Executive Director of the Indigenous Women's Network and Associate Marketing Director for First Nations Development Institute. She currently serves as the co-chair of the Indigenous Resource Network of the GIA and is a board member of the Native Americans in Philanthropy. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Western States Arts Federation, the Honor the Earth Fund, the Chinook Fund and the National Indian Business Association.

Beth McGuire Ree serves as Group Manager of Community Relations for Target Corporation and oversees grantmaking for the northern half of the United States, Alaska and Hawaii. Prior to joining Target, she spent nearly a decade in the advertising industry, managing accounts ranging from General Mills, Alberto Culver and U.S. Bancorp to pro bono service for the national Easter Seals campaign and Minnesota Public Radio. Beth sings with the Basilica of St. Mary Cathedral Choir, Consortium Carissimi vocal ensemble and studies voice with Lila Olsen. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA, completed graduate studies at the London School of Economics , and has a masters degree in Business Communication from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Huong Vu joined The Boeing Company in 2009 and manages its Pacific NW Region arts and culture grants portfolio. Previously, she was the senior arts program officer at The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, guest curator at On the Boards, director of grants programs at the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, and organizer of visual arts exhibitions. She received a BA in Business Administration from the University of Washington and a certificate from Stanford University. She is active in the Association of Corporate Contributions Professionals and Philanthropy Northwest. Huong is a practicing visual artist and avid gardener.