Lynn is a retired choral and classroom music teacher in the public and private schools for over 20 years. She served as choir director and organist at various churches, performed in several choral groups, and currently sings with the Marin Symphony Chorus, Festival Singers, and Consort Chorale. Lynn is very active in many community volunteer organizations, focusing mainly on arts education. Lynn serves on the UW-Madison School of Music Board of Visitors and has been a board and auxiliary member of the YIA since 1981 including serving as President. Lynn majored in music education and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is married, with 2 sons, 3 step-daughters, and 9 grandchildren.
Jan Casey Bertrand
Jan Casey Bertrand has been an art consultant in San Francisco for over 25 years with her own firm, Casey and Associates. Current projects include producing 6 rotating fine art exhibits in the financial district, with the showcase site being 555 California, formerly the Bank of America headquarters. AT&T Park, Bank of the West and several law and biotech firms are clients. She is a member of ArtTable, a national organization of women in the visual arts professions, and a member of the Metropolitan Club in San Francisco. Jan has a degree in the History of Art from the University of California at Berkeley and resides in Mill Valley with her husband. She has three adult children.
Cheryl Cinelli
Cheryl Cinelli is a Senior Vice President and Commercial Loan Team Leader for Bank of Marin’s Credit Management Group, based in Novato, California. She has over 20 years of banking experience in the large corporate, middle market and small business banking. Prior to joining Bank of Marin, Cheryl held positions in lending and relationship management with Comerica Bank, Union Bank of California and Bank of America. Cheryl's community involvements have also included work for the The Family and Children’s Law Center, Kentfield Schools Foundation, Sunny Hills Services, Habitat for Humanity and Huckleberry Youth Programs. Cinelli has a bachelor’s degree from Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, and currently resides in Kentfield with her husband and two children.
Sue Feder
Sue is a lawyer previously serving as Staff Attorney for Bank of America in San Francisco, prior to that she was an Associate with Paul, Hastings, Janofsky and Walker in Los Angeles. As an active community member, Sue has served on committees at Marin Academy High School, Brandeis Hillel Day School and the Eyewitness to History Tribute. Sue lives in San Rafael with her husband and has three children, two of them are 'Til Dawn Alumni.
Kathie Gaines
Kathie is the Communications Director for Marin Theatre Company and previously served as Marketing Director at the Di Rosa Preserve. Kathie has been involved with Youth in Arts for the past 15 years, serving on the Entertainment committee for Italian Street Painting Festival along with many other duties. Kathie has her MFA from Cornell University. She is an active community member who resides in Novato with her husband and two children.
Kele Gasparini
Kele has been a music teacher in Marin county for almost 30 years. She started the Marin Primary and Middle School music program and now teaches privately and in a few schools in Novato. Kele has also been involved in some of Marin's community theatre groups for a number of years performing with the Mountain Play, Marilyn Izdebski productions, Independent Actors of Marin and Novato theatre company. In addition to working on the board of YIA, Kele has been involved in numerous fundraising events for schools as well as Breast Cancer awareness. Kele has four children all involved in the arts and resides in Novato with her husband George.
Eliot Holtzman
Eliot is a portrait photographer operating Eliot Holtzman Photography in San Rafael. Eliot is also Chair of the Board at Marin Primary & Middle School in Larkspur. Eliot has a strong belief in the benefits of children being exposed and involved in as much creative expression as possible. Eliot has been a board member and supporter of YIA since 1992. During that time he has worked on strategic planning as well as the search that resulted in the hiring of Miko Lee. He has a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and brings a fine art background to his portrait work. Eliot and his wife Margot have three children and live in San Rafael.
Bruce Hopper
A retired mechanical engineer, Bruce’s career spanned 37 years in various world-wide engineering assignments with large international oil companies. Bruce participated in San Rafael’s Economic Visioning process and has been involved in local neighborhood safety and fire prevention efforts. Bruce has been an active supporter of the Italian Street Painting Festival since 1994. He has a long-time interest in supporting visual and performing arts including music and film. Bruce graduated from universities in Texas and California and is a long time resident of the Gerstle Park neighborhood in San Rafael. Bruce and his wife Linda have two grown children.
Anna Melillo
Anna is an innovative marketing consultant who has directed a wide variety of marketing efforts for several start up companies as well as Bank of America, Cisco, Charles Schwab, Kodak, Autodesk and Pacific Data Images/DreamWorks SKG. Earlier in her career, Anna was an artist, theatre director, writer and elementary school teacher. She founded a Children's Theatre and a community arts group in Lake Tahoe and has always been passionate about promoting the arts in schools. Anna is a native of Italy and her favorite event is the Italian Street Painting Festival in San Rafael where she lives.
Mimi Murphy
Mimi has been Vice President of Scheidegger Trading Co., Inc. since 1981, growing the business from its inception to a $20 million, eleven person export company selling food products to Asia, Europe, and South America. Mimi has been very involved in the community having served as member and president of the Board of Marin Montessori School 1990-91; founding board member of Christmas in April, San Francisco 1988-1995; president of the Junior League of San Francisco 1989-90; Secretary of the Central Marin Select and Youth Soccer League Boards 1997-2000, co-president of the Kentfield Schools Foundation 1998-99, president of The Branson School PTA 2002-03, and member of the Board of Trustees of The Branson School 2002-03. Mimi has been a YIA board member since 1990 served as VP of Programs; Entertainment Chair for the Youth in Arts Italian Street Painting Festival 1993-present. She held the President of the Youth in Arts board position on and off from 1996 – 2009. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in Art History. Mimi and her husband Kevin live in Kentfield and have two grown children.
Melanie Nichols
Melanie has a background in music, dance, photography, interior design and working with schools. She is assistant director for a couple of yearly musicals in the Ross Valley School District. She has served on the board of Marin Primary and Middle School for 8 years, chairing the governance committee. She currently volunteers at the California Film Institute in educational programming. Melanie graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in Interdisciplinary Arts. She lives in San Anselmo with her husband and her two children.
Peter A. Rodgers
Peter has been Owner & Director of Montara Creative since 1993. Peter Rodgers is an accomplished artist and brand expert with a keen eye for original creative and business strategy. He's been active for more than 20 years in art, music, design, education and business development in the San Francisco Bay Area. The identity and integrated marketing agency he founded, Montara Creative, produces campaigns that combine the art of design with the priorities of business. Rodgers has helped bring to life brands and products for Hanson Bridgett, Dun and Bradstreet, E-LOAN, Dolby Labs, Cox & Kings, San Francisco Art Institute, LiveCapital, Apple Computer, Primedia, Macromedia, Pantone, E*TRADE Financial, Seybold Seminars and Frank Howard Allen Realtors, just to name a few. In addition to his work, Peter volunteers time and resources that benefit many local organizations including; The Buck Institute, Bread and Roses, The Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership-Marin and the Sonoma County Mariachi Festival. Peter Rodgers is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Education, with a BFA in Painting and Printmaking.
