Press Release: RACC welcomes new board members in 2009

NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Mary Bauer, Communications Associate

503.823.5111  |  email: [email protected]  

December 14, 2009 – 

The Regional Arts & Culture Council welcomes new board members in 2009

Nine community leaders have recently been elected to the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) board of directors.  

Jesse Beason serves as Executive Director of Proud Ground (formerly Portland Community Land Trust), helping low-income families own their first home. He chairs the board of the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center and is a member of the steering committee of JustPortland.

Jennifer Cies is a financial services marketing and product development professional now with Umpqua Bank as Vice President of Product Strategies, after several years with HSBC and Credit Suisse First Boston.  In addition to the arts, her community interests include teen mentoring and homelessness solutions, and she has served on the board of Portland's Goose Hollow Family Shelter.

Jay Clemens is owner/CEO of Turtledove Clemens, one of the Northwest's leading integrated marketing communications agencies. He served on the Boards of Clackamas County Arts Alliance, Better Business Bureau,  American Marketing Association and also operates Thursdays Art Gallery.

Kira Higgs is a visionary leader and strategist. Her firm, KH Consulting, specializes in strategic communications. She also serves on the board of Business for Culture and the Arts, and the Communication/Outreach Committee for the Oregon Global Warming Commission.

Karen Karbo is a prolific award-winning full-time writer.  She has garnered many awards and honors, including the Oregon Arts Commission Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Literature, and Oregon Book Award. Karen’s most recent book is titled The Gospel According to Coco Chanel: Life Lessons from the World’s Most Elegant Woman.

Max M. Miller, Jr. is an environmental attorney at Tonkon Torp, LLP. His community activities include serving MetroArts, Inc.; Business for Culture & the Arts; The Right Brain Initiative Governing Committee; Portland Business Alliance Sustainability Committee; and Friends of the Children Endowment Committee.

Brian Rice is President of KeyBank’s Oregon and Southwest Washington District. He also sits on the boards of New Avenues for Youth, the Library Foundation, SOLV, Oregon Bankers Association Portland Art Museum, and Providence Medical Foundation.

Jan Robertson is the CFO and a partner of Norris, Beggs & Simpson Companies, a full-service commercial real estate company, and an advocate for the arts locally and nationally. She has held leadership roles in Young Audiences for more than a decade.

Lina Garcia Seabold  is the current owner and partner of Seabold Construction Co., Inc.; Cornell Estates Living Center; Rosewood Park Retirement and Assisted Living Center; Rosewood Specialty Care; and Avamere at Bethany. She currently serves as the President of MANA de Portland, a national Latina women’s organization, and is also an active artist in the Portland area.

These individuals join existing RACC Board members Carole Morse (Chair), Carol R. Smith (Vice-Chair), Pam Knowles (Secretary), Claudia  Burnett (Treasurer), Alan Alexander III, Gwyneth Gamble Booth, Peg Malloy, Josie Mendoza, Jim Neill,  Bonita Oswald, Ted Savinar, and Lorin Wolfe.

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Mary Bauer

Communications Associate

Regional Arts & Culture Council

108 NW 9th Avenue, #300

Portland, OR 97209

503.823.5426

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