BOARD AND STAFF

THE HONORABLE EDWARD A. POWELL, JR.

In 2002, Edward A. Powell, Jr. became President and CEO of the USO World Headquarters, the only global civilian organization supporting the U.S. military. The operating budget expanded from less than $40 million a year to almost $250 million in 2008. USO’s active donor base grew from 200,000 to more than 1.5 million individuals. Mr. Powell has been an Adjunct Faculty member at the University of Richmond, teaching business policy and ethics and served on many civic and corporate boards.

    • Prior to joining the USO, Ned served as Assistant Secretary for Management (CFO), and Deputy Secretary (Acting) at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). At the time the VA was the second largest cabinet department with a budget of more than $50 billion. During his tenure as CFO, the VA achieved its first-ever clean audit opinion.

    • The USO operates more than 130 centers from San Diego to Bagram, Afghanistan. Under Ned Powell’s leadership the USO saw significant expansion.

    • Mr. Powell oversaw the development of the department’s first budget accountability reporting and played an instrumental role in the integration of financial, operational, and inventory management of the VA’s huge healthcare system.

    • Through improvement in its prescription formulary and prescription mail-out program, the VA saved almost $650 million annually in drug costs, while improving patient service and safety.

CHRIS HARDEN, TREASURER AND VICE-PRESIDENT

Chris Harden spent his entire 26-year career in energy commodities trading. During his 16 years in Philadelphia, Harden was active as a board member and volunteer for Play On Philly, a charitable organization promoting social change through music education. POP serves over 300 inner-city children in Philadelphia. In 2019 he moved to Telluride to pursue his passions for outdoor adventure and music composition/performance. As an active musician, Harden is passionate about helping to build and sustain music culture while serving the local community.

    • Born in Racine, Wisconsin, he eventually moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma where he helped build one of the largest energy trading companies at the Williams Companies. In 2003 he moved to the Philadelphia area to found an energy trading company for Susquehanna International Group.

    • He also served on the Executive Committee as the Colorado affiliate more than quadrupled its budget, staff, and operations in six years. Prior to the ACLU, Basit served as Treasurer of the Board of Directors of KGNU Community Radio in Boulder, CO (where he resided before moving to Telluride in 2014), one of the nation’s largest non-profit community radio stations serving the Denver Metro area, and oversaw the purchase and establishment of the 1390AM signal to further extend the organization’s reach.

TODD BROWN

Todd Brown has a Professional Engineering degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and a Masters in Business Administration (Finance) from Washington University in St. Louis. As a manufacturing executive, he worked for Fortune 50 companies in the US and Europe before moving to Telluride. He served on the Telluride Town Council and as Mayor Pro Tem for 8 years, is a professional ski instructor, and is active on several cultural and environmental non-profit boards in addition to having served on the Telluride Arts board since 2006.

ASHLEY HAYWARD

For the past three decades Ashley Hayward has been dedicated to the arts through fine arts education and working with various museums and galleries. These endeavors and the relationships that developed eventually led her to the acquisition, with her husband, of the long-established Telluride Gallery of Fine Art.

Ashley is indebted to her father, James Hayward (contemporary artist and fine arts professor) who began taking her to museums as a toddler and showed her how to see the world through the lens of art.

    • At Telluride Gallery of Fine Art with fellow artists (emerging to established), they curated dream shows, brought in artists from all over the country, and partnered with local schools to create educational opportunities for students and our community.

    • They augmented these shows in a variety of ways with artist profile videos, films, interactive installations, onsite library and resource center, presentations and discussions.

    • They partnered with local festivals and events to increase visibility towards their collective goals and promoted their shows all over the country.

MICHELINE KLAGSBRUN

Micheline is a visual artist whose multi-media work focuses on transformation and displacement. She is President and co-founder of CrossCurrents Foundation (CCF) which as part of its mission sponsors art to promote social justice. In addition to CCF, she serves on several boards, including the Phillips Collection (DC), Transformer (DC), and Telluride Arts (CO). Through the Corcoran Outreach program, she served for a number of years as a mentor for inner-city youth. In 2016, she and her husband found and fell in love with Telluride and Telluride Arts, and have been living here part-time ever since.

    • She has exhibited widely and is in private collections nationally as well as in Europe and the Middle East.

    • Born and raised in London, graduate of the University of Cambridge, she received a clinical doctorate in psychology (D.C.P.) from the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations. Upon moving to the USA she continued to work as a psychologist in the Center for Family Research at GWU Medical School.

    • For many years she also co-chaired the Forum for the Psychoanalytic Study of Film and edited its journal “Projections”. Her published writings have been largely in the field of film and psychoanalysis.

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS

  • Ken Meredith

    Entrepreneur

  • Shasheen Shah

    Author

  • Sean Mahoney

    COMPOSER

  • Christopher Ho

    EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

STAFF

GENE SOBCZAK, INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Former Chief Executive Officer of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, Gene is a turnaround executive with 30 years' experience in performance improvement, staff development and business restructuring in nonprofit, commercial and public sectors. Accomplished communications and community engagement professional with proven commitment and achievement in the advancement of diversity, equity and inclusion.

gene@telluridearts.org

CAMILLE LEWIS, OPERATIONS DIRECTOR

A Georgia native, Camille moved to Telluride in 2014 to see what magic the San Juans held. Deviating from her background in agriculture and wildlife management, she has since built a career centered in operations and venue management. When she's not in the office, Camille enjoys live music, a good book, and reveling in the outdoors.

camille@telluridearts.org

ALI BERKEL, SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER

Ali moved to Telluride in 2016 and holds a bachelor's degree in business. With a strong business acumen, she effectively maintains and enriches the district's online presence, ensuring its continued vibrancy and engagement. Her expertise contributes to the district's status as a thriving hub for artistic expression and community involvement in the digital space.

hello@aliberkelcreative.com