LEADERSHIP
The Board and Officers of NAWA are voted in every year by the membership.
2019 OFFICERS
President | JILL CLIFFER BARATTA | resume [pdf]
Vice President | SONIA STARK | resume [pdf]
Secretary | MARK ALTSCHUL, ESQ. | resume [pdf]
Treasurer | CAROL BRODY | resume [pdf]
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Nom/Gov Chair, | JOAN L. LEWIS | resume (pdf)
Advisory | PENNY DELL | resume (pdf)
Advertising/Promotion | CORNELIA SECKEL | resume (pdf)
DANA ALBARELLA JAMES
NANSI T. LENT | resume (pdf)
GREGORY MOONIE | resume (pdf)
ROMA TORRE (Emeritus) | resume (pdf)
JEFFREY WECHSLER | resume (pdf)
Executive Director | SUSAN G. HAMMOND | resume (pdf)
OPERATING BOARD (COMMITTEE CHAIRS)
NAWA Gallery Coordinator | SUSAN PHILLIPS
Public Relations Co-Coordinator | SANDRA BERTRAND
Public Relations Co-Coordinator | CAROL NIPOMNICH DIXON
Library Exhibitions | ANITA PEARL
Online Exhibition Coordinator | DOREEN VALENZA
OFFICE STAFF
Adminstrative Coordinator | JUDITH HANSON
Administrative Specialist | NANCY VICTOR
Bookkeeper | JILL MAUTNER
Volunteer Coordinator | MARINA HITERER
HONORARY VICE PRESIDENTS
Pat Adams
Judy Brodsky
Judy Chicago
Ann Chwatsky
Gail Levin
Dr. Ferris Olin
Judy Pfaff
Maura Reilly
Faith Ringgold
Dorothy Rockburne
Cornelia Seckel
Rhoda Sherbell
Kay Walkingstick
MEET OUR BOARD MEMBERS AND OFFICERS
MARK ALTSCHUL is an attorney with offices in New York. He has served as a Corporate Counsel, Board Member and Corporate Secretary for several years. He is NAWA’s legal advisor.
JILL CLIFFER BARATTA works as an art instructor for children and adults. She has worked as a graphic artist and designer and has extensive fine art training as a watercolorist and printmaker. In addition, she has masters’ level training in creative art therapy including experience working with autistic children and in-patient pediatrics. She is currently Chairing NAWA’s Exhibition Committee.
PENNY DELL, served as President, 2005-07 and chaired the Nominating Governance Committee 2008-12. For NAWA and other non-profits, she has led the planning and implementation of themed exhibits, traveling exhibitions, panels and special events.
DANA ALBARELLA JAMES is the publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Testify Books, a critically acclaimed independent imprint that publishes works of urban culture and art.
Her previous editorial experience includes working at both St. Martin’s Press (1995-2000) and at Regan Books/HarperCollins (2000-2003), where her award-winning titles included several New York Times bestsellers. In her publications Albarella James has especially focused on alternative art and culture, including titles on graffiti art, rap music, and the lives and works of New York artists and photographers. Her philanthropic work includes service on the Board of Directors for both the Horticulture Society of New York and The Osborne Association. In both of these roles Albarella James organized and co-chaired over a dozen fundraisers to support programs that provide training, job placement and post-release support for inmates at the Rikers Island jail in New York City.
NANSI T. LENT has an MA in Visual Arts Administration from NYU and a BA in Studio Art and Sociology from Boston College, and has been working as a productive and exhibiting artist since the 1970¹s. Her work experience includes decades of Media Production and Project Management globally. She worked at TAG Creative NY, Inc. and Telemundi, Monaco as Managing Director, had her own enterprise Creative BrainTrust, Inc. and over 17 years at Todd Street Productions in NYC served as Executive Producer, Creative Director and Chief Marketing Officer. Her most recent solo exhibition in Rhinebeck, NY “The Gethsemane Project” explored her desire for audiences to look past the limits of photography related to the closed mindedness and compassion fatigue caused by image overload in the current media environment.
JOAN LEWIS is a retired attorney and is now a practicing and exhibiting collage and mixed media artist. She joined the Board in 2015 and serves as an Advisor and assistant with the membership and Nominating/Governance committee.
GREGORY MOONIE practiced corporate and securities law on Wall Street for a decade before changing careers and becoming an investment banker. He is an active volunteer at the Bartlett Arboretum & Gardens in North Stamford, CT. He is the son of Liana Moonie (who recently passed away). Liana was the founder of the FL and MA Chapters of NAWA, and also the Archive at the Alexander Library and Collection at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, both at Rutgers University, NJ.
ROMA TORRE is an award-winning journalist with 30 years of professional experience reporting and anchoring news stories from politics to the arts. She is the daytime anchor at NY1 News and the station’s chief drama critic. She serves on the Board as a Promotional and Advertising Advisor.
CORNEIA SECKEL is Publisher of Art Times, the notable periodical est.in 1984 that has been distributed widely in the Northeast and as of August 2016 will be exclusively online with the latest happenings in the art world including essays, videos, blogs, calendars and more. She serves as an advisor to the Public Relations and Advertising Committee.
SONIA STARK is a painter, sculptor and designer, who owned her own design firm – a full creative service organization. She is a past President of NAWA as well as the past Chair of Membership. She led the redesign of membership materials and our annual NAWA Catalog.
JEFFREY WECHSLER, crucial in establishing the NAWA Collection at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, organized “A Parallel Presence”, an exhibition at the UBS Gallery in Manhattan and Rutgers, which celebrated NAWA’s 120th Anniversary. He also curated the historic 125th Anniversary Exhibition at the Morris Museum in New Jersey, and is working toward a potential 130th Anniversary Exhibition at Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton, New Jersey.
NAWA past presidents: Sonia Stark, Doreen Valenza, Liana Moonie, and Penny Dell
FOCUS ON NAWA’S PAST PRESIDENTS
MARIE HINES COWAN, President of NAWA from 2014-2015
JANET INDICK, President of NAWA from 1997-1999
NESSA GRAINGER, President of NAWA from 1989-1991
LIANA MOONIE, President of NAWA from 1987 – 1989
ANN PELLATON, President of NAWA from 1985-1987
CATCHI CHILDS, President of NAWA from 1981-1985