Press Releases

Baltimore, MD - July 13, 2009 -Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation (MAAF) elected officers for its fiscal year 2010 at a board meeting in Baltimore on June 12, 2009. Dorothy Pierce McSweeny was elected to her first term as Chair, Richard W. McGrath was elected to his first term as Vice Chair, Steven Runk was elected to his first term as Secretary, and Laura A. Scanlan was elected to her third term as Treasurer.

Chair Dorothy Pierce McSweeny is Chair Emeritus of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. A Brown University graduate, McSweeny served in Vietnam as an officer with A.I.D. and returned from that post to the White House to become the Oral Historian for President Lyndon B. Johnson. In 2007 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Mayor of Washington, the National Capital Philanthropy Award in 2003, and Washingtonian of the Year in 1995. McSweeny currently serves on the boards of the Washington Ballet, the National Symphony Orchestra, and Americans for the Arts, and she is a member of the National Council for the Shakespeare Theatre Company. She is also a founder of Washington Episcopal School and previously served on the boards of The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Vice Chair Richard W. McGrath has served as a board member of the Arts & Cultural Council for Greater Rochester and the Rochester Yacht Club. He was a member of the board of the New York State Council on the Arts from 1993-1999. He has also served on the boards of the Garth Fagan Dance Company (Board Chair from 1988-1991), Rochester Cemetery Heritage Foundation, and the Landmark Society of Western New York. McGrath is a CPA in Rochester, NY and has been a member of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants since 1979.

Secretary Steve Runk is the Executive Director of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a position he has held since January 2008. He has been a member of the Council staff for 18 years. Runk is a founding member of the Cultural Access Network of New Jersey. He has served on grant review panels for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pennsylvania and Ohio state arts councils, and as guest speaker for the Seton Hall University Graduate Program in Arts Administration and Rutgers Eagleton Institute. Runk is past President of the board of the Arts and Cultural Council of Bucks County. He is a graduate of Villanova University.

Treasurer Laura A. Scanlan is founder of the consulting practice Creative Cultural Strategies. She formerly served five years as director of the Delaware Division of the Arts. Prior to her work in the arts, Scanlan was Senior Vice President, Public Affairs at First USA, Bank One Corporation. Other positions have included Senior Vice President of Marketing, Sales and Product Management for Asset Management at Corestates Financial Corporation and several positions over a 12-year period at First National Bank of Chicago. Scanlan has served on the boards of the Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts and the Delaware Theater Company.

In addition to the election of officers, the board elected Theresa Colvin, Carol Ann Herbert, Philip Horn, Susan S. Landis, Magda A. Ratajski and Helen M. Stewart for additional terms.

Theresa M. Colvin has been the Executive Director of the Maryland State Arts Council since 2002. Colvin recently led the state arts council in a year-long planning process-Imagine Maryland- which reached out to all regions and populations of the state and resulted in "A Strategic Plan for the Arts 2009-2013." She has served as a member of the Baltimore Arts Stabilization Committee and the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development's Arts and Entertainment District Designation Committee. Colvin received her Bachelor's Degree from La Salle University and a Master of Science Degree from Drexel University in Arts Administration.

Carol Ann Herbert is Chair of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. She is a recipient of the Governor Thomas H. Kean Arts Advocacy Award. She has served on the board of the George Street Playhouse from 1989 to the present and is the Immediate Past Chair. She is the founder and Board President of the David B. Crabiel Scholarship Foundation. She has been actively engaged in several community organizations and has served on the boards of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and the New Jersey Heritage and Tourism Task Force.

Philip Horn has served as Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) since 1993. Prior to coming to Pennsylvania, Horn was Manager, Performing Arts Touring and Presenting Program at the California Arts Council. Under Horn's leadership, the PCA was recognized as one of government's top 50 "Best and Brightest" agencies by the Innovations in American Government Awards of the Ash Institute at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. In 2005 he won the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies' Gary Young Award which recognizes state arts agency leaders for leadership, innovative thinking, sustained commitment to public support for the arts, and dedication to diverse cultural expression.

Susan S. Landis is Chair of the West Virginia Commission on the Arts on which she has served since 1998. She is also Executive Director of the Beckley Area Foundation, a community foundation serving a several county region in southern West Virginia. Landis is a member of the executive committee of the board of directors of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, Secretary of the board of Volunteer West Virginia, President of the Beckley Rotary Club, and Vice Chair of the Concord University Foundation. Landis is also a member of the board of directors of Friends of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, West Virginia Grantmakers, Leave a Legacy of Greater West Virginia, the Beckley Concert Association, and Beckley-Raleigh County Chamber of Commerce.

Magda A. Ratajski is President of Marass Co., a public relations and marketing firm in Norfolk, Virginia. She was a foreign service officer for the U.S. Information Agency in 1972 when she served as interpreter at the Poznan (Poland) International Trade Fair and as translator for the U.S. Ambassador to Poland. She served as Executive Director of the Polish American Congress and subsequently went on to enjoy a long career at Norfolk Southern Corporation. In 1984, she was appointed Vice President of Public Relations. Ratajski was the founding President of the Virginia Waterfront International Arts Festival. She was Chairman of WHRO Public Television and Radio in Norfolk, and from 2000-2005 she was Chairman of the Virginia Public Broadcasting Board.

Helen M. Stewart is Vice-President, Mid Atlantic/Southeast Regional Manager in the National Community Relations Group at JPMorgan Chase where she is responsible for managing community relations, including grant making, for the JPMorgan Chase Foundation in the areas of arts and culture, community development, and education. Stewart is a member of the Delaware Housing Roundtable and the Statewide Advisory Council of the Delaware Small Business Development Centers. She is a board member of the Delaware Council on Economic Education, NCALL, Wilmington Economic Development Corporation, Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League, and United Way of Delaware.

The Foundation also elected five new members during the June meeting: William W. Carter, Elizabeth M. Dubin, Vernon A. Finch, E. Scott Johnson and Lavinia A. Wohlfarth.

William W. Carter is a principal of McKinley/Carter Wealth Services in Charleston, WV and serves as Director of Wealth Management. He is the founder and a member of the board of directors of the Charleston Jazz Series and is a co-founder of the Appalachian String Band Music Festival. He also serves on the boards of National Independent Trust Company, West Virginia Medical Foundation, Charleston Area Medical Center Foundation, and the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation. Carter earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Harvard University and his Juris Doctor from New York University. Prior to his career in financial planning and management, he served as a staff attorney and policy advisor to West Virginia Governor Gaston Caperton.

Elizabeth M. Dubin is a Director of Dubin Development Company and President of Pasadena Utility Corporation. She is a member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities appointed by President George W. Bush in 2002. She is a member of the board of the National Committee for the Performing Arts of the John F. Kennedy Center and was its Chair from 2001-2005. She is also a board member of the Woodrow Wilson Center and a member of the Washington, DC committee of The Aspen Institute. Dubin has been active with the Children's National Medical Center serving on its Corporate Board, its Foundation Board, its Children's Hospital Board and on several capital campaign committees and fundraising event committees.

Vernon A. Finch is a member of the board of directors of the Virgin Islands Council on the Arts (VICA). Finch is currently the Administrator of the Department of Human Services Division of Disabilities and Rehabilitation Services for the US Virgin Islands. Finch has devoted his career to planning and working with youth and people with disabilities. From 1990-1993 he worked with the Virgin Islands Resource Center for Individuals with Disabilities to design and build a state of the art computer resource center for disabled program participants. He is a past President of Kidscope, Inc. a children's advocacy center, and he is the founder and President of the Party-Hardies Christmas Carolers. Finch earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Florida A & M University and a Masters of Public Administration from the University of the Virgin Islands.

E. Scott Johnson is Chair of the Intellectual Property Group at Ober/Kaler, a national law firm. He has a diverse practice that includes licensing, trademark, copyright, technology, Internet, entertainment, arts and media law matters. Johnson served on the board of Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation from 1997-2007 and was Chair of the board from 2003-2006. He is currently Chair of the Maryland State Arts Council. Johnson has served on the boards of CityLit Project (Chair), Creative Alliance, Maryland Film Industry Coalition (Chair), Maryland Lawyers for the Arts (President), Washington Area Music Association, and Young Audiences of Maryland (President). He is a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

Lavinia A. Wohlfarth is the owner of Wohlfarth Galleries of Washington, DC and Provincetown, MA. She is a Commissioner of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. In 1999 Wohlfarth founded The Brookland Community Development Corporation in her Northeast Washington neighborhood to focus on history, the arts and revitalization of the commercial district in her community. She is the Chair of the Brookland Main Street Program. In 2004 she was appointed by then Mayor Anthony Williams to sit on the task force: "Growing and Inclusive City-A Comprehensive Plan for Washington, DC." She is a graduate of The Catholic University of America and McGill University, Montreal Canada.

Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation welcomes these accomplished professionals and is grateful for their service, expertise, and guidance.

For a complete list of Mid Atlantic's Board of Directors, please visit http://www.midatlanticarts.org/about/board.html.

About Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation celebrates and supports the wealth and diversity of the region's arts resources and works to make those resources widely accessible both in the region and beyond.