Our Team
FOUNDERS
Lane Alexander
Co-founder
Kelly "Ikaika" Michaels (1957 – 1995)
Co-founder
Elaine Cohen Rubin & Richard G. Weinberg
Honorary Founders
BOARD
Kwaku Osebreh (2018)
Board Chair
Attorney, Mayer Brown LLP
Brenna Conway (2018)
Vice Chair
Director of City Scholars,
University of Illinois
Claudette Smith (2010)
Vice-Chair
Vice President (Data Management, Operations, & Technology), Northern Trust
John Gingell (2016)
Treasurer
President Gingell Consulting
President/CEO Bennabis Property Casualty Ins. Co
Lane Alexander (1988)
Founding Director
Michael Foster (2010)
Past Chair
Senior Sales Manager,
The Whitehall Hotel
Ashley Leonard (2021)
Founding Associate Director, To&Through Project
Irene Michaels (2016)
Founder, I On The Scene
Emmanuel Neal (2020)
Business Development Consultant
Joyce Selander (2017)
Retired, Commodities BrokerChicago Board of Trade
Constance Vervalcke (2020)
Manager SAP Security & GRC at PwC
Your Name Could Be Here (2021)
To learn more about serving on our board of directors, please read our Board Service Guide HERE!
ADVISORY BOARD
Terrence Coakley
Lou Conte
Diana E. Harris
Bill Irwin
Gail Kalver
Peggy Sutton
Bill Kurtis
Donna LaPietra
Dianne “Lady Di” Walker
TEAM
Lane Alexander
Founding Director
lalexander@chicagotap.org
ext. 201
Jumaane Taylor
Artistic Director
Kelli David-Low
Mayfair Arts Center (MAC) Program Manager
kdavidlow@chicagotap.org
Canisha Russ
Program Coordinator, Outreach and Arts Education
canisharuss@chicagotap.org
Nicole Saponara
Development & Marketing Coordinator
nsaponara@chicagotap.org
CONSULTANTS
Margaret Nelson
Production Stage Manager
Fredric Brewer
Marketing and Graphic Design
Yvonne Afable, Jill Pua Villanueva
& Vu Huynh,
Afable Consulting, LLC
Business and Financial Management
Sean Ihnat
Technical Director (MAC)
Christopher W. Frerichs
Grant Consultant
Be/Phore
Marketing Consultants