Our Team
FOUNDERS
Lane Alexander
Co-founder
Kelly Michaels (1957 – 1995)
Co-founder
Elaine Cohen Rubin & Richard G. Weinberg
Honorary Founders
BOARD
Kwaku Osebreh (1988)
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 at Gingell Consulting
Lane Alexander (1988)
Co-Founder
Michael Foster (2010)
Past Chair
Senior Sales Manager,
The Whitehall Hotel
Irene Michaels (2016)
Founder, I On The Scene
Emmanuel Neal (2020)
Business Development Consultant
Joyce Selander (2017)
Retired, Commodities Broker
Chicago Board of Trade
Constance Vervalcke (2020)
Manager SAP Security & GRC at PwC
Your Name Could Be Here (2021)
ADVISORY BOARD
Terrence Coakley
Lou Conte
Diana E. Harris
Bill Irwin
Gail Kalver
Marilyn Katz
Bill Kurtis
Donna LaPietra
Marilyn Miglin
Peggy Sutton
Dianne “Lady Di” Walker
STAFF
Lane Alexander
Co-founder & Director of Institutional Advancement
lalexander@chicagotap.org
ext. 201
Emmanuel Neal
Interim Managing Director
eneal@chicagotap.org
Meggy Huynh
Development and Marketing Manager
mhuynh@chicagotap.org
Canisha Russ
Program Associate, Outreach and Arts Education
canisharuss@chicagotap.org
James Mueller
Program Associate, American Rhythm Center
jmueller@arcchicago.org
CONSULTANTS
Margaret Nelson
Production Stage Manager
Margaret Nelson
Production Stage Manager
Fredric Brewer
Marketing and Graphic Design
Christopher W. Frerichs
Grant Consultant
Jill Pua Villanueva & Yvonne Afable
Business and Financial Management
Omane Adu Brako and Termilla Williams
Social Media Consultants