Suzette Surkamer recently retired as executive director of the South Carolina Arts Commission, a position she held since 1994. Surkamer began her career with the Arts Commission as a dancer in residence in 1974. She has served on various National Endowment for the Arts panels and is a past board chair of the Southern Arts Federation, past vice president of the board of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, past member of the Arts Education Partnership Steering Committee, past member of Clemson University President's Advisory Board, past member of the South Carolina Rural Development Council and past member of the South Carolina Tourism Expenditure Review Committee. Surkamer recently served as chair of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters Audit Committee and currently serves as a member of Winthrop University's board of visitors. She received an M.Ed. in dance education from George Washington University and a B.A. in dance from the University of Maryland. She is a recipient of the 2006 Winthrop University Medal of the Arts and NASAA's 2008 Gary Young Award. (Board term 2003-2011)

Arlynn Fishbaugh is executive director of the Montana Arts Council, a position she has held since 1992. She received her B.A. in theatre from the University of Montana, Missoula, and an M.A. in theatre management from UCLA. During a career centered in the field of arts marketing, she has held positions at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis and with Houston Grand Opera's touring division, Texas Opera Theatre, where she developed a marketing assistance program for tour presenters that was used as a national model. She has served as associate director of marketing for the Metropolitan Opera and as executive director of the National Video Corporation's Direct Marketing Division in New York City. Fishbaugh has been a frequent speaker on arts marketing and tour marketing for colleges, universities, and state and regional arts agencies. She has been a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, has served on the board of Western States Arts Federation and currently serves as vice president of the board of directors for the Association of Performing Arts Presenters. (Board term 2006-2010)

Pam Breaux is secretary of the Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism (CRT), under the commission of Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu. Prior to this appointment, she was assistant secretary of CRT's Office of Cultural Development (2004-2008) and executive director of its state arts agency, the Louisiana Division of the Arts (2001-2005). Before working in state government, she managed southwest Louisiana's Decentralized Arts Funding Program from its inception through its seventh year, and spent six years as executive director of the Arts and Humanities Council of Southwest Louisiana. While there, she developed the Central School Arts & Humanities Center and the Southwest Louisiana Cultural Tourism Coalition. Breaux serves as a member of the board of the Southern Arts Federation and as a member of the advisory board for the Louisiana Creole Heritage Center. She is active with the Louisiana Partnership for the Arts and was its chairman from 1997-1999. She has served on the board and was vice president of the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts/Riverfront. Breaux graduated from McNeese State University with a B.A. in English and has an M.A. in English and folklore from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. (Board term 2006-2010)

Elaine Mariner is executive director of the Colorado Creative Industries. She has served on grant review panels for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, as well as foundations and other state arts agencies. She is a trustee for the Colorado Nonprofit Association and serves on the state's Heritage Tourism Committee and the board of Arts for Colorado, the statewide advocacy organization. Mariner returned to the agency in July 2004 after serving for four years as director of programs at the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Prior to that, she was deputy director at the Colorado Council on the Arts. She has an M.B.A. from the University of Colorado at Boulder. (Board term 2007-2010)

Chair of the Wyoming Arts Council, Bruce Richardson is also past board chair of the Nicolaysen Art Museum, past vice chair of ARTCORE and past president of the Wyoming Council for the Humanities. For his Ph.D. in English from UCLA, he wrote an interdisciplinary study of William Blake's Jerusalem as history painting. He is the author of 50 art reviews, other articles and catalogue essays on contemporary visual arts in the Rocky Mountains, and, recently, columns and essays on arts policy and arts advocacy. He speaks frequently on these and other topics and consults with regional art museums and other cultural institutions. For the University of Wyoming in Casper, Richardson teaches upper division English and interdisciplinary classes (including Shakespeare, Chaucer, Romantic literature, ideas of landscape, horror literature, and technical writing). Besides receiving several awards for teaching, He is active in teaching development and has written and spoken about leading discussions and other methods of teaching arts and humanities. (Board term 2007-2010)

John Rohman is CEO and president of WBRC Architectshe has worked since 1973. He received a B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Maine at Orono and a B.S. in business administration from Husson College. After two years with the U.S. Army's 1st Air Cavalry Division in Vietnam, he worked as a project engineer for Eaton W. Tarbell and Associates, an architectural firm in Bangor. In 1988, Rohman returned to school at the Boston Architectural Center for studies in interior design. He is chairman of the Maine Arts Commission and served as president of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies from 2006 to 2009. He has served on the boards of numerous other organizations, including the Maine Crafts Association, the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, Husson College, the University of Maine Alumni Association, the National Council for the Traditional Arts and the Maine Chamber of Commerce. After serving as president of the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce, Rohman entered the political arena and started his first city council term in 1997, then served as mayor of the City of Bangor in 2001. (Board term 2004-2010)

John Bracey became executive director of the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs (MCACA) in June 2006, after serving as director of programs since 1998. Prior to his tenure at MCACA, Bracey headed up communications and educational programs for the State of Michigan Liquor Control Commission. In that capacity, he worked on statewide as well as national campaigns, including the Detroit Challenge with the California based Recording Artists Against Drunk Driving and the education committee of the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association. He also served as legislative contact for the agency and was appointed ombudsman for the Commission during the privatization of its warehousing operations. Before his state service, Bracey spent nine years as a journalist, working as a reporter, news editor and managing editor. Bracey attended the University of Michigan in Flint, earning his degree in philosophy with a concentration in aesthetics. His graduate work has been in liberal studies, concentrating in American culture. (Board term 2010-2012)

Theresa Colvin is executive director of the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC), where she was appointed in 2002. She joined the MSAC staff in 1997 as the program director for community arts development and music, having worked previously as deputy director for the Howard County Arts Council in Ellicott City, Maryland. Colvin has been active on numerous boards and committees, including the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Maryland Cultural Data Project, Maryland Arts and Entertainment District panel, and the Baltimore Arts Stabilization Committee. Colvin has served as a review panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and Very Special Arts. She is from Philadelphia and holds a B.S. in business administration from La Salle University and an M.S. in arts administration from Drexel University. (Board term 2010-2012)

Timothy D. Deratany is past chairman of the Florida Council on Arts and Culture and continues to serve on the Council. He owns Deratany Consulting, a governmental and public affairs firm. Deratany is a former Florida state senator and state representative. He served as mayor of Indialantic, Florida, and director of university relations at the Florida Institute of Technology. As an artist, he belongs to the Brevard Watercolor Society and Brevard Artists Guild, and has served as chairman of the Florida Seaside Art Show. Deratany is a board member at the Brevard Art Museum in Melbourne. (Board term 2010-2012)

Loie Fecteau has served as executive director of New Mexico Arts since 2004. She helped create the state's Music Commission, served on the legislative advisory committee that recommended creation of Public Arts High School, and oversees the New Mexico 1% for Public Art program. She has focused much of her tenure on arts based economic development and cultural tourism, including the development of Arts Trails, designed to put New Mexico artists on the map and bring the market to them, as well as the creation of state-designated arts and cultural districts. Fecteau was a journalist for more than 20 years and, among her many beats, covered politics in New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. For Soundings magazine, she covered boating and the marine industry and wrote travel destination pieces. Fecteau serves on the Multicultural Advisory Committee for Western States Arts Federation and as the New Mexico state captain for Americans for the Arts. She received an M.A. in journalism from the University of Missouri and a B.A. in English from Marietta College. (Board term 2009-2011)

Julie Henahan is a long-tenured member of the Ohio Arts Council (OAC) staff with more than 25 years experience as an arts administrator. She was hired as the agency's fourth executive director, and first woman director, in 2006. As deputy director from 2002-2006 she oversaw the agency's state subsidy budget development, federal grant preparation, policy and program development, strategic planning, personnel operations, and compliance with state and federal laws, and was the OAC liaison to the attorney general's office. Until 2002, Henahan served as the OAC's grants office director, where she was responsible for the development of all procedures and policies related to the grants review process and managed the agency's internal accounting of state subsidy funds as well as its federal funding. She has served on the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies Research Information Committee, Planning and Budget Committee, and National Standard Working Group. Henahan has served as a grant panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Indianapolis Arts Council. She served on the Columbus Arts Stabilization Committee and the Greater Columbus Creative Cultural Commission and is an ex officio board member of the Ohio Cultural Facilities Commission. Henahan serves on the Ohio State Nonprofit Advisory Committee as well as the International Education Advisory Committee of the Ohio Department of Education. She graduated magna cum laude from Ohio Wesleyan University with a bachelor's degree in history (medieval studies) and a minor in humanities and classics. She is a former board member of the League of Women Voters of Metropolitan Columbus and is a member of Ohio Women in Government, Americans for the Arts and Ohio Citizens for the Arts.  (Board term 2010-2012)

Carol Ann Herbert was appointed to the New Jersey State Council on the Arts (NJSCA) in 2003 and elected board chair in 2004. After serving for five years as chair, she stepped down in 2009 and continues to serve as a member of the Council. In her tenure with the Council, Herbert has overseen the development of Arts Plan New Jersey and the Council's long-range strategic plan; chaired the Grants Committee; served on the Planning, Appeals and South Jersey committees; and chaired the Search Committee that conducted an intensive national search for the Council's current executive director, Steve Runk. Herbert also created the Public Value Committee, a standing committee of the Council that is dedicated to communicating the incredible benefits of the arts and the work of the NJSCA. A lifelong resident of New Jersey, Herbert holds a B.A. in psychology from the College of New Jersey and has been an arts advocate for more than 20 years. She has been actively engaged in several community based organizations, and has served in various positions on the boards of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance, New Jersey Performing Arts Center (ex officio), New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (ex officio), New Jersey Heritage Tourism Task Force and New Brunswick Cultural Center. She has served in a leadership position on the boards of the George Street Playhouse and the David B. Crabiel Scholarship Foundation, of which she is a founder and board president. Since first joining the board of George Street Playhouse in 1989, she has served as secretary, vice president, president and chairperson, chairing the Nominating Committee, the Search Committee and several special event committees. Herbert also serves on the board of the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. She was recently acknowledged by the New Jersey General Assembly with a formal resolution for her national and statewide service to the arts community, and is a recent recipient of the Governor Thomas H. Kean Arts Advocacy award and the Lillian Levy Standing Ovation award from the South Jersey Cultural Alliance for her significant contributions to the promotion of the arts, history and culture in New Jersey. (Board term 2009-2011)

In 18 years as managing director of Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Mark Hofflund has helped build a flagship arts organization that is entering its ninth year of collaboration with Cleveland's Great Lakes Theater Festival and an inaugural year with Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival. Hofflund serves as liaison to the Idaho Foundation for Parks and Lands and the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation, whose partnership led to construction of the Festival's 12-acre amphitheater and reserve along the Boise River. Hofflund began his career at The Old Globe in San Diego, served on the board of the San Diego Performing Arts League, and edited his mentor Alan Schneider's memoir, Entrances (published by Viking). During his time in Idaho, the Festival's regional audience has grown to include 50,000 students K-12 served by two nationally recognized school tours, an apprentice company and the Festival's drama school. Hofflund has led arts ceremonies with three Idaho governors; served on the board of The Shakespeare Theatre Association of America; and addressed national conferences for the Institute of Outdoor Drama, receiving the 2006 Mark R. Sumner Award. Appointed in 1994 to eight years on the Boise City Arts Commission, Hofflund now serves on the board of the Boise Convention and Visitors Bureau, chairs the Idaho Commission on the Arts, and has completed a presidential appointment to the National Council on the Arts. He holds degrees from Princeton and the University of California, San Diego. (Board term 2010-2012)

Philip Horn has been executive director of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts since 1993. Prior to coming to Pennsylvania, he served as director of the Touring and Presenting Program and Arts in Education/Artists in Residence Program at the California Arts Council from 1982-1993. He was also the first managing director of the East Lansing (Michigan) Arts Workshop, a community arts school. Horn holds a B.A. in English from California State University, Northridge, with extensive coursework and performing in theatre, and has completed graduate coursework in theatre at Michigan State University. In 2005 he received the Gary Young Award from the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. (Board term 2008-2010)

Bobby Kadis was appointed to the North Carolina Arts Council board in 1993 and was named chair in summer 2005. He is a founder and former president of Centrex Properties, Inc., a commercial real estate development and management firm. Kadis is a potter and is a trustee and past chair of Penland School of Crafts. He is a past director of the Goldsboro Community Arts Council (now Arts Council of Wayne County), past president of the Wayne County Boys Club and trustee of its endowment fund, and former member or director of a variety of other community organizations. (Board term 2009-2011)

Susan Landis is executive director of the Beckley Area Foundation, a community foundation serving the charitable needs of southern West Virginia. She is active in West Virginia Grantmakers, West Virginia "Leave a Legacy" and the Council of Foundations. A member of the West Virginia Commission on the Arts for more than 10 years, she currently serves as its chair. She is a past president of the Theatre West Virginia board of directors and recipient of their Bravo Award for ongoing support of the arts in the Mountain State. Landis is a longtime member and officer of the Beckley Concert Association, serves on the board of the Friends of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, and cochairs the External Affairs Committee of the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. Other organizational interests include serving as secretary of the West Virginia Commission for National and Community Service, taking an active role in the Beckley-Raleigh County Chamber of Commerce, serving on the Concord University Foundation board, and fulfilling the responsibilities of immediate past president of the Beckley Rotary Club. (Board term 2008-2010)

Betty Mahoney, a lifelong collector and patron of the arts, has worked at Virgin Islands Council on the Arts for 20 years. She became executive director six years ago and currently manages the Council's offices on St. Thomas and St. Croix, securing local, regional and federal funding and developing and implementing art programming territorywide. Over the years Mahoney has made significant contributions in promoting Virgin Islands art and culture by coordinating the territory's participation in festivals and exhibitions in Trinidad; St. Kitts and Nevis; Guadeloupe; Washington, D.C.; New York; Venice, Italy; and Ghana. A solid supporter of emerging artists, she hosts continuous art exhibitions, poetry readings, lecture series and student recitals in the Council's gallery space. (Board term 2008-2010)

Before being appointed executive director in 2005, Terry A. Scrogum had served as a board member of the Illinois Arts Council since 1991. He came to the Council from the Hoogland Center for the Arts, where he served as executive director and fundraiser. During his 12-year tenure at The Hope School in Springfield (now The Hope Institute for Children and Families), a residential school for children with severe disabilities, he held numerous senior management positions ranging from development and community relations work to deputy executive director. Previously, Scrogum served in various managerial and senior advisory capacities in Illinois state government, including advising two governors on arts and cultural policy. He also held senior staff positions, specializing in external affairs, with a variety of state agencies ranging from social services to utility regulation. He began his career on the policy staff of the state legislature. Scrogum has served on the boards of numerous arts and social service organizations in Illinois and currently is on the board of USO Illinois. He has a B.S. in psychology from Illinois State University, has done graduate work in public administration at the University of Illinois at Springfield, and holds professional certificates in fund-raising management from DePaul University.  (Board term 2009-2011)

An-Ming Truxes is director of the Arts Division of the Connecticut Commission on Culture  and Tourism, having previously served as deputy director and senior program associate of the Connecticut Commission on the Arts (CCA). Prior to CCA, she was the founding executive director of the Connecticut Alliance for Arts Education from 1992 to 1997. While at the Alliance, she served on the National Governance Committee of the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network from 1994 to 1996. Truxes sits on the board of the New England Foundation for the Arts and has served on numerous grants panels for the National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Department of Education; state arts agencies in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Mississippi; and state-level grants panels. She received her B.A. and M.A.T. from Connecticut College in New London, and was trained at the Arts Extension Service at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. (Board term 2009-2011)

Suzanne Wise has served as executive director of the Nebraska Arts Council (NAC) since 2003. Prior to her appointment, she served on the NAC staff for 14 years managing grant programs, artist fellowships, special initiatives and the state's public art program. Previously, she held curatorial positions at Sheldon Art Gallery in Lincoln, Nebraska, Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, and Northwestern University's Block Gallery in Evanston, Illinois. She has been adjunct faculty at Creighton University and the Lincoln and Omaha campuses of the University of Nebraska. As NAC executive director, Wise opened a gallery adjacent to the NAC offices dedicated to showcasing the best of Nebraska artists; reestablished the state's citizen advocacy organization; and guided the development of arts education initiatives that address the needs of rural educators, youth at risk and the state's cultural institutions. She was part of the development team that established the Nebraska Cultural Endowment. Wise holds degrees in art history from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Kansas. In 1998, she was awarded an Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Hixon-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts. (Board term 2008-2010)

Gerri Combs has served as executive director of South Arts (formerly the Southern Arts Federation) since 2005. She joined South Arts after serving for 10 years as executive director of the Kentucky Arts Council. After completing her undergraduate studies at Marshall University and graduate studies at the University of Kentucky, Combs began an extensive career in the field of arts administration and education. Over the past 30 years, she has worked as a public school teacher, local arts council director, facility manager, presenter, programmer and consultant. She has held the positions of regional coordinator for the Kentucky Arts Council, education director for the J.B. Speed Museum, and deputy director of the Galef Institute-Kentucky Collaborative for Teaching and Learning. She has served as consultant and panelist with the National Endowment for the Arts and other national, state and regional organizations. (Board term 2004-2010)