Blumenthal Performing Arts Welcomes New Board of Trustees Members and New Board Chair

(February 13, 2018) Charlotte, NC – Blumenthal Performing Arts is pleased to announce the appointment of seven new members to its Board of Trustees and new Board Chair, Jeffrey Hay. Jeffrey succeeds Kristin Hills Bradberry who served as Board Chair for two years.

“These individuals bring a breadth of expertise and experience that we need to be effective in both running a highly complex business, and in responding to the needs of our community.  They’ve generously commited their time and talent to help us create the vibrant cultural scene the region needs to thrive, and to enrich the lives of each member of our community, and particularly our kids. “We also look forward to the leadership of Jeff Hay, who has been a highly effective Board member and officer for a number of years.  We are deeply grateful to outgoing Chair Kristin Hills Bradberry for her leadership, vision and service to our community.”

2018 Board Chair Jeffrey Hay

Hay is a partner at Womble Bond Dickinson, leader of the firm’s US Global Business Group, board member of Womble Bond Dickinson Limited, a strategic legal adviser to multinational companies and chair of the North Carolina British-American Business Council. In 2015, Jeff received the coveted Order of the Long Leaf Pine Award, honoring North Carolinians who have given extraordinary service to the state throughout their careers. Jeff represents corporate clients, private equity groups and venture capital funds in the US and abroad on cross-border private equity and venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, technology licensing, joint ventures and securities matters. He has represented clients across many industry sectors, including technology, manufacturing, retail and consumer, and health care.

Richard Battle

Richard is a certified public accountant and shareholder with Elliott Davis. He focuses on providing tax planning and compliance services to manufacturing and distribution companies with multi- state and international operations, technology companies and serving closely-held businesses in multiple industries. With nearly 20 years of experience in public accounting, he assists clients with corporate, partnership, and individual income tax return reporting, as well as complex issues surrounding mergers and acquisitions, consolidated filings, economic incentives, state and local taxation, inventory capitalization rules, federal and state controversies, tax provisions and other ASC 740 reporting matters.  Richard serves as Office Leader for Elliot Davis’ Charlotte office.

Brian S. Cromwell

Brian is a partner at Parker Poe Adams and Bernstein, LLP where he counsels clients on white collar criminal issues, regulatory enforcement issues, civil litigation, FinTech regulations, and internal investigations.  Prior to entering into private practice, Brian was both a state and federal prosecutor: he served as an Assistant District Attorney for Mecklenburg County and as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Department of Justice, Western District of North Carolina.

Brian brings a noteworthy amount of board governance and arts experience to the Blumenthal.  He has served as the Chairman of the Board of both the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and United Family Services (currently known as Safe Alliance).   He has also served on other law-related boards including the Mecklenburg County Bar Association Board of Directors, Federal Defenders of Western North Carolina and the North Carolina Indigent Defense Commission.

Charlie Elberson

Charlie is a Vice-President and Insights Strategist for Wray Ward. For more than 35 years, Charlie has been developing, building and stewarding brands. With his tireless energy and easygoing style, he provides expert guidance to Wray Ward’s clients and staff, making sure brands maintain the strong identity and integrity that set them apart from competing products. Charlie has been heavily involved in the Charlotte community and serves as the primary trustee and advisor for the Reemprise Fund within the Foundation For The Carolinas.

Jonathan Feit

Jonathan is a Family Law Attorney with James, McElroy & Diehl. Jonathan’s primary practice areas involve child custody, child support, spousal support and the division of property. Jonathan is a frequent speaker at continuing legal education seminars for family law lawyers, volunteers for a number of non-profit organizations in the area, serves on our Blumenthal Performing Arts’ Development Committee and is a regular presenter for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools’ Academic Internship Program.  Jonathan is an avid college football fan and enjoys spending time with his family, traveling and playing golf. 

Michelle Lee

Lee manages Wells Fargo’s Community Banking for the Eastern Region spanning 14 states and the District of Columbia as well as more than 2,700 banking stores and 5,100 ATMs. Previously, Michelle was the Northeast Community Banking regional president and provided executive leadership for retail and small business operations in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. A 32-year company veteran, Michelle joined Wells Fargo (then First National State Bank) as a teller in 1984.

As an active member of the community, Michelle serves on the boards of many organizations including the Consumer Bankers Association, Alvin Ailey Dance School Foundation, Junior Achievement USA and is a member of the Women Executives of Charlotte. Michelle is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory of Music where she earned a Bachelor Degree in Music, Applied Voice.

Anjali Shah

Anjali has over 20 years of strategy, corporate development and process innovation experience across enterprise software and management consulting companies. Currently she is VP of Strategy and Transformation at CompuCom. Previously, she was a Strategy and Planning leader in the software division of Hewlett Packard. At i2 and Mercury, she held corporate development roles included working with startups, VC’s and banks in both an investigatory and advisory manner and thus determining the corporation’s entrance to an emerging business area. 

Anjali holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.  She started her career at Price Waterhouse as Strategy and IT consultant. She lead multiple large scale IT Strategy and IT implementation projects, served as a member of the Firm Advisory Board and as instructor to junior consultants. She lives in Huntersville, North Carolina with her husband Palash and two daughters. 

Scott Tozier

Scott is an Executive VP and CFO with Albemarle Corporation. Scott has over 25 years of diversified international financial management experience.  Following four years of assurance services with the international firm Ernst & Young, LLP, Mr. Tozier joined Honeywell International, Inc., where his 16-year career spanned senior financial positions in the United States, Asia Pacific and Europe.  His increasingly progressive roles included management of financial planning, analysis and reporting; global credit and treasury services and chief financial officer of Honeywell's Transportation Systems, Turbo Technologies, Building Solutions and Process Solutions divisions.  Most recently, Mr. Tozier served as Vice President of Finance, Transformation and Operations of Honeywell International, Inc. He led a team of over 300 employees around the world and was responsible for the company's global financial shared services and best practices management.

Mr. Tozier is a certified public accountant. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and Information Systems from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1988.  Following his tenure with Ernst &Young, Mr. Tozier studied corporate strategy and finance in the University of Michigan's MBA program and graduated with honors in 1994.  

 

The slate of board members for 2018 is listed below:

Jeffrey Hay, Board Chair

Kristin Hills Bradberry, Immediate Past Chair

Reginald Bean, Marketing & Community Relations Chair

Bobby Chesney, Compensation Committee Chair

J. Porter Durham Jr., Governance Chair

Renee Hobart, Education Committee Chair

Barbara Meeks, Development Chair

Kevin White, Finance & Audit Chair

Richard Battle

Riaz H. Bhamani

Amy Rice Blumenthal

Brian Cromwell

Dena Diorio

Bobby Drakeford

Charlie Elberson

Jonathan Feit

Erin Lavely Fisher

David M. Goodman

Jerri Kallam, Apprentice Trustee

Michelle Lee

Gail Sharps Myers

George A. Raftelis

Matthew Salisbury

Anjali Shah

Scott Tozier

ABOUT BLUMENTHAL PERFORMING ARTS

Blumenthal Performing Arts serves the Carolinas as a leading cultural, entertainment and education provider. For more information, call (704) 372-1000 or visit BlumenthalArts.org. Blumenthal Performing Arts receives operating support from the Arts & Science Council and the North Carolina Arts Council. Generous support is also provided by PNC Bank, sponsor of the PNC Broadway Lights series.

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