Performing Arts Board of Governors

Sheila C. Johnson

Sheila C. Johnson is the founder and CEO of the Salamander Collection. The company operates luxury properties centered on unique destinations in the United States and the Caribbean, including Salamander Middleburg, which has earned Forbes' Five-Star rating for its accommodations, spa, and dining. As a partner of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, Johnson is the only African American woman to have ownership in three professional sports teams: the Washington Wizards, the Washington Capitals, and the Washington Mystics. She spearheaded the formation of WE Capital, a venture capital consortium aimed at supporting and investing in female-led enterprises.

Ms. Johnson is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and serves on its Education Committee. She also serves as chairman of the College of Performing Arts at The New School. She established the Sheila Johnson Fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School, which has supported 50 fellows to date. Ms. Johnson is also a board member of The Metropolitan Opera, the Jackie Robinson Foundation, Simon & Schuster's Publishing Advisory Board, and the PBS Foundation and is a committee member of NeuroArts Blueprint: Advancing the Science of Arts, Health and Well-Being.

A powerful influence in the entertainment industry, Ms. Johnson was a founder of Black Entertainment Television, has been the executive producer of documentary and feature films, and is the founder and chair of the Middleburg Film Festival.

Ms. Johnson’s memoir, Walk Through Fire, was published by Simon & Schuster in September 2023.

An accomplished violinist, Ms. Johnson received a degree in music from the University of Illinois.

Beatrice Broadwater

Soprano Beatrice Broadwater is a 1979 graduate of Mannes College of Music and has served on the Mannes Board since 1985. She devoted much of her performing career to classical song and sacred oratorio. She gave recitals in France, Germany, Scotland and several concert halls in the New York area including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and Merkin Concert Hall. She was a soprano soloist with multiple choral groups and at the Church of St. Thomas More for ten years.

She has had the great privilege of performing the premieres of songs written for her. Since 2009, she has been a member of Six of Clubs, a five-voice ensemble that performs music of the Great American Songbook.
Beatrice serves on the Boards of James Lenox House and Carnegie East House, two senior living facilities in Manhattan. She has been a hospice volunteer for the Visiting Nurse Service of New York for fifteen years.

For twenty years, she served as a Board member of Partnership with Children and as its President from 1995 to 1997, and was the recipient of its Leadership Award in 2002. She joined the Gotham Chamber Opera Board in 2011 and served as its President from 2013 to 2016. She has been married to Douglas Broadwater, a now retired attorney, since 1978 and has three adult sons.

Timothy  L. Porter

Mr. Porter was formerly senior counsel and later chief client relationship counsel at Proskauer Rose, a global law firm. 

Before joining Proskauer, Mr. Porter worked at AT&T, where he was vice president—law and chief counsel for Labor, Employment and Environmental Matters. He served as a director of the AT&T Investment Management Company, the company’s pension and retirement benefits asset investment arm, and is currently a director of the Life Insurance Company of Boston and New York, a subsidiary of Boston Mutual Life Insurance Company. 

Mr. Porter is a trustee of Newark Public Radio (WBGO) and is the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. He is a former board director of the YMCA of Greater New York and a former trustee of Holy Cross College, his alma mater. 

Mr. Porter first came to The New School as a student at the Guitar Study Center at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music (now the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music), where he took courses and participated in the school’s music ensembles.

Steven H. Bloom

Mr. Bloom, CFA, has more than 40 years of experience in the alternative asset management  business. He is currently managing his family investment office and is engaged in an advisory capacity with several hedge funds. In 1983, he was one of five founding partners of Susquehanna International Group, a global proprietary trading firm, and in 1999, he founded and managed Sagamore Hill Capital Management, a multi-billion-dollar multistrategy hedge fund. He worked as an environmental scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council for several years before entering the investment field.

In addition to serving on the board at The New School, Mr. Bloom has a long tenure at Binghamton University, where he is a past chairman of the foundation board, and was also involved at the University of Michigan.

Dominique Bluhdorn

Ms. Bluhdorn founded the Altos de Chavón Cultural Center Foundation in the Dominican Republic with the mission of fostering a dynamic and diverse arts community. The foundation supports a wide range of creative initiatives, including visual and performing arts, craft workshops, an artist-in-residence program, an archaeological museum, and a variety of educational programs in the arts.

At the heart of the Cultural Center Foundation is Chavón The School of Design, with campuses in La Romana and Santo Domingo. Since its founding in 1983, the school has been affiliated with Parsons, offering a rigorous two-year college-level program and an extensive continuing education program. These courses attract thousands of students and professionals committed to advancing their expertise in the visual arts, design, and film.

Ms. Bluhdorn is a member of the Parsons Board of Governors and a trustee of The New School. She has also shared her expertise through her involvement with the boards of the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC, and the New York Academy of Art.

Richard Brand

Richard Brand is a partner in White & Case's Global Mergers and Acquisitions Practice and Head of Global Shareholder Engagement in the New York office. He is widely recognized as a leading advisor to public companies, hedge funds, private equity firms and investment banks. His experience includes mergers and acquisitions, takeover preparedness and defense, shareholder activism and defense, general corporate advisory work and securities offerings. Richard also advises clients on complex transactions involving distressed companies and assets, including mergers, acquisitions, investments, and financings, as well as restructurings.

Richard has been described by The American Lawyer as "a takeover and defense specialist" who is "no stranger to billion-dollar deals" and by Chambers USA as "an extremely talented and bright" practitioner who is "very creative and tailors his advice to what is needed for the situation." He has been recognized in the New York edition of Super Lawyers consistently since 2011 for his corporate practice, has been named a leading M&A and governance practitioner by Who's Who Legal every year since 2017, was recognized by Lawdragon as one of the "500 Leading Lawyers in America" from 2017 to 2024 and as one of the "500 Leading Dealmakers in America" from 2021 to 2024.

Richard serves on the advisory boards of Harvard Law School's Program on Corporate Governance and of New York University's Institute for Corporate Governance & Finance and was recognized in 2016 by Columbia Law School's Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership as a "Rising Star of Corporate Governance."

He holds a B.A. from Princeton University and received his J.D., cum laude, from New York University.

Nicholas Firth

Nicholas Firth has had a career as a music publisher in the United States and England for over 40 years, publishing a wide range of music from Rock and Country, to Classical and Broadway and Production Music.

From 1987-2007, Firth served as Chairman & CEO of BMG Music Publishing, a Division of Bertelsmann A.G., the world’s third largest music publisher, with 34 offices in 24 countries. The business was sold in 2007.

Previously, he led an LBO, turn-around, and subsequent sale of the leading US theatrical licensing company, Music Theatre International. Prior to that, he served as President of Chappell International, then the world’s largest international music publisher.

Nick Firth was a long-time Board Member of ASCAP and the National Music Publishers Association. He currently serves on the boards of The College of Performing Arts and Mannes School of Music (New School); Beth Morrison Productions; The Bedford Playhouse and The Mianus River Gorge Preserve.

Since his retirement, Nick has performed with the singing group SIX OF CLUBS - a group of six friends who perform the songs of the Great American Songbook. He has written 11 shows for the group.

He attended McGill University and Harvard Business School.

In 2006, he received the 2006 Bertelsmann AG Lifetime Achievement Entrepreneurial Award and in 2003, he was honored with the Abe Olman Publishers Award (Song Writers Hall of Fame).

James C. Freund

James C. Freund was a partner in the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate Meagher & Flom LLP, from 1968 to 1996. He was a business lawyer with a specialty in mergers & acquisitions. He negotiated acquisitions (for, e.g., Dun & Bradstreet) and he defended hostile takeovers (for, e.g., TWA, Federated Dept. Stores).

After retirement from Skadden in 1996, he turned to mediating commercial disputes arising out of securities-related transactions, especially disputes in M&A transactions. Then, in 2009, he was appointed by the Bankruptcy Court in NYC to be one of the three mediators of disputes arising in the Lehman Bros. bankruptcy. Over the years 2009-2016, he mediated about 50 such disputes, all of which involved claims by Lehman against counterparties on terminated transactions in derivatives.

In 2012, the Practicing Law Institute (PLI) published his book Anatomy of a Mediation – A Dealmaker’s Distinctive Approach to Resolving Dollar Disputes and Other Commercial Conflicts, which guides mediators on how to resolve disputes. (His 1974 PLI book, Anatomy of a Merger, was a leading publication in that field and is still utilized today. He has written ten other books, including "Smart Negotiating” and “Lawyering," two on photography, two works of fiction (a novel and short stories), and a personal memoir.

During retirement, he has made 30 CD piano/vocal albums, and for two dozen years, he has been leading sing-along groups in three senior citizen centers. He lives with his wife Barbara For (a leading NYC realtor) in New York and Easton CT. He has two sons (one of whom is a professional musician) and two granddaughters.

Alexander Glantz

Over the course of his 23-year career in media and investment banking, Alex Glantz has established himself as a leading advisor to a broad group of global companies across the media, information, services, technology, education and financial sectors and worked on over $300 billion of transactions.

Mr. Glantz joined Centerview in 2013 to co-head the firm's media practice. Prior to joining Centerview, where he is now Partner, Mr. Glantz was a Managing Director and Co Head of North American Media at Morgan Stanley. Before joining Morgan Stanley in 2000, Mr. Glantz worked at Credit Suisse First Boston and Bertelsmann.

Mr. Glantz holds a B.A. from Yale, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School, where he was elected to Beta Gamma Sigma. He is a member of the Yale School of Music’s Board of Advisors and the Board of Governors of Mannes School for Music, a division of The New School.

Mr. Glantz is an alumnus of the Mannes Prep, a program in which his two daughters are now proudly enrolled. Mr. Glantz studied composition at Yale with renowned faculty members Martin Bresnick and Jonathan Berger and was the winner of the Yale Symphony composition contest, which resulted in the premier of his first symphony. 

Nancye Green

Nancye Green is a designer with a storied career addressing the strategies and complex communication challenges of large enterprises, startup companies and non-profit organizations. 

Nancye founded the design firm Donovan/Green with Michael Donovan. They designed and produced in multiple media for clients as diverse as Hoffman-La Roche, 3M, GM, P&G, Disney, Exxon, President Ronald Reagan, American Express, Sony, and American Girl. They were at the forefront of the design profession, carving new paths for designers in both experience design and information design. After selling their firm, she served as CEO of Waterworks and on the Boards of Directors of several companies, including Waterworks and Hallmark.

Before returning to Donovan/Green in early 2019, she was Chief Design Officer of The Medicines Company for 6 years. She is currently Chief Experience Officer at Population Health Partners, a new kind of private equity firm bridging venture capital and private equity, committed to addressing the diseases that kill most people globally and building great companies to address them.

She is a past President of both the American Institute of Graphic Arts and a recipient of its Gold Medal, and the International Design Conference in Aspen.  She recently served as Chair of the Board of Directors of EcoHealth Alliance and is on the Board of Trustees of The New School. She holds degrees from Tulane University with honors in political science and Parsons School of Design, graduating as valedictorian, and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate.

Patricia Howell

Mrs. Patricia S. Howell is a devoted patron of the arts and helms the Howell Family Foundation, which is focused on contributing to educational and cultural arts initiatives and programs. Patricia, a naturally effective oral and written communicator, possesses a passionate interest in arts education programs and has been repeatedly called upon for her organizational and leadership skills. This has been most recently demonstrated through her active participation and chair of several organizations that have included the Washington Performing Arts (WPA), Step Afrika, City Dance, the Leadership Council for the Sitar Arts Center, and a supporter of the Howard Theater in Washington DC and the Roundabout Theater in New York City.

Previously, she was actively engaged in a number of service projects that have included Operation Homefront, the Wounded Warriors Caregivers Committee, the Welfare to Work Projects and its subsidiary, Dress for Success program. Patricia currently resides in Miami, Florida where she is an active member of the Perez Art Museum Miami. Patricia, a native

Washingtonian, is the mother of two sons, Lloyd and William. Patricia received a BA in Political Science from Howard University.

Robert Leibholz

Prior to his time at DataArt, Bob was Chief Revenue Officer at Intermedia, and oversaw Intermedia’s market expansion efforts worldwide, managed Intermedia’s key technology licensing relationships, supervised Intermedia’s strategic partner acquisitions, and created strategic alliances within business categories including cable and telecommunications, trade associations, technology distribution, alternative hosted platforms and MSPs.

During his time at Intermedia, Leibholz launched and developed the company’s partner program, growing our sales organization to its current strength. His duties have included managing all revenue for Intermedia – direct, partner program and business development.

In past positions at companies such as ASCAP and The Harry Fox Agency, Inc., Leibholz led licensing, sales and client relationship disciplines. Long a technology-focused business executive, he was the chief business driver for numerous technology projects, including an entertainment industry digital rights management system and many web-based client-facing applications.

Earlier in his life, Bob was a successful performing musician, serving as concertmaster (first violinist) for orchestras in Kansas City, MO, Augusta, GA and Chattanooga, TN. He also frequently performed internationally as a soloist and chamber musician.

A graduate of Carnegie-Mellon University, Leibholz is a frequent speaker, and is sought after as a cloud services industry thought leader.

Bevis Longstreth

In 1993, Bevis Longstreth retired as a senior partner of the New York City law firm Debevoise & Plimpton to pursue other interests, including writing.

Mr. Longstreth has always been attracted to teaching and values its role in democracies. Upon retiring, he served as a full-time adjunct professor at Columbia Law School, where he had taught a seminar for six years. He has published three historical novels.

During his professional career, he has often spoken and written on finance, corporate behavior, and the law.

Mr. Longstreth has served on many boards of directors, including those of TIAA/CREF, Invesco, GMO, and the Center for Public Integrity. Currently, he is a member of the finance committee of the Rockefeller Family Fund and an adviser to MDRC and the Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System.

Sebastienne Mundheim

Mundheim began her career as a painter and writer, earning her BA and BFA at the University of Pennsylvania in 1990. Wanting to get away from solitary studio practice, she began working in communities designing and implementing parades, installations, and arts-based learning experiences. In 2007, she focused her practice by founding and artistic-directing White Box Theatre, a project-based nonprofit that creates responsive and immersive interdisciplinary, arts-based learning experiences, performances, and public events for people of all ages. Works are created in partnership with museums, universities, theatre companies, dance troupes, community groups, and schools.

In 2017, Mundheim received national recognition from the Kennedy Center for the Arts College Theatre Festival for distinguished achievement in puppetry design and direction and distinguished achievement in overall production. In 2014, she won Barrymores — Philadelphia’s Excellence in Theatre Award — for outstanding design and for best ensemble for her adaptation of A Child’s Christmas in Wales. In 2013, she received an Independence Foundation Fellowship for writing. In 2011, she was a finalist for the Pew Fellowship in the Arts.

Mundheim studied puppetry at the O’Neill Center, Sandglass Puppetry Institute, and with Hua Hua Zhang. She also studied with the Hand Spring Puppet Company in South Africa in 2010 with support from the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative. She received her Masters in Education from Harvard in 2000.

Hank O’Neal

O’Neal came to NYC from Washington, D.C. in 1967 and still resides in Greenwich Village. He joined the faculty of The New School in 1970.

During a 40-year music career he formed two record companies, Chiaroscuro Records and Hammond Music Enterprises, built two recording studios (WARP and Downtown Sound), produced over 200 jazz LPs/CDs and in conjunction with his business partner, Shelley M. Shier and their production company, HOSS, Inc. produced over 100 music festivals. He published books and articles on jazz, photographed most of the major jazz musicians from the second half of the 20th century, exhibited these photographs regularly and served on the boards of various non-profit organizations which serve the jazz community, including the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music (1985 to present), The Jazz Foundation of America (1993 to present), the Jazz Gallery (1995 to present), and the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. He’s a lifetime member of The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

O’Neal published many photography-related books, and in 1999, he had a major retrospective of his work at The Witkin Gallery. In 1976, he published a photo book titled "A Vision Shared." It documents efforts undertaken under the FDR Administration to create a visual and historical record of the situation in the United States during the Great Depression.

In January 1985, Allen Ginsburg asked O'Neal to take portraits of Andy Warhol at his studio for a film about Ginsburg's life. After Hank took the expressionless portraits of Warhol, he decided to paint over the negatives after the shoot, and in 2005, created digital versions of the images.

O’Neal received a BA from Syracuse University in 1962 and was well on his way to an MA when, in 1963, he was snared by the Central Intelligence Agency, with whom he was associated until 1976. While he was with this organization, he also served on active duty in the US Army, rising to the rank of Captain.

Linda Rappaport

Linda Rappaport retired as a partner after a 35-year career with the law firm of Shearman & Sterling (which merged with Allen & Overy in 2024 to form A&O Shearman). She also served as an elected member of the firm’s Policy Committee and as a member of its Executive Group, the firm’s senior management group. 

She currently is of counsel to the firm. Ms. Rappaport spent most of her career advising public company boards of directors and senior executives in corporate governance and strategic transactions. Before joining Shearman & Sterling, she served as a law clerk to Chief Judge James S. Holden, U.S. District Court of the District of Vermont, from 1978 to 1979. Since her retirement, she has been active in lecturing and has written numerous articles on a variety of business issues.

Ms. Rappaport was named one of the top 50 women lawyers and one of the top 100 lawyers in New York City by the New York Times. She was also ranked as a leading lawyer by Chambers USA starting in 2007. She is a trustee emerita of Wesleyan University and as a former trustee of the Legal Aid Society of NYC and The New York Women’s Foundation; she is currently on the boards of The Naumburg Foundation, the Osborn Retirement Foundation, the Chamber Music Society of the East, the New York Flute Club, and Sandbox Percussion. Ms. Rappaport is also an accomplished flute player who performs regularly with several orchestras and chamber music groups.

Drew Quale

Andrew C. Quale, Jr. is a retired partner of Sidley Austin LLP in its New York office. He now has a boutique law practice advising boards of directors and other clients on strategic corporate and financial matters. His practice has focused on international corporate and financial matters, including cross-border banking and capital markets transactions, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, privatizations, restructurings and regulatory compliance, including anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, tax and economic sanctions matters. He has advised multinational financial institutions and industrial groups, sovereign governments and state- owned enterprises on transactions and projects involving the US, Latin America, Europe and Asia.

Mr. Quale has served as a consultant to the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the UN on international financings, project finance and privatizations. He is a frequent lecturer and author on international financial issues, and has testified before the Senate Banking Committee and spoken at conferences in the US and in Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Lima, London, Madrid, Medellin, Milan, Nigeria, Santiago, Sao Paulo and Singapore. privatizations, banking crises and international debt problems, including the European sovereign debt and banking crisis. His recent publications include articles in International Lawyer, International Financial Law Review, The Economist and LatinFinance.

Mr. Quale has been recognized by Chambers USA in Latin American Investment and has been ranked in Chambers Global in Latin American Banking & Finance, Corporate/M&A and Capital Markets as a “Senior Statesmen”. Mr. Quale has also been recommended in Banking and Finance, Capital Markets and Corporate and M&A in the Legal 500 Latin America.

Mr. Quale has served as adjunct professor of International Banking and Domestic Banking Law at the University of Virginia School of Law.

Mark Schulman

Mark Schulman, Ph.D., is an award-winning pollster and was co-founder/CEO of one of the nation’s largest survey research/polling firms, SRBI, now a division of Abt Associates. He has worked extensively with the news media, major corporations, foundations, and the government. For news organizations, he has tracked presidential job ratings, political campaigns, analyzed 

election results, and probed policy issues. He served as Time magazine’s pollster for almost ten years. He was also on the ABC News Election Decision Desk for many years. He has been interviewed in the news media, including Time magazine, CNN, Fox News, the BBC, Vice Media/HBO, and many public radio stations.

Schulman was the president of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) from 2002 to 2003. He is also a past president of the New York Chapter of AAPOR and received the chapter’s Achievement Award. He was on the editorial board of Public Opinion Quarterly, the leading academic journal in its field. He is currently a Senior Research Consultant for SSRS Research.

Schulman received his B.A. from Washington College, Chestertown, Md., where he is member emeritus of the Board of Visitors and Governors. He holds a M.A. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a Ph.D. from Rutgers University. He also serves on the Board of Governors of The New School’s College of Performing Arts in New York City.

Matthew Steer

Matthew Steer is one of KWNYC’s most successful agents. His market expertise and best-in-class network drive the record-breaking results he’s achieved for his sellers and allows him to consistently uncover the best value and investment opportunities for his buyers. Whether 

representing his clients in residential sales and leasing, commercial sales and leasing, investment properties, multifamily properties or new development, Matthew’s extensive knowledge of the ever-changing New York City market proves consistently invaluable.

Residential and commercial clientele alike praise his straightforward communication, erudite research and tenacious commitment to negotiating successful solutions to complex transactions. From providing his clients with detailed market analysis of an asset’s valuation and investment opportunity, cap rate analysis and appreciation potential, Matthew is a trusted advisor who takes an active role in every step of the process. Coming from a family in the entertainment business, he also deeply understands his clients' desire for confidentiality and star treatment.

Over the past decade, Matthew has developed a loyal client base of homeowners and investors through a history of successful transactions. His clientele is professionally served by Keller Williams’ global platform, which attracts international buyers from over 40 countries across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. His trusted, long-standing business relationships include a team of experts in real estate law, architects, developers, finance and investment counsel, which allows Matthew to meet his clients’ rapidly evolving needs.

As a highly regarded real estate expert, Matthew is active on several boards, including the Board of Directors at Keller Williams Tribeca (ALC), The New School Board of Governors, and the Real Estate Board of NY.

Kay Unger

A trailblazer in the fashion industry and a devoted philanthropist, Kay Unger has founded and managed four global fashion companies, along with home decor and eyewear lines. She now leads Kay Unger Design, focusing on unique creative projects. 

As CEO of The Kay Unger Family Foundation, her "venture philanthropy" supports cancer research and provides scholarships for underprivileged youth in the arts. 

Kay's leadership extends to various boards, including the Board of Directors at NYSCF, Chair Emerita of Parsons School of Design, Trustee of The New School, and Creative Director of Line in the Sand. Kay resides in Soho with her partner and is the proud mother of two sons and "Glammy" to eleven grandchildren.

Diane Volk

Diane Volk was an editor at Simon and Schuster, a prosecutor with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Office of the Corporation Counsel of NYC, and, in the past twenty years, a teacher/creator of orchestras and music departments in several NYC public schools. 

Diane played violin in the Mannes Community Orchestra and currently studies (very diligently) piano with Pavlina Dokovska . She is also engaged in building a hydroponic farm in the Bronx with the NYPD.

Donald Wagner

Donald Wagner is a Managing Director of Access Industries, a holding company with investments across multiple industries. He is responsible for the North American investment portfolio, overseeing current holdings and sourcing new investment opportunities. Previously, Mr. Wagner was a Managing Director at Ripplewood Holdings, a private equity firm, and before that he was a Partner of Lazard Frères, where he had a 15-year career spanning New York and London. He serves on the boards of directors of several public and private companies, including Warner Music Group, Calpine Corporation and BMC Software.

Mr. Wagner graduated summa cum laude with an A.B. in physics from Harvard College. He has served on the Mannes Board of Governors since 2006. He lives in New York with his wife Diana and their two children, Lana and Anton.