aa

Board of Directors

aa

University of Arkansas Appointees

Dr. Donald Bobbitt
Donald Bobbitt is the Dean of J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, a position he has held since 2003. Dean Bobbitt is a University of Arkansas graduate with a bachelor degree in chemistry. He is also the author or co-author of 56 referred publications and has on several occasions been an invited speaker at meetings of the American Chemical Association. Dean Bobbitt continues to serve as associate dean of research for the College, a position he has held since 2000.

He and his wife, Susan, live in Fayetteville.

***

Dr. Johnetta Cross Brazzell
Johnetta Cross Brazzell is the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at the University of Arkansas. She received her Ph.D. in 1991 from the University of Michigan, her M.A. in 1972 from the University of Chicago and her B.A., in 1968 from Spelman College.

Dr. Brazzell has served in numerous roles on a number of professional organizations, educational and community boards including the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA), Association of American Colleges & Universities, Arkansas College Personnel Association, National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, The Higher Learning Commission NCA - Board of Trustees, Project on the Future of Higher Education and The History of Education Society. Dr. Brazzell has been a member of the Walton Arts Center board since 2001.

***

Dr. Ronda Mains
Ronda Mains is professor of flute/music education and associate chair of the department of music. She is principal flutist of the North Arkansas Symphony and performer with the Lyrique Quintette, Novaria, Spectrum Trio, Cholthichanta/Mains Duo and Zephyr Trio. Dr. Mains has appeared as a soloist with the National Symphony of Thailand, the North Arkansas Symphony, University of Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and Wind Symphony, Oregon Winds, Boise Summer Symphony, the Treasure Valley Wind Ensemble, and the Boise State University Symphony and Wind Ensemble.

She is a past recipient of the Arkansas Alumni Association Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching and the Fulbright College Master Teacher Award. She has been a member of the University Teaching Academy since 2002.

***

Michael Riha
Michael J. Riha is currently an Associate Professor of Drama at the University of Arkansas and serves as the Head of the Design program as well as the Undergraduate Advisor for the Department of Drama. He has been designing scenery and/or lighting professionally since 1985 and has worked for theatres in Wisconsin, Indiana, Oklahoma, California, Missouri, and Arkansas. Michael also enjoys working in the industrial market designing and painting trade show booths for companies like Levi Strauss, Coleman, Reckitt Benckiser and Tyson Foods to name a few. He is also a member of the United Scenic Artists of America, local 829.

***

Judy Schwab
Judy Gregson Schwab is the assistant vice chancellor for advancement at the University of Arkansas. Prior to coming to the University of Arkansas in 1993, Judy was language arts coordinator for the Fayetteville Public Schools (K-12) and a teacher of English at Fayetteville High School.

She holds a bachelor's degree from Hendrix College and a master's degree from the University of Arkansas and has attended and presented at the San Francisco Bay Area Writing Project, the National Writing Project, the Mid-South Writing Project, and the Arkansas Writing Project. She is the immediate past president of the Fayetteville Public Education Foundation, co-chair of the University of Arkansas United Way Campaign, and president of the Twentieth Century Club.

City of Fayetteville Appointees

David Banks
David Banks is the retired CEO of Beverly Enterprises, a New York stock exchange listed company. During his tenure with Beverly, Banks amassed a considerable and coveted record of achievements including the acquisition of more than 900 nursing homes, a record unmatched by any other industry executive.

Banks has served on the Boards of Ralston-Purina, Wal-Mart and Wellpoint Health Network and currently serves on the Board of Ralcorp and National Health Properties. Banks was recently reappointed to his second term on Walton Arts Center Board. He is a father of 3 and is an avid fisherman. He also is a major collector of contemporary American art and contemporary pottery.

***

Linda Gaddy
Linda Gaddy currently lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She graduated with a B.A. from American University in Washington D.C., and is classically trained in piano. She attended culinary school while living abroad after college and had a small catering business in Washington D.C. She served on the Committee for the Performing Arts at the Kennedy Center for several years and she also has served on the board of the New School of Fayetteville, the Alexis de Tocqueville Society of Washington County and has been active in fundraising for numerous charitable organizations. She currently serves on the North Arkansas Symphony Orchestra board and has most recently joined the board of Communications Arts Institute in Eureka Springs.

Linda has three grown children and is married to Bob Gaddy, retired Chairman of Pace Industries of Fayetteville and Senior Vice President of Leggett and Platt Industries.

***

Tina Hodne
Tina Hodne is a litigation attorney with the Springdale law firm of Cypert, Crouch, Clark and Harwell. She and her husband, Nate, along with their two children, Alexis and Joseph, have been residents of Northwest Arkansas for 5 years. Since moving to the area, Ms. Hodne has been involved with a variety of not-for-profit and volunteer organizations including Leadership Fayetteville, the Jones Center for Families, where she sits on the Board of Directors, and the United Way of Northwest Arkansas, of which she is a founding member of the Young Women's Alliance. She was also named to the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal's 40 under 40 in 2007.

Ms. Hodne joined the Walton Arts Center Council in June 2005.

***

Dr. Curt Rom
Curt R. Rom attained a BS of Agriculture studying horticulture and business management from the University of Arkansas, and earned his MS and PHD degrees from The Ohio State University in horticulture with emphasis on crop physiology. He became a professor at the University of Arkansas in 1989, and has broad responsibilities for horticulture education, research on fruit crop physiology and management, organic and ecologically-based production systems, and ornamental woody plant physiology.

He currently serves as a UA Honors College Faculty teaching logic and scientific methods, and global agricultural perspectives.

***

Jeff Schomburger
Jeff Schomburger lives in Fayetteville with his wife, Eileen, his daughter, Isabel and son Keenan. He is active in the community serving as a member of the Northwest Arkansas Council Executive Board and the United Way of Washington County Board. Additionally, he served as the United Way of Washington County Campaign Chairman for 2005.

After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a BA in Honors Economics, Jeff began his career with P&G joining the company in Sales. He held a variety of Sales positions in the P&G Paper business before joining the original Wal-Mart Team in 1989. Currently, Jeff is the President, Customer Business Development at Procter & Gamble.

At-large Appointees

Danté Anderson
Danté Anderson is the vice president of International Marketing for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. She is responsible for providing marketing support and leadership to the 15 countries within Wal-Mart's International division. Most recently, Danté served as vice president of marketing and insights for Sam's Club. She has also served as senior director of corporate and brand strategy for Sam's Club.

Prior to Sam's, she most recently came from Procter & Gamble. She has spent many years as a strategic management consultant working with several multi-national Fortune 500 companies, including Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Sony, Unilever and Philip Morris. Danté holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School, a bachelor's degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a MFA from New York University.

***

Steve Collins

Bio to come

***

Kathy Counce
Kathy has an undergraduate degree in Food and Nutrition and a Masters of Science from the University of Arkansas. She completed a residency in pediatric nutrition at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock. Kathy has been a volunteer for many organizations, including Junior League, Big Brothers, Big Sisters and the American Heart Association, and is a board member of Arkansas Athletes Outreach and the family business, Chambers Bank of North Arkansas.

Kathy and her husband Jim have 3 daughters, and the family is a member of Fellowship Bible Church of Northwest Arkansas.

***

Tony Dunning
As VP of Global Business Development, Tony Dunning is responsible for customer development for Wal-Mart Inc. Every day 1.3 billion people, nearly a quarter of the world's population, trust Kimberly-Clark to enhance their health, hygiene and well-being with brands such as Kleenex, Scott, Huggies, Pull-ups, Kotex, and Depend. Before joining Kimberly-Clark in 2005, Tony was VP, Wal-Mart Sales at Pepsi-Cola North America for 5 years and National Director of Trade Development at Gallo Wines for 16 years.

He received a B.S. in Finance at the University of Nebraska. Tony serves as a board member of the Rogers Chamber of Commerce, SIFE, Sharing and Caring, and the Walton Arts Center; he serves on the advisory committee for Mercy Health Hospital and the Northwest Arkansas Children's Shelter and the advisory foundation for the Northwest Arkansas Community Foundation. Tony lives in Rogers, Arkansas with his wife Diane and their four children, Madeline, Henry, George, and Isabel.


***

John Fleming
John Fleming serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer for the Wal-Mart Stores Division. Prior to this current position, Fleming was Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Wal-Mart Stores and led all marketing and consumer communications programs, including advertising, consumer research, visual merchandising, signage, point-of-sale programs and all in-store promotional materials.

Fleming joined the company in 2000 as chief merchant of Walmart.com. He was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in 2001, and then became president and CEO of Walmart.com in 2002. Fleming joined the Walton Arts Center board in 2007.

***

Dorothy Hanby
Dorothy Hanby lives in Springdale, and is active in the Northwest Arkansas Community. She presently serves on the Washington Regional Hospital Board, the Legacy National Bank Board, Community Care Foundation Board, and United Way Board Dorothy is the former board president of Springdale Chamber of Commerce, NARTI, First Methodist Church Council, and Arts Center of the Ozarks. Dorothy currently serves as the Chair of Walton Arts Center Council, Inc. and has been a member of the board since 1999.

In 2002, she was selected for the Athina Award and was chosen as Springdale's Outstanding Civic Leader for 2004.

***

Vina Hyde
Vina Hyde is a graduate of the University of Kansas with a degree in education. She earned a Masters Degree in Special Education, with a specialization in Gifted and Talented Education, from Kansas State University. She taught for 15 years in the Kansas City, Kansas and St. Charles Missouri Public Schools. Her avocation is art and she has traveled worldwide to study and improve her talent. She studies art history and maintains a modest private art collection.

Vina is also a dedicated runner and her love of running, children and teaching inspired her to bring a national running program for girls, Girls on the Run, to the Boys and Girls Club of Benton County. She has been a member of the board of Directors of the Walton Arts Center since 2002.

***

Archie B. Ryan, Jr.
Archie Ryan resides in Eureka Springs. He attended the University of Arkansas pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. Following a term with the U.S. Army, he returned to the University for Graduate Studies. Following school, Archie was owner and Vice President of Sales for Curtis Surgical Supply and later was a principle and Marketing Director for Lone Star Medical in Houston, TX.

He has been active with the U/A Alumni, serving on their board of directors, and is a recipient of the Andy Lucas Award, a top award of the Alumni Association. Archie is an Elder at First Presbyterian Church, is in the Ozarks Chorale, the Elks, the Chamber, Opera Guild and Friends of the Library and Museum. He is also on the board of directors of the Bank of Eureka Springs and is the contact between Crystal Bridges and the art colony of Eureka Springs. He has been a Walton Arts Center Board member since 2003. Archie and his wife, Suzanne, have two children and four grandchildren.

***

Jerry Vest
Jerry Vest is the President and Chief Executive Officer Regions Bank, Northwest Arkansas, and is responsible for banks in Rogers, Bentonville, Fayetteville, Springdale, Morrilton, Russellville, Harrison, Ft. Smith and Clarksville. Jerry received his BA from the University of Oklahoma at Norman, is a graduate of the Arizona State University Society of Real Estate Appraisers and attended the University of Texas Graduate School of Savings Institution Management.

Jerry is an active member of the community, serving such organizations as NARTI and the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce and has been a member of the Walton Arts Center Board since 2000. Jerry lives in Rogers with his wife Kimberly.

***

Sharon Wasson
Sharon, a longtime Siloam Springs resident, has been a member of the Walton Art Center Council since 2002. She was born in Fayetteville, attended the University of Arkansas, and graduated from John Brown University. A former high school English teacher, she has been associated with her family's business, Wasson Funeral Home, since 1979.

A former City Council member in Siloam Springs and Past-President of Siloam Springs Memorial Hospital Board, she was a recipient of Benton County Single Parent Scholarship's award of appreciation for Volunteer Leadership in 2001 for service to the organization beginning with its original board. She also received the Siloam Springs Chamber of Commerce Pioneer Citizen Award in 2007. Presently, Sharon is a member of the Arkansas Committee for the National Museum for Women in the Arts and serves as a board member on Siloam Springs Friends of the Library and John Brown University Board of Trustees.