Members bring a diversity of backgrounds and expertise.
Dawn Luedtke, Kiati Plooksawadi, Jillian Rose and Elliott Wiley
Olney Theatre Center, an official state theatre of Maryland, announced the addition of four new members to its Board of Trustees as part of its strategic goal to broaden the range of professional and personal perspectives available to advise and grow the institution. The new board members approved at the February board meeting were Dawn Luedtke (Assistant Attorney General, Office of the State Attorney General), Kiati Plooksawadi (Vice President, Operations at First Sight Vision Care), Jillian Rose (Managing Director, FTI Consulting), and Elliott Wiley (President, REJ & Associates, Inc.).
George Bradford, nominating committee chair said, "Olney Theatre's Board of Directors is an essential partner to staff, artists, and audiences. As we move onward from this devastatingly challenging year, our Board will focus intently on the important goals of anti-racism, inclusivity, equity, diversity, access, and, of course, rebuilding our community in a traumatized post-pandemic world. These four new members will be instrumental toward helping Olney Theatre fulfil its important mission and vision."
"Growing our Board of Directors is an essential part of a healthy not for profit organization. I'm thrilled to welcome this new class of individuals who are already sharing their energy, wisdom and creativity as we address the challenges of the moment with strength and optimism. I'm looking forward to working with each of them, and very grateful for their commitment," said Managing Director, Debbie Ellinghaus.
Bios of newly elected Board Members:
Dawn Luedtke
As an Assistant Attorney General for Maryland, Dawn counsels the Maryland Center for School Safety, Maryland Longitudinal Data System Center, Active Assailant Interdisciplinary Work Group, and works on community and law enforcement education initiatives related to hate bias and hate crimes, and serves on the Youth & Families Subcommittee of the Lt. Governor’s Commission on Mental & Behavioral Health. She received her BA from University of Pennsylvania (English and Theatre major) and her JD from the University of Maryland.
Kiati Plooksawadi
After twenty years as a business and management consultant for major corporations, Kiati “retired” to focus full time on his photography and help his wife with the administration and marketing of First Sight Vision Care, her optometry practice in Maple Lawn, Maryland. He holds a B.S. in Engineering and an Executive M.B.A. from the University of Maryland.
Jillian Rose
Jillian Rose has over 19 years of professional experience in a combination of forensic, public, and corporate accounting. Ms. Rose’s work at FTI Consulting is comprised of consulting services related to financial investigations; complex litigation involving domestic and international litigants in a variety of settings, including federal and state court and arbitration; and accounting advisory projects, including accounting restatements and internal control assessments. Her experience also includes expert witness services related to accountants’ professional liability. Originally from St. Croix, she went to college at Barry University in Miami and spent several years living and working in the New York metro area before joining FTI 6 years ago.
Elliott Wiley
Elliott is President and CEO of REJ & Associates, a media and communications agency with clients in the for-profit, nonprofit and government sectors. Wiley has 30 years of management experience in the industry and has directed, written and produced hundreds of video, film, radio, web, and print projects. Wiley is knowledgeable in all creative and technical aspects of broadcast, Internet and print production with public and private sector institutions and has taught on the university level. A graduate of Howard University, Wiley received MBA executive leadership training at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business. He is Chair of the Education Committee of the American Advertising Association of Baltimore Board of Directors, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, a member of the Baltimore Greater Baltimore Committee’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy Committee and is active with other civic and charitable organizations.
ABOUT OLNEY THEATRE CENTER
Mission - Olney Theatre Center for the Arts produces, presents and tours extraordinary performances for a diversity of audiences, and educates and inspires the next generation of theater-makers.
Vision - We strive every day to unleash the creative potential of our artists and audiences, and in so doing, become a nationally-prominent destination for the most impactful theater performance and education.
History - Once a summer stock retreat in rural Maryland, Olney Theatre Center is now an award-winning, year-round regional theatre surrounded in a 15-mile radius by 1.6 million people representing three of the most ethnically diverse counties in America. Since our founding in 1938, some of the biggest names in theatre have appeared on our stages: from "Golden Era" stars like Helen Hayes and Tallulah Bankhead to contemporary artists like Sir Ian McKellen, Robin De Jesús, and many others. OTC welcomed Artistic Director Jason Loewith and Managing Director Debbie Ellinghaus in 2013 and 2014, respectively, who established a new artistic strategy to broaden programming with the goal of nurturing a diversity of voices and audiences. Olney Theatre Center now produces musicals and plays under the three rubrics of Classic, Contemporary and Family programming. Since 2013 Olney Theatre Center has twice won the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Musical Production, the Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play and presented six world premieres. Complementing this work, OTC fulfills its mission as a teaching theater with educational programs like the Our Play program in local 5th grade classrooms, a summer camp and a year-round professional apprentice program. National Players, now in its 72nd Season, is the hallmark outreach program of OTC, a unique ensemble touring innovative theater to communities large and small across the United States.
For more information, please visit olneytheatre.org.
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