Advisory Board and Board of Trustees Member List
Naniette Coleman
Naniette H. Coleman is a PhD Candidate in Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) and a 2018-2019 Fellow with the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University. Naniette’s work sits at the intersection of the sociology of culture and organizations and focuses on cybersecurity, surveillance, and privacy in the US context. Her research examines how organizations assess risk, make decisions, and respond to data breaches and organizational compliance with state, federal, and international privacy laws.
A non-traditional student, Naniette’s prior professional experience includes local, state (New York), and federal government (Department of Commerce and the Office of the US Trade Representative) service, as well as for two international organizations (the World Bank and the United Nations), and a university (Harvard).
Naniette is the Founder and Executive Director of the Interdisciplinary Research Group on Privacy (IRGP) at Berkeley. Now in its third year of operation, IRGP is a discovery-oriented undergraduate education program led by Naniette that tries to give students a small liberal arts college feel at a large public institution. The semester long research (and professional) skills training program focuses on the review, discussion, translation, and dissemination of privacy, surveillance, and cybersecurity knowledge to the public. In terms of the academic charge, the lab team seeks to increase the amount and quality of publicly available information on privacy, surveillance, and cybersecurity information available to the public with the goal of increasing data privacy literacy.
Naniette is also proud to have founded Night Out / Night Off (NONO) at Berkeley and the Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) fund at the University at Buffalo, SUNY. NONO is an event held at Cal Performances twice yearly for Graduate Students of Color. Founded in the fall of 2016, the initiative encompasses series of arts focused events held in both the fall and spring. NONO creates a space where there are no expectations of graduate students of color. They arrive with no expectations of leadership, representation, lobbying, or mentoring. Students are invited to engage a treasured familiar art form or experience a brand-new genre while sharing in community. Now in its third year of operation NONO attracts several hundred students and friends every semester. RAK or the Random Acts of Kindness Fund founded by Naniette in 1997 at the University at Buffalo provides grants to students who encounter personal or familial difficulty while in college (death of a parent, personal illness, etc.). It brings the support of the university with it so students can stay focused on school. The endowed fund, now in its twenty-first year, funds more than thirty students per year. The fund took on particular significance once Coleman lost her own parents when she was in her early twenties.
An enthusiastic researcher, educator, mentor, and public servant, in her admissions essay to the Berkeley Sociology Department in 2013, she pledged that if admitted she would work to “help build a strong and inclusive community.” She has worked hard to do that at Berkeley, at the University at Buffalo and plans to carry that forward to the academic institutions where she begins her research and teaching career as an academic.
Jeremy Geffen
Jeremy N. Geffen has been appointed Executive and Artistic Director of Cal Performances beginning April 1, 2019. Reporting to the chancellor of UC Berkeley, Carol T. Christ, he will provide the overall artistic vision and executive leadership for Cal Performances, with direct decision-making authority and responsibility for planning all programs, functions, and activities of Cal Performances and Student Musical Activities. He succeeds Matías Tarnopolsky, who departed Cal Performances in summer 2018 after a distinguished nine-year tenure as the head of the organization.
Geffen comes to Berkeley from Carnegie Hall, where he holds the position of Senior Director and Artistic Adviser. During his 12 years there, Geffen was instrumental in designing and directing visionary artistic projects, built deep and meaningful connections with artists and collaborators, cultivated community partnerships, and aided in the expansion of the organization's rich educational offerings. As part of Carnegie Hall's artistic planning team he led program planning and thematic development for the approximately 160 performances each season at Carnegie Hall, as well as the creation of a wide range of audience engagement programs. Geffen played a pivotal role in the expansion of Carnegie Hall festivals including this season's concerts dedicated to the impact of large-scale migrations on American culture.
Sarah Sobey
As Cal Performances' Director of Development, I develop annual and long-range plans to increase contributions in all areas and serve on the senior leadership team. I am responsible for directing the department’s fundraising operations, spearheading substantial annual growth in the areas of individual giving, corporate philanthropy, government and foundation grants, and campaigns for gifts to support and sustain a comprehensive performing arts center. I lead, coach and mentor a six-person department.
I have developed ambitious strategies driving historic fundraising results ($5.8M raised in FY18, a 75% increase over $3.2M raised in FY12), examples include: implemented a moves management system focusing on robust prospect identification and qualification; restructured Development Committees to align with current fundraising strategies and organizational priorities, as well as increasing volunteer engagement; created Cal Performances’ Gala at the Greek which netted $500,000 in its inaugural year; revamped annual giving programs in order to retain donors and inspire increased giving; and leveraged Cal Performances' innovative approach to arts education and creation of an artistic literacy model to attract support from national and international funders.
Marilyn Langbehn
Marilyn Langbehn is the Artistic Director at Contra Costa Civic Theatre, located in El Cerrito, CA. Productions for the company include Cabaret, Ragtime, All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914; The Lost Years (world premiere), The Mountaintop, You Can't Take It With You, The Sound of Music, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)(revised), and August: Osage County, which received “Best Production” and “Best Director” nods at the inaugural Theatre Bay Area (TBA) awards in 2014. Since moving to the Bay Area in 2004, she has directed numerous productions including the West Coast premiere of David Mamet’s Race (“Best Director”, The Inlander), Rabbit Hole (“Top Ten Bay Area Productions of the Year”, Theater Dogs); Driving Miss Daisy (“Top Ten Bay Area Productions of the Year”, Contra Costa Times); Superior Donuts (San Francisco premiere); Frost/Nixon (Bay Area premiere); Looking for Normal (Bay Area premiere); Speech and Debate; The Woman in Black; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee; Jesus Christ Superstar; Give 'Em Hell, Harry; Shadowlands; I Love You You're Perfect Now Change; Kiss Me, Kate; White Christmas; and Cotton Patch Gospel; among others.
Sabrina Klein
Sabrina Klein currently serves as Director of Artistic Literacy at Cal Performances. She is a long-time theatre artist, educator, researcher and a mother (not necessarily in that order). After earning her PhD in Dramatic Art at UC Berkeley, she served in many roles in the arts, learning, and community engagement, always working with partners to find ways to articulate the values that artists share with other artists, parents, business leaders, politicians, educators, and other community members. She is committed to not-for-profit arts, education, and services organizations and the government entities that serve them. She is a co-founder of the Teaching Artist Support Collaborative (TASC) of California (now Teaching Artists Guild), a founding member of the Alliance for Arts Learning Leadership at Alameda County Office of Education, former executive director of the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, and former director of Theatre Bay Area.
Veronica Cummings
I am a big picture visionary with the ability to identify and implement the micro details to make organizational jigsaw puzzle pieces fit together. I specialize in large-scale program development/management with an uncanny ability to connect people and things.
I am a loyal team player and balance autonomy with collaboration. While professional, I also have a wicked sense of humor and enjoy having fun with my colleagues and clients.
Maggie Lou Perkes
I am a tech-savvy business operations professional with working knowledge of a broad range of administrative tools and techniques as a result of working for start-up/entrepreneurial companies within private, government and non-profit industries. A “Jane of All Trades,” I’ve discovered and refined my ability to envision, understand, communicate, and execute projects of varying technical complexity with a constant stakeholder-centric approach. I want to build on my experience and continue to grow professionally, all while finding a balance between my passion for music, learning, community, friends, tacos, and ukuleles.