A whole-brainer, consultant, and resource connector who loves founders of all kinds, Jeannette Balleza Collins leads StartupNWA and is entrepreneurial development director at Northwest Arkansas Council. She collaborates with ecosystem stakeholders to advance region-wide entrepreneurial vibrancy. Her professional experience involves developing community-building strategies and launching innovative economic development programs that cultivate mental, relational, and financial capital for shared prosperity.
She is Board President for Southern Capital Project and serves on the boards for Entrepreneurship for All (EforAll/EparaTodos) Northwest Arkansas, Ark Angel Alliance, NEXXT Women, Arkansas Center for Impact Investing Working Group, Arkansas Capital Scan, and John Brown University Soderquist College of Business. She is a Steering Committee Member for Northwest Arkansas Product Management Guild, Executive Sponsor for Get Shift Done for Northwest Arkansas, as well as Advisor to both the Validation Fund at Winrock International and FindingNWA’s Life Works Here moving initiative. She routinely mentors entrepreneurs and advises non-profit leaders.
Dr. Bryce Merrill is the Director of Music Programs at Bohemian Foundation in Northern Colorado. Bryce is an expert on public sector support of music and has helped public and private entities build sustainable and equitable music ecosystems. Bryce is a co-author of Understanding Society through Popular Music (Routledge) and Interactionists Take on Popular Music (Emerald).
Kassie Misiewicz (Artistic Director & Founder of Trike Theatre) is a professional theatre for youth director and educator. Kassie earned her MFA in Theatre for Youth from Arizona State University and a BA in Theatre from University of Notre Dame. Before starting Trike Theatre in 2008, Kassie was the co-founder and first artistic director of TheatreSquared in Fayetteville, AR, Director of Education Outreach at Seattle Children's Theatre and Associate Artistic Director at First Stage Children's Theatre in Milwaukee. Currently, she is a national arts integration consultant with Focus5 and a national teaching artist with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Kassie loves to travel with her family and have spontaneous dance parties in the kitchen.
Claire Rice is the Executive Director of Arts Alliance Illinois, a statewide service and advocacy organization that champions arts-supportive policies and funding opportunities. Under her leadership, the Alliance recently managed the $8.2 million Arts for Illinois Relief Fund, a public-private partnership supporting the arts community in response to COVID-19. Previously, she was the National Director of Sustain Arts at Harvard University, a project that equipped communities with meaningful arts data. At UMS, a renowned performing arts presenter in Ann Arbor, Michigan she directed education and community engagement work and was the associate producer on a Grammy Award-winning live concert recording.
She received Wipfli’s Nonprofit Innovation Award in 2020 and the Cultural Champion award from the Chicago Cultural Alliance in 2021. Ms. Rice received her BA from The College of William and Mary, and her MPA from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Bjorn Simmons is a creative entrepreneur, ecosystem builder, and venture catalyst. He lives in the world of inclusive innovations working with cities and companies across the country to increase diverse representation in thriving economies. Bjorn has founded and co-founded several innovative companies including SimmCo, Wyzerr, Venture Noire, and Rock-AR-Vote. He also serves as the Chairman for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at the Sam M Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas where he is also an alum.
Olivia took the leadership role of TFF in 2018. Her professional experience began at a young age through involvement at Tyson Foods where her interest in employee well-being took root. She values the importance of diverse perspectives and creating inclusive environments through supporting the arts, culture, and maker communities of NWA.
Outside of NWA, Olivia is currently working on a 3-year human-centered design project based in Lao PDR as a member of Maverick Collective, a division of PSI, focusing on expanding healthcare access to the country’s ethnic minority groups, learnings she plans to apply to her future work in Arkansas. Her hope is that her work will support the growth of the NWA community toward a more equitable mindset. In addition, Olivia continues leading her family’s heritage programs such as the Tyson Family Scholarship.
Colombian/USA artist Lia Uribe is associate chair and associate professor at the University of Arkansas music department, principal bassoonist of SoNA, and member of the Lyrique Quintette. She maintains an active national/international career as a chamber musician, orchestral player, and teaching artist.
An advocate for diversity and representation in the arts, Dr. Uribe’s research is centered in music by/for the historically excluded and underrepresented. She directs RefleXions Music Series, a celebration of music that fosters creative justice through opportunities to reflect, learn, grow, change, and teach. She writes and hosts Sound Perimeter, a podcast dedicated to diverse voices in and around music.
Dr. Uribe holds degrees from Universidad Nacional de Colombia, University of Arkansas, and University of Kansas. Recently she earned an Executive Certificate in Diversity and Inclusion from Cornell University and is currently a Global Leaders Program 2022 Cohort fellow, an intensive 12-month executive development training in social entrepreneurship, cultural agency, and community development through the arts.
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