Smith joined the staff of The Ringling Museum of Art in November of 2018, bringing with him over 15 years of marketing experience in several diverse sectors including museum and cultural arts, hospitality, higher education, and entertainment.

Originally from Chicago, IL, Smith now resides in Sarasota, Florida. Smith spent over twenty-three years in Texas, living in Dallas, Austin, Waco, and Houston. While in Texas, Smith spent time building his professional acumen and professional business network.

Smith has a passion for volunteering and community engagement. In his spare time, he is an active participant on numerous community-based nonprofit boards and organizations including Caritas of Waco, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Texas, and Waco Rotary Club. Currently, Smith serves as Board Chair for Visible Men Academy and as a newly appointed Board of Directors member for Suncoast Black Arts Collaborative Inc.

Smith is a 1985 graduate of Dunbar Career Academy in Chicago, Illinois. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Hospitality Management/Marketing from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. Smith also earned his Executive Master of Business Administration degree from Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

Smith is the second oldest of four siblings (brothers) who reside in Chicago, Atlanta, and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Donna Walker-Kuhne is an award-winning thought leader, writer and strategist for community engagement, audience development and social justice.  She is President of Walker International Communications Group, a 30-year-old boutique marketing and audience development consulting agency. She provides consulting services to numerous arts organizations throughout the world and has generated over $22m in earned income. She is also Senior Advisor, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion at New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Currently her portfolio includes social justice initiatives and Equity Diversity Inclusion workshops. She is a veteran of over 22 Broadway productions and her nonprofit clients include Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, New York State Council on the Arts and Seattle Theatre Group. She is co-founder of Impact Broadway a multicultural project that engaged over 900 students as audience members for Broadway with the goal to empower this community to be economic drivers of new audiences for the Broadway Theater district.  

She is a lecturer and keynote presenter for international arts conferences in Moscow, Russia, Blomfontein, South Africa, and Australian Arts Conferences. She is an adjunct professor at New York University and Columbia University. She is the recipient of 50 awards including the 2019 League of Professional Theatre Women Rachel Crothers Leadership Award. Her first book, Invitation to the Party:  Building Bridges to Arts, Culture and Community, was published in 2005 and she just completed her second book, Champions for the Arts: Lessons and Successful Strategies for Engaging Diverse Audiences.  She has a weekly blog, Arts and Culture Connections that explores cultural efforts to expand diverse audiences.

Hatuey Ramos-Fermín is an artist. He has organized projects at sites ranging from small businesses and community centers to churches, streets, galleries, and museums. He has worked at the Center for Urban Pedagogy, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, and The Laundromat Project. He has participated in the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts' Shift Residency and The Laundromat Project’s Create Change Artist Residency. Ramos-Fermín received his BA from the University of Puerto Rico and his MFA from the St. Joost School of Art and Design.

Valéria (“Val”) Miranda is the executive director of the Santa Cruz Art League, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2019, and of Pajaro Valley Arts in Watsonville. She is passionate about the power of the arts and culture to change individuals, communities, and society. Val was the Director of Education at the San Jose Museum of Art and at the Monterey Museum of Art. Val taught graduate art and museum education at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco for 7 years. She also consults in equity and diversity, nonprofit administration, education, strategic planning, and fundraising.

Val is a 2019 Americans for the Arts’ Leaders of Color Forum Fellow, a 2013 graduate of the Multicultural Artists Leadership Institute at the School of Arts & Culture @ Mexican Heritage Plaza, and a 2001 graduate of Packard-funded Arts Leadership for the Future. She holds an MBA in Sustainable Management from Presidio Graduate School in San Francisco.

Originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Val’s artistic practice is in dance, and she was a member of amateur and semi-professional dance companies from middle school to college. She still takes lots of dance classes where she continues to explore and honor her Afro-Latinidad. Her work in and with art organizations has given her opportunities to not only develop audience-centered programming but to also to develop relationships with San Francisco and Monterey Bay Area artists and art organization leaders.

Communities are central to the existence of any cultural organization and an extremely important part of Val’s professional and personal life. She is passionately committed to the sustainable power of collaborations and partnerships in leveraging cultural resources. Since 1992 she has worked with an extensive number of community groups including artists, business leaders, schools, neighborhood associations, artists, professional organizations, universities, city officials, and cultural advocacy groups.

In Santa Cruz, CA, for the last twenty years, Valéria is also an avid urban homesteader, and spends lots of time in the local art spaces, beaches and woods with her spunky 17-year-old son and many friends.

Sandra Aponte is program manager of community impact for The Chicago Community Trust. In this role, Aponte manages the Trust’s strategic efforts in strengthening the social impact sector. Her portfolio also includes support for arts, culture and creativity. Aponte leads the SMART Growth program, an evidence-based capacity building program.

Aponte re-joined the Trust in 2013 to serve as a program officer overseeing the arts and culture portfolio that included capacity building, arts education and audience development. Aponte brings over 15 years of experience working in the arts and education field. Prior to joining the Trust, she was the school partnerships and programs manager at The Field Museum, leading collaborative partnerships among institutions, universities and education systems to deliver educator professional development and student programs.

From 2006 to 2009, Aponte participated in the Fellowship in Arts and Culture Management program by The Chicago Community Trust—a highly selective, rigorous initiative that provided leadership experience through residencies at some of the most renowned cultural institutions throughout the city, including the Chicago History Museum, Chicago Children’s Museum, Lincoln Park Zoo, Museum of Science and Industry and John G. Shedd Aquarium. Aponte’s professional experience also includes serving as the development manager for the Puerto Rican Arts Alliance, program manager for the Teachers Academy for Mathematics and Science and an art gallery business manager.

Aponte earned a master’s degree in business with a concentration in international business from DePaul University and a bachelor’s degree in marketing from The Fashion Institute of Technology. Aponte is co-chair of the Arts Work Fund for Organizational Development and serves as board member of the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures.

David Holland is the Deputy Director at WESTAF. He leads its advocacy and public policy programs and serves as the primary liaison with federal agencies, regional arts organizations, state and local arts agencies, and state arts advocacy groups. He also leads WESTAF’s leadership and professional development programming, grantmaking, and technical assistance and consulting services across teams. Holland previously served as associate director of the Arts and Business Council of Greater Boston, and in leadership and senior management positions with Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) da Vinci Center for Innovation, VCU School of the Arts, ART 180, the Latin Ballet of Virginia, Arts & Business, and the UK innovation foundation Nesta. Holland began his career with BOP Consulting, a global consultancy on culture and the creative industries, leading projects for government departments, public agencies, universities, and international organizations as a senior consultant. He is also as an independent management consultant working primarily with clients in the arts and culture field both nationally and internationally. He serves as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and Colorado Creative Industries. He also serves on the Cultural Advocacy Group. He is a Salzburg Global Fellow, Commager Fellow, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Holland holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Amherst College and master’s degrees in international studies and diplomacy and the history of art from the University of London, SOAS.