TomO'Connor is a New York-based consultant and coach with experience spanningtheatre (Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional), music, opera, dance, visualart, multi-disciplinary performing arts centers, and museums. He founded TOCGin 2015 with a focus on strategic advisory, coaching, and assessment services,as well as marketing leadership recruitment. This work has since supportedorganizations across a wide range of genres, locations, and budget categories.Beyond his marketing and audience development focus, he is also trained as asocial worker, and utilizes a consulting philosophy that is based equally inhealthy systems of human collaboration and community as it is in sound andefficacious business practice. Tom also serves on the faculty of the YaleSchool of Drama’s graduate Theater Management program.

Rochelle Torres is the Director of Marketing, Communications & Engagement at Signature Theatre in New York City where she leads the marketing and audience services teams, and has most recently been working on communications on anti-racism and accountability for the institution. Previously at Playwrights Horizons she helped shepherd the organization through a rebrand, build digital communication strategy, and lead audience initiatives increasing young audience engagement tenfold. She's a Filipino-American Las Vegas native and a graduate of the University of Evansville Theatre Management program.

JordanSanford is an Atlanta-based recruitment professional and program manager withexperience spanning non-profit arts administration, higher educationrecruitment, outreach program development, visual arts, as well as traditionaland experimental theater. For nearly a decade Jordan has been focused onhelping emerging creatives forge paths toward successful careers. His mostrecent position was Director of Artistic Advancement at The Art Effect, ayouth-serving Non-Profit Arts & Media Education organization in New York’sHudson Valley. There he managed the marketing and implementation of year-roundvisual arts portfolio development programs and a Heckscher Foundation-fundedpost-secondary pathway program for students from diverse backgrounds. 

Sheri Chaney Jones has helped hundreds of government agencies, non-profit organizations and social enterprises gather and use data to change actions, outcomes and lives. She is the founder of both Measurement Resources Company, a national organizational development and research firm, and SureImpact, a cloud-based solution that helps social sector organizations and collective impact initiatives measure and communicate their unique social impact. Sheri is also the author of the award-winning book, Impact & Excellence: Data-driven Strategies for Aligning Mission, Culture, and Performance in Nonprofit and Government Organizations, published by Jossey-Bass in 2014. Based in Columbus, Ohio, Sheri regularly keynotes conferences, where she speaks about high-performance measurement cultures, data-driven strategy and decision-making, and using data to attract more funding.

Brea M. Heidelberg is an arts management educator, consultant, and researcher focusing on the intersection of the arts and other fields of study. She joined the Entertainment & Arts Management faculty in 2017 and currently serves as Program Director. She sees arts administrators as intellectual translators and works to instill a respect for both theory and practice in her students and clients. She has served the field as Vice President of the Association of Arts Administration Educators, Co-Chair of Americans for the Arts’ Emerging Leaders Council, and on the editorial board of the American Journal of Arts Management.

Dr. Heidelberg earned her PhD in Arts Administration, Education and Policy from The Ohio State University. Her research interests include professional development issues facing arts administrators, arts advocacy rhetoric, and (inter)national cultural diplomacy. In addition to earning a MA in Arts Policy and Administration from The Ohio State University, she also earned a MS in Human Resource Development from Villanova University. Her current research interests involve the professionalization of the field of arts management, the training and development of arts managers, and management issues unique to small and midsized nonprofit arts organizations. Past projects include investigations into arts policy and advocacy rhetoric at the state and federal levels.

Dr. Heidelberg’s consulting work focuses on human resources issues in the nonprofit arts, particularly issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. In her consulting practice Dr. Heidelberg addresses issues such as employee recruitment and retention, organizational structuring, and succession planning. She also assists arts organizations with board development, organizational and program evaluation, and strategic planning. She enjoys bringing her work in the field back into the classroom to prepare her students to be thoughtful leaders. Dr. Heidelberg thoroughly enjoys office supplies, graphic novels, and getting back to her first love: dance. 

ISO Arts Consulting: www.isoartsconsulting.com

Twitter: @BMHeidelberg

Kristie Swink Benson, APR, is the director of communications atthe High Museum of Art where she leads a team of ROCKSTARS who support allpublic relations, marketing, creative services, and web/new media needs for themuseum. She is dedicated to building an exceptional brand that is consistentwith the High’s priorities of growth, inclusivity, collaboration, andconnectivity.

As a communications executive, she has extensive experience in publicrelations, crisis communications, marketing, and strategy.

She started her career more than a decade ago in localgovernment and has since provided communications expertise to mental health,utilities and now the arts and culture industries.

A self-proclaimed professional development junkie, Benson earnedher accreditation in public relations in June 2015, a prestigious designationgiven by the Universal Accreditation Board. She also holds a Master of Arts inpublic communication from American University (Washington, D.C.) and a Bachelorof Arts in mass communications from Winston-Salem State University (WinstonSalem, NC).

Benson is member of the 2021 Inspire Atlanta Class; the PRSA2019 Augural Class of 40 Under 40; and 2018 American Express LeadershipAcademy. She also holds board positions with the Georgia Chapter of the PublicRelations Society of America and Art Museum Marketing Association. 

WEBSITE: www.high.org

TWITTER: @SwiBens

LINKEDIN: Linkedin/in/kristiebenson

EMAIL: Kristie.Benson@high.org

Melissa Archpru Akaka is Associate Professor of Marketing at the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. She is a Co-Director of the Consumer Insights and Business Innovation Center and the Faculty Advisor for Entrepreneurship @ DU. She teaches courses that focus on marketing research, qualitative research methods, and leveraging consumer insights to support innovation. Dr. Akaka’s research investigates how consumption experiences, journeys and collectives create value for both firms and consumers and explores the social drivers and consequences of innovation. Her scholarly work has been published in a variety of academic journals, including the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science and the Journal of Service Research, and has been recognized for being “highly cited” (in the top 1%) by Thompson and Reuters.