Board of Directors

Barbara Buddin

Paul Burns

Paul Burns practices law with Bradley & Riley PC. Paul earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Northern Iowa in 1989 and received his law degree from the University of Iowa College of Law, with high honors, in 1993. In addition to many professional memberships and activities, and his service at the Englert, Paul is very active in the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City communities. He is a member of the Iowa City Noon Rotary Club and serves on the Board of Directors of the Grant Wood Area Chapter of the Red Cross and the Corridor Free Wireless Project.

John Chadima

Brenda Christner

Wendy Ford

Wendy grew up in Iowa City, in the Northside neighborhood, just a few blocks from the Englert. She has a B.A. in Art and an M.B.A. from the University of Iowa. She was a graphic designer for several years after college, and made a career change in 1989. As Executive Director of the Iowa City/Coralville Convention and Visitors Bureau for the next 11 years, she promoted the Iowa City area to visitors. In 2001, she was hired by the University of Iowa and worked two years in the School of Management and a year as Interim Director of the University of Iowa Career Center. In 2006 she started at the City of Iowa City as Economic Development Coordinator where she serves as the community’s liaison for business. She maintains a strong interest in art and spends her spare time making glass beads and jewelry. She and her husband Steve have four grown children.

Kurt Griebel

Colin Hennessy

It was a short 10 years ago when Colin Hennessy landed in Iowa City, having moved to Iowa from the Green Mountains of Vermont by way of San Francisco. A wannabe musician Colin studied the bass, cello, and viola in college before finally getting the point that he was in fact better at listening to music than playing it. Colin graduated from Iowa with a degree in Communication Studies, and promptly started communicating with anyone who would stand still long enough. After picking up a couple of graduate degrees and traveling extensively, Colin now serves as the Associate Director of Annual Giving for academic programs at the University of Iowa Foundation. This is his first term on the Englert Board of Directors. When not at the Englert, he can be found at another icon in downtown Iowa City, the public library, or walking in the north side neighborhood with his dog Jackson and partner Jason.

Myrene Hoover

Myrene Hoover is currently serving her second term on the Englert Board on the personnel and fundraising committees. She previously represented Iowa City Community Theatre and served as board secretary and member of the "Parties for the Englert" committee. She had earlier been ICCT vice president and chairman of the Play Selection Committee. Other local involvement includes membership on the Advisory Committee of the University of Iowa Museum of Art and vice president , then president, of the Members Council. A former junior and senior high school teacher in Cedar Rapids, she volunteers as a docent for the Johnson County Historical Society as a "school marm" in the Guest of the Past Program at the Coralville one-room school, and as a docent for the UIMA and Old Capitol. A graduate of the University of Iowa, she received a Ph.D. in Instructional Design and Technology and has lived in Iowa City since 1978. Currently she is the president of several lineage societies and a member of various study groups and service organizations.

Rick Hopson

Brad McNulty

Brad McNulty, CPA, is currently a Tax Senior Manager with Deloitte Tax, LLP in Davenport, Iowa. From 1978 to April of 2002, Brad was employed as a certified public accountant by McGladrey & Pullen, LLP and served as a partner at McGladrey from 1989 to April, 2002. Brad is a 1976 graduate of the University of South Dakota with a degree in Business Administration.

Anna Moyers

Ron Neems

Leslie Nolte

Christopher Okiishi

Christopher Okiishi is now into his 14th year living in the Iowa City Area. Originally attracted to the area by its excellent medical school, a feature not found in his native Ames, he has continued to stay through a residency and fellowship with the Department of Psychiatry and the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. (Part of his medical education was funded selling concessions and sweeping floors at the pre-restoration Englert Theatre.) In the mean time, he has been involved with numerous local theatrical events including projects with No Shame Theater, Iowa City Community Theater, Dreamwell Theater, and City Circle Acting Company of Coralville. He has served on the No Shame and City Circle Boards for several years each in a variety of capacities. He divides his professional time between three mental health centers, two group care settings for children, one residential treatment facility for adults and one major Iowa City University.

Brenda Pearson

Jennifer Richman

Alan Swanson

Now well into a second career, this time in real estate, Alan Swanson is the former senior vice president of the University of Iowa Foundation. He has two degrees from the UI and is also an alumnus of the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce Community Leadership Program. Alan has been active in many nonprofit organizations over the years. Currently in addition to serving on the Englert Theatre board, he works with United Way and is on the UI Museum of Art’s Members Council and the Iowa Able Foundation’s board in Des Moines. He often uses keyboard (and sometimes culinary) artistry to help meet goals for community nonprofits. He also is currently the cartoonist for the Iowa City Area Association of Realtors.

Bill Thomasson

Bill Thomasson is currently the Direct Business Unit Manager at Frontier Natural Products Co-op. He is also serves on Frontier’s Board of Directors. Bill received his undergraduate degree in Finance from the University of Iowa and MBA at Arizona State University. Bill has over 17 years of financial management experience. Prior to joining Frontier, he served as Regional Controller of Pretium Packaging, a nationwide plastics company and Controller of two of the largest North American plants of Sundstrand Aerospace. Bill lives in Coralville with his wife,
Mary, daughter Megan and two sons Sam and Tyler.