Board of Directors

Carol is a past President of the CNY Arts Board of Directors. She is a former music teacher and a performing musician and saxophone instructor. She is a member of the Executive Board of the American Federation of Musicians, Local 78, and President of the Crane School of Music Alumni Board.

Christen’s practice focuses on employment law, as well as business litigation and insurance defense. She counsels clients on a variety of employment-related matters and defends clients in discrimination and harassment cases before the New York State Division of Human Rights and the EEOC as well as in State and Federal Court. She also represents clients in matters involving premises liability, insurance defense, construction disputes and business disputes. Prior to joining Mackenzie Hughes, Christen practiced as an inhouse counsel for two Fortune 100 insurance companies. 

She most recently secured a defense verdict in a motor vehicle accident with a mid-six-figure pre-trial demand and regularly settles cases through negotiation, mediation and arbitration. Christen is an active participant in the New York State Bar Association and remains a member of the Florida Bar Association and the California Bar Association.

Christen lives in Fayetteville with her husband, Milton, and her children, Madi and Benn. She enjoys travelling, skiing and spending time with her family and friends.

Andy is Senior Program Manager & Innovation Strategist for the C&S Companies in Syracuse, NY. In  this role he serves both public and private sector clients, supporting project management and innovation  capacity-building within the context of C&S’s mission to help communities plan, design, construct and  maintain the built and natural environment. This includes municipal planning, community engagement, property redevelopment, environmental restoration and policy-making in the local government, civic  innovation and other spaces. 

He comes from more than a decade of public service in various leadership roles with the City of Syracuse  and Onondaga County, including as the mayor’s Director of Policy & Innovation, Director of the  Syracuse-Onondaga County Planning Agency, Syracuse’s Director of Planning & Sustainability, and as a  neighborhood planner. 

Andy has been consistently involved in civic life in Syracuse, having served on nearly two dozen non profit and community boards of directors, including the Syracuse City School District Educational  Foundation, the Rescue Mission Alliance, Leadership Greater Syracuse, Syracuse Community  Connections, the Downtown Committee of Syracuse and the Onondaga County Resource Recovery  Agency (OCRRA). Andrew was recognized with the Central New York Business Journal’s 40 Under 40  Award in 2019 for his professional and civic involvement. 

He received his bachelor’s degree in history and American studies from St. John Fisher College in  Rochester, NY, and his master’s degree in public administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship  and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. 

Andrew is a proud graduate of Syracuse’s Corcoran High School, and lives on Syracuse’s Eastside with  his wife, Lindsay.

I have been involved in organizations promoting the arts in the past. Specifically, I served on the board of directors of Music for the Mission, which is an organization that raises funds by promoting musical events. Those funds are distributed annually through mini-grants aimed to support grass-roots organizations helping to aid the hungry and homeless.

Nancy, a member of Munson Williams Proctor Art Institute, studied piano with Eva Sciutto. She was accompanist for the SUNY Albany University Singers, and the Hamilton College Choir under G. Roberts Kolb for 30 years. She has also played keyboard in pit orchestras, organ in local churches, and has accompanied level 6 students for NYSSMA adjudication.

Honora grew up in Syracuse doing ballet and poorly playing instruments through high school. She was part of local corps de ballet for touring productions of the Nutcracker and the annual Cultural Resources Council’s (now CNY Arts) holiday ballet production. She was lucky enough that her mother found the time and resources to expose her and her brother to museums, musicals and Broadway, and cultural experiences whenever they travelled around the Northeast – but especially when visiting family in the New York City area.

Gary has worked for over 40 years in public, private and academic sectors to help advance civic, social and economic inclusion of persons with disabilities, including Veterans and persons who are homeless. During that time, Gary maintained a strong commitment to the arts, as a visual artist, founder and Director of the Studio School and Art Gallery (Johnson City and Binghamton, NY), and served on Arts Councils and numerous arts organization Boards of Directors.

Savanna is an avid supporter of the arts. As her mother is a poster historian and art collector, Savanna feels lucky to have grown up visiting museums and galleries across the country. Savanna has always had a keen interest in the visual arts – in high school she volunteered at a photography museum and in college she wrote her senior thesis on photography and visual analysis.

Karen Ringwald is an artist, an art event organizer, and an advocate for community art outreach. She has a B.S. in Studio Arts from Southern Connecticut State University. Her long career in the arts have included coordinating the College Art juried exhibition in Hawaii for three years, owning and operating an art gallery in Lenox, Massachusetts, and serving on the board of the Art Association of Oswego for more than 20 years. She is also a board member of the Friends of Mexico Point Park and coordinated their Celebrating the Arts festival in 2019. Karen currently likes to draw animal portraits and whimsical abstracts.

Eric who is born and raised in Cortland County spent several years in radio journalism serving as the News Director of WXHC FM in Homer,. In his current role with the Cortland County BDC he works with entrepreneurs to establish and grow their businesses in Cortland County. He is a member of the Cortland County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau Board of Director’s, volunteers with landscaping at the Homer Center for the Arts, and helps in the planning of the annual Cortland Pumpkinfest.

Josh Kimber is a Central New York native and a graduate of SUNY Polytechnic Institute with a BS in Accounting and Southern New Hampshire University with a MS in Accounting with a concentration in Forensic Accounting. He began his career in the financial services industry in 2015 and has a background in tax and financial planning. Josh is currently employed at Pinnacle Investments as a Certified Financial Planner™ practitioner. Josh began volunteering with CNY Arts in 2022 as a member of the Finance Committee. In his free time, Josh enjoys golfing, riding his motorcycle, and traveling.

Larry Rapshaw has been an Oswego area resident since 1972. He graduated from SUNY Oswego in 1976, having earned a B.S. Degree in Elementary Education with a Music Concentrate. His post-graduate work was in the field of Curriculum Development and the Study of the Gifted and Talented. However, through the years he continually found himself in the position to mentor those with special needs and challenges. Quickly, he abandoned the notion of focusing merely on the gifted, maintaining that any curriculum worth its salt should enable everyone to realize his full potential and that every student has the right to access the most effective modes of learning. Since Music Teaching Methodology had always been his primary life-long passion, he worked to develop a unique way of presenting the basic principles of music creation and performance to learners of all ages and abilities. This has been particularly in regard to those who otherwise would have little opportunity to learn how to make music, such as, the Elderly in extended care facilities. Currently, Mr. Rapshaw functions as a traveling Music Therapist, visiting various ECFs, entertaining Seniors with his piano and accordion shows. He also conducts piano lesson workshops and art activities for the elder population and works with ARISE of Oswego, helping to paint theme scenes by request for the Adaptive Furniture Program. Other interests and hobbies include writing novels, musicals and soundtracks for films. In the Visual Arts, he enjoys painting and photography, often featuring his work in his original music videos.

Colleen has been the Executive Director at Catherine Cummings Theatre at Cazenovia College for 21 years and has served on many arts and other civic minded organizations over the years. She is presently serving on the CazArts Board and the Cazenovia Arts & Heritage Alliance committee, promoting art & culture in the CNY community. She also serves on the auxiliary board at St. Joseph’s Health Hospital where she served as President 2018/2019. Colleen can also be seen singing with local bands in the area. Most importantly, she is the proud mother of Samantha & Jake Prossner.

Isabelle Harris currently serves as Chief of Staff to Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon. In her role, some of Ms. Harris’ responsibilities include overseeing day-to-day operations of the office of the County Executive, serving as liaison to multiple community organizations as well as supervising multiple departments within County government.

Prior to serving as Chief of Staff, Ms. Harris served as Director of Strategic Initiatives for Onondaga County where her focus was to oversee projects funded by the American Rescue Funds. At the direction of County Executive McMahon, those funds are being used to target three main priorities: poverty, infrastructure and economic development. In addition, she worked in collaboration with multiple county departments on strategic projects related to the economic revitalization of the county. Ms. Harris also has extensive experience in government relations and economic development policy.

Before joining Onondaga County, Ms. Harris held positions with both the federal and state governments. As District Director for Congressman John Katko, she coordinated and directed the operations of the district office and acted as the liaison to all local, state and federal officials as well as community groups. She also served for over 8 years in positions in New York State
government including roles in the office of Senator John DeFrancisco where she served as District Director, Director of Government Relations and finally as Legislative Director. Ms. Harris also worked in the New York State Senate Regional Communications Office as an assistant communications director.

Ms. Harris currently serves as on several local boards including the Landmark Theatre Board of Directors, Home HeadQuarters, Inc. and the Onondaga County Community Development Steering Committee.

Mary Ellen McGillan is the Executive Director of the Mohawk Valley Center for the Arts, overseeing strategy, fundraising, and community programs. She has more than three decades of experience in nonprofit and higher education leadership, including senior roles at Golden Gate University, the Amazon Conservation Team, the Land Trust Alliance, Hawaii Pacific University, and Oregon State University Foundation. Throughout her career, she has managed major campaigns, board development, and donor relations across arts, education, conservation, and health organizations.

Lourdes P. Rosario, Esq. is employed with New York State Unified Courts since 2022. Prior to working with the Courts, Lourdes was in private practice for twelve (12) years handling primarily family and divorce matters, representing parents/guardians and children alike under the various state programs along with her retained clients. Lourdes also previously worked for Frank H. Hiscock Legal Aid Society in their Family Court unit.

Lourdes is originally from Miami, Florida and graduated with her J.D. and LL.M. in International Law from Albany Law School prior to moving to Syracuse, New York to begin her legal career. Lourdes is fluent is Spanish, as her first language, and is conversationally fluent in other languages as well.  

Carol Opee-Stelios is Vice President of Human Resources and Workforce Development at WCNY/PBS, where she leads talent strategy and oversees the WCNY Entertainment Academy, Central New York’s first workforce pipeline for the region’s growing film and media technical trades industry. A strategic HR executive with more than 17 years of leadership experience across nonprofit, healthcare, private, and media sectors, Carol translates organizational vision into initiatives that expand job opportunities, strengthen communities, and drive economic growth. She has led enterprise-wide efforts in recruitment, retention, succession planning, employee relations, and workforce development, balancing public, and private sector leadership to effect meaningful change. A SHRM member and Syracuse University graduate, her work is grounded in three public-interest priorities: enhancing quality of life, creating clear pathways to job placement, and advancing economic growth across Central New York. Carol resides in Syracuse with her family.