board

Board of Directors
Chair:
Deborah Alves
Vice Chair:
Jean Kanarian
Clerk:
Richard Beasley Maloney
Treasurer:
Glen Mattera

Directors:
Doug Allen
Vivian Baguer Holland
Larissa Bernat
Christina Bertsch
Nancy Corvese
George Davis
JoAnn Fruchtman
Donna Johnson
Paul Mahoney
Katherine Putnam
Marilyn Wortman

Presidents Emeritus
Marston Clough
Judy Cunniffe
Pam Flam
Mike Kidder
Bruce MacNelly
Jean McCarthy
Judy McConnell
Perry Patterson
Peggy Pinney
Marcia Randol
Marilyn Wortman

Executive Directors Emeritus
Francine Kelly
Peggy Pinney

In Memoriam: Board Member Allyson Getsinger
(1954 - 2020)

Board Bios

Deborah (Debbi) Alves, President, began visiting Martha’s Vineyard with her grandparents as a very young child. Debbi has always said that Martha’s Vineyard is her heart home. After visiting the Vineyard with her own children, Debbi purchased a home in 2010 and in 2021 moved to the Vineyard full time. With a Master’s in Social Work from Fordham University, Debbi worked for many years in the non-profit sector, providing leadership and organizational development assistance to other non-profits. In 1992, Debbi’s career took a major turn when she joined a commercial real estate development company. Working to ensure that the commercial development and surrounding community were both served through the development of retail, market rate and affordable housing, Debbi was part of the very successful Cityplace Company. She has served as a board member of many organizations while living in Texas and Kansas, including Girls, Inc., YWCA, Planned Parenthood of Kansas & Mid-Missouri, the Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey and more. While in Dallas, Debbi was the President of The Real Estate Council and chaired the City of Dallas Board of Adjustment. Debbi is an avid reader, golfer, kayaker, gardener, hiker and a brand new equestrienne. You can find her most afternoons on beautiful State Beach.

Jean Kanarian Vice President, is a Managing Partner at Boston consultancy SMR, where she founded the sales and revenue growth practice. She is known for her executive leadership experience and track record of transformational growth in the payments, software and financial services industries. Prior to SMR, Jean had a track record of positively transforming revenue growth in senior corporate positions at American Express and start- ups like CashEdge (culminating in a successful acquisition by Fiserv). Along with her expertise in revenue optimization, Jean has a reputation for engaging customers and employees in innovative ways - including art! A 10-year board member at the Boston Children’s Chorus, Jean helped steward singers and successfully execute their strategic plan. She graduated magna cum laude from Boston University with a double degree in economics and journalism. When she is not traveling the world, she is always on the lookout for what’s interesting - which led her to take her first (of many) classes at Featherstone 10 years ago! She joyfully volunteers at Featherstone's Francine Kelly Gallery on Wednesdays, and takes long walks around the coastline in Edgartown as she dreams up new ways to grow businesses!

Richard (Rich) Beasley Maloney Clerk, began visiting Martha’s Vineyard every summer in 2012 when Paul Levine asked him to coordinate the music for his annual “World of the Troubadour and Trobairitz” performances at the West Tisbury Library. Richard and his wife Michele enjoyed the experience so much they started living on the island part-time in November 2020. Richard joined the board of Featherstone in 2021 and serves on the strategic planning committee. Richard is a Clinical Associate Professor and Director of the Performing Arts Administration graduate program at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University, where he teaches courses in performing arts administration, cultural and creative industries, research methods, and cultural policy. Richard grew up playing guitar and keyboards in rock bands in the Boston area. Since that time, he has focused on the medieval, renaissance, and baroque lute and has performed in dozens of early music concerts. Richard is vice-president of the board of directors of ENCATC (the European Network on Cultural Management and Cultural Policy) and a member of the board of directors and chair of the arts policy committee of the arts advocacy organization MassCreative. Richard attended Bates College (BA), Berklee College of Music (BM), Longy School of Music of Bard College (Graduate Diploma), Boston University (MS), and Northeastern University (PhD). In 2021, he was named a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts in the UK (FRSA). After college, Richard spent several years working as a high school and college tennis coach. He is a member of the East Chop Tennis Club. Michele and Richard have two children in college and one in high school.

Glen Mattera Treasurer, is currently the Chief Financial Officer of Martha’s
Vineyard Community Services. Glen brings to Featherstone over thirty years
of senior financial leadership experience. The first half of his career was as
an auditor with a public accounting firm before dedicating his career to
working with nonprofit organizations. Glen is a Certified Public Accountant
licensed in Rhode Island. He has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the
University of Rhode Island. Glen and his wife, Maryann started a business in Oak Bluffs in 1992 and became part time residents on the island. After selling that business in 1998, they continued enjoying their summers and shoulder seasons here on the Vineyard until 2020, when they made Martha’s Vineyard their primary home.
They have always been interested and dedicated to fully supporting the island
community. Glen loves the outdoors and is an avid gardener, clammer, bike rider, traveler and thoroughly enjoys his time supporting Featherstone Center for the Arts.

Doug Allen, was born in Jamaica, West Indies, raised in NYC, and is now a resident of Maplewood, NJ and Martha's Vineyard, MA. Doug and Denise, his wife of 35 years, have two adult sons, Daniel and Dorian. Doug recently retired after 38 years of service to IBM as a Senior Tax Advisor specializing in International Transfer Pricing. Doug earned a Bachelors degree in Accounting at C.U.N.Y Baruch College and a Masters in Taxation at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Doug has been passionate about photography since he purchased his first camera at 14 years old. He is an active high school sports photographer and has covered local football, soccer, lacrosse, swimming, and field hockey events in prep, county, and state championship tournaments as well as Ivy League swimming championships. His greatest joy is shooting sunrises and sunsets, cityscapes and street photography in black and white. His photographs have been featured by the International Center of Photography, Martha's Vineyard Magazine, and Nat GEO. Doug has been a regular to Martha's Vineyard since 1987, when he first visited his wife’s family home on the island. He now calls the island his second home and enjoys exploring the island, especially during the off season, discovering new hiking trails and photographing the beauty of Martha's Vineyard.

Vivian Baguer Holland, made her first visit to Martha’s Vineyard shortly after moving to New England from Alabama in 2006 and instantly fell in love with the island’s beauty, diversity, and arts scene. A few years later, she and her husband purchased a home on Tashmoo and now spend time on Martha’s Vineyard year-round. Vivian has experience in management, corporate performance, strategic planning, operations, internal audit, sales and marketing from her 20+ years working for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, the Wang Center for the Performing Arts in Boston, and various volunteer roles. While at the Wang Center, she produced ArtWeek Boston, a biannual arts festival that spanned over 70 communities in eastern Massachusetts. Volunteer engagements include serving as President of Wellesley Service League, Chair of the Wellesley Cultural Council, Co-chair of the Board of Bridge Repertory Theater Company, Board Chair of Sacred Threads, Medical Mission Ecuador, and ArtsBoston’s Network of Arts Administrators of Color. Vivian earned a MS in Arts Administration and a Graduate Certificate in Fundraising Management from Boston University and a BFA with majors in Fine Arts and Art History, summa cum laude, from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Vivian loves the outdoors and is an avid gardener, reader, kayaker, pickleball player, and budding potter at Featherstone Center for the Arts.

Larissa Bernat is a first grade teacher at the Oak Bluffs School. She routinely weaves creative art projects into all areas of the curriculum. Larissa has taught bookmaking and papermaking to children for over 15 years at Seastone Kids. Her experience includes teaching bookmaking at Featherstone and the Belmont School District. Larissa began spending summers on the Vineyard when she was nine years old. After living in Boston and San Diego, Larissa relocated to the island in 2005 to be closer to her family. She can be found exploring hiking trails, biking in the State Forest, or making one-of-a-kind books when she is not teaching. Larissa shares a multi-generational home in West Tisbury with her mother, artist Sandy Bernat, and daughter Skylar.

Christina Bertsch is the Founder and Principal of Blue HR Advisors, a firm providing strategic HR consulting and fractional leadership to small, fast growing businesses and start-ups, as well as large established organizations across a variety of industries. Christina brings to Featherstone over 30 years of experience in strategic human capital management. During these years she has acted as a management consultant with Gartner and Mercer, as well as an in-house human resources executive at organizations including EMD Serono, Beacon Partners and Santander Holdings US. She is also certified as an Executive Coach. Christina has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Manhattanville College and a Master of Arts degree in Organization / Industrial Psychology from Hofstra University. Christina and her husband David purchased their home on the Vineyard in 2011 and currently split their time here on island and at their home in Boston, MA. While on island, Christina enjoys gardening, running, playing tennis and especially loves the summer musical performances at Featherstone!

Nancy Corvese is a retired Physical Therapist from RI who first came to MV in 1990 visiting close friends in East Chop with her husband and two children. Since falling in love with the island they purchased their home on East Chop in 1996 and have been bouncing back and forth from RI ever since. The plan is for a permanent move to Martha’s Vineyard where she can explore more of her love for the Island. Professionally, following receiving MS degree from Boston University, she has worked in neuro rehab and home care settings facilitating, educating and motivating her patients for the best mobility and life style outcomes. She has served on the executive boards of the RI PT Association, East Chop Association, Kingston Congregational Church council, volunteered on several school committees and capital campaigns. Artistically she has studied stained glass work in RI and enjoys the artistic process and the opportunity to explore her love of light and it’s transparent color through glass design. As a grandparent to two young boys she has marveled at the opportunity to look at nature with a fresh eye through them. She loves the outdoors and spends time there while gardening, swimming, kayaking, tennis, cycling, x country skiing and meditative walks through East Chop and beyond. She is thrilled to be a part of Featherstone and it’s growth as it strives to fulfill its mission to “engage, enrich and connect our community through the power of art and creativity."

George Davis, (bio coming soon!)

JoAnn Fruchtman and her husband Jack rented houses on the Vineyard in the 1980's and purchased land in Aquinnah in 1990, building the house they now live in. Both are very active in local conservation efforts on the Island. Before moving to Aquinnah in 2019, JoAnn owned The Children’s Bookstore in Baltimore, Maryland. She operated it for over 40 years while hosting hundreds of authors and illustrators, including such luminaries as Madeline L’Engle, Maurice Sendak, J.K. Rowling, Eric Carle, Jerry Pinkney, and Mo Willems. For many years, the bookstore housed a huge tent at The
Baltimore Book Festival and brought authors and illustrators to the region. She also hosted bookfairs at several local schools. Around 2000, JoAnn decided to start The Children’s Bookstore Educational Foundation. With over $1 million dollars raised from the community, the foundation supplied sets of books for teachers in the public schools to use in their classrooms and then for the students to takehome. For many, it was the first book in a household. These funds are now invested at the Baltimore Community Foundation where books continue to be supplied to Baltimore City Public School children. JoAnn served of the board of trustees of The Park School of Baltimore and chaired the tuition assistance committee for 20 years. Her interest in art stems from when she was an art history major in college to a lifelong enjoyment of appreciating and collecting art. This interest
was displayed when serving for many years on the board of directors of The Contemporary Art
Museum of Baltimore. JoAnn’s present interests include reading (of course) and creating art projects. She hikes
the Island trails, works at the IGI kitchen, visits her five grandchildren, travels to France to visit family there, and especially attempts to grow vegetables and flowers in her Aquinnah garden, which she loves.

Donna Alligood Johnson and her husband Curtis, first vacationed on Martha's Vineyard in 1994 which eventually led to the purchase of their home. Since retiring as the chief diversity officer at Mastercard, Donna spends most of the year at their home in Edgartown. As Mastercard's CDO, Donna was responsible for developing an award-winning global diversity strategy, a testament to her unwavering commitment to inclusivity. Her initiative was relevant to the employees and reflected the company's deep-rooted commitment to diversity and inclusion. Under Donna's
leadership, Mastercard was recognized and celebrated by the Human Rights Campaign, Working Mother Media, and DiversityInc for its transformational programming. Prior to Mastercard, Donna held positions in the Information Services Division at Citicorp, Inc., where she was responsible for retail acquisition and sales efforts. She started her business career at the New York advertising agency BBDO as an account manager responsible for various packaged goods and service clients. Donna's influence and impact in the field of DEI is renowned. She was recognized as one of the top twenty-five influential Black women in business and corporate America and one of the top executives in
corporate diversity. She was the recipient of the Tri-State Most Powerful and Influential Women award
and a featured executive in "Women Worth Watching." Donna holds a Bachelor of Science degree in social psychology from Tufts University in Medford, MA, and a Master of Science in Leadership and Strategic Management from Manhattanville College in Purchase, NY. Donna is a member of The Cottagers, Inc. of Martha's Vineyard and the ASALH Martha's Vineyard Branch. She also serves as an officer in the Fairfield County (CT) chapter of The Links, Incorporated in Connecticut. Donna is very excited to be a board member of Featherstone and to
contribute to its growth and outreach efforts. When she's not busy with her community commitments, Donna can be found on the golf course at Farm Neck Golf Club, enjoying a well-deserved break.

Paul Mahoney is the president and owner of Jardin Mahoney, Inc. in Oak Bluffs. He was born and raised in Winchester, MA and went on to graduate with a B.S. in Finance from Boston College. Following school, he spent ten years in the Air Force working for the Massachusetts Air National Guard as a pilot. As a child, throughout college, and intermittently as a young adult, Paul worked at the Winchester and Falmouth branches of Mahoney's Garden Center, the family business his father began. In 2002, he moved to Martha's Vineyard acquiring the Oak Bluffs location with his wife Linda. Today, the business is still family run with daughters Christie and Kelly and son Sean all involved. Paul got involved with Featherstone through his other daughter Laurie who was longtime friends with Francine Kelly. He later helped with the landscaping for the upper campus when the new pottery studio and art barn were built.

Katherine (Kate) Putnam (bio coming soon!)

Marilyn Wortman and her husband Denys live on Hines Point in Vineyard Haven. They purchased Denys’ childhood home in 1996 and retired to the Vineyard from Sudbury, MA where they lived and raised their family for over 20 years. Marilyn then embarked on a new career for 15 year’s for the Town of Edgartown as the Human Resources Administrator and a second position as Parks Administrator. She has previously served on the Boards of Chamber Music Society, YMCA, Lagoon Pond Association, The Playhouse, Garden Club and Island Community Chorus. She was a Vineyard Haven Library Trustee for over 10 years and is now on the Tisbury Personnel Board. Currently serves on the Hospice of MV as the Patient Care Volunteer Rep., and she also volunteers at the Thrift Store, Food Pantry and the Martha's Vineyard Museum. She is also a driver for Vineyard Villages at Home. Marilyn is a graduate of Centenary College in Medical Technology with further education at Framingham State College in Business. Before retiring she worked for a Weston Investment Counselor. Hobbies include her 9 grandkids, gardening, Rowing Club, Tennis, Pickle ball and the Play Readers of MV. She really has enjoyed hiking the trails on MV all year.

​BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Board Bios

BOARD OF DIRECTORS