Board of Directors

President: Elizabeth S. Peña, Director of the Center for the Arts & Religion and the Doug Adams Gallery at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley

Elizabeth Peña is the Director of the Center for the Arts & Religion and the Doug Adams Gallery at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. She is also Senior Lecturer in Art, Anthropology, and Museum Studies. An archaeologist and museum professional, she is affiliated with the MA Museum Studies Program at the University of San Francisco and undertakes consulting projects in museums and art conservation. She previously served as Director of the Art Conservation Department at Buffalo State College and Curator of Anthropology at the Buffalo Museum of Science.

Vice President: Nancy Hall, Associate Professor of Ministry and Congregational Music emerita, American Baptist Seminary of the West

Rev. Dr. Hall majored in music at San Diego State University, received a Master of Divinity degree from ABSW, and also a Doctor of Ministry degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary. She completed thirty years of teaching in 2019 and continues to serve as pastor of First Baptist Church of Berkeley. Her book, The New Manual of Worship, was published in 2018. Nancy was editor of The Hymn, A Journal of Congregational Song, from 2009 to 2011, and a board member for The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. She is president of the advisory committee at the Center for the Arts and Religion at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.

Treasurer: Will Schieber, founder North River Management Services

Will Schieber is a native of the Chicago metro area where he attended Northwestern University and the University of Chicago.  His professional career was with the United Nations in Geneva and New York where he worked in information technology.  Upon his return to Berkeley he was a licensed agent for a local real estate broker.  He later established North River Management Services which does website design and management for non-profits and individuals in the arts.  He also serves as a Trustee on the Board of Cal Performances.  He finds that living in the Bay Area offers great opportunities to attend fine arts events.  

Jonathan Arons, Emeritus Professor of Astronomy and of Physics, University of California, Berkeley

Dr. Arons grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received his B.A. in Physics from Williams College and his Ph.D. in Astronomy from Harvard University. He was a postdoctoral Fellow at the Princeton University Observatory and the Institute for Advanced Study before becoming one of Mark Twain’s loose nuts and rolling West, coming to rest in Berkeley in 1972.  He enjoys cooking, playing the cello in amateur orchestras and chamber groups, as well as taking concerts, theater and film from the overflowing Bay Area cornucopia, with occasional expeditions to New York and LA.

Carol Christ, Chancellor, University of California, Berkeley

Carol Christ is the eleventh chancellor and first female leader of UC Berkeley. She has served in a number of administrative positions at the University of California at Berkeley, including six years as Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost. In 2002, she moved to New England to become President of Smith College until her retirement in 2013 when she returned to UC Berkeley to head the Center for Studies in Higher Education.

Michael Goldberg, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble musician

Michael Goldberg has performed with Left Coast since 1996. He has recorded on the Arabesque and Kameleon labels, and has performed with the Philharmonic Orchestra of London, Santa Rosa Symphony, Berkeley Symphony, Philharmonia Baroque, Empyrean Ensemble, Diablo Valley Ballet, and many other Bay Area groups.

Carla Hesse, Peder Sather Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley

Carla Hesse is Peder Sather Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2009, she is a specialist in modern European History and the history of communication. She is the author of Publishing and Cultural Politics in Revolutionary Paris (1991) and The Other Enlightenment (2001), among other works. She is currently president of the Authors Alliance Board of Directors and until recently served as UC Berkeley's Dean of Social Sciences and Executive Dean of Letters and Sciences.

Hema Manickavasagam, Product Manager at Google Research 

Hema Manickavasagam is a Product Manager at Google Research focused on Artificial Intelligence, helping create more engaging and natural human machine interactions. She is interested in using technology to help people explore new ideas and experiences regardless of who they are. Before Google, she has helped startups and nonprofits identify their audience and build applications to engage people in a deeper way. She has a Masters in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University. Hema enjoys performative arts and has designed costumes and sets for a local theater company and founded a poetry blog to introduce people to poetry. 

Steven Miller, Attorney, Partner at Hanson Bridgett LLP

Steven has a varied practice representing both public and private clients in the public arena. He assists public agencies throughout California operating bus, rail, and ferry service. His general areas of expertise include public contracts and procurements, regulatory compliance, intergovernmental agreements, constitutional issues, election law, and government ethics. He has particular depth of expertise in all issues relative to transit agencies and the complex statutory and regulatory framework under which they operate. Steven is the evaluator for the City of San Jose Board of Fair Campaign and Political Practices (formerly Ethics Commission), advising that entity regarding alleged violations of the San Jose Municipal Code in the area of election and ethics rules.

Beyond the practice of law, Steven is a Grammy-award winning violinist, has issued more than 20 CDs, and has appeared on both NPR and PBS.

Susan Shalit, Attorney, Law Offices of Susan M. Shalit (retired)

Susan Shalit managed her own successful criminal and civil law practice for well over two decades, emphasizing criminal law, wills-trusts-probates, and the rights of children. Ms. Shalit holds a law degree from the Hastings College of Law and earned her BA in English Literature from the University of California, Berkeley. She currently lives in San Francisco with her partner Mary, their adorable cat Cleo and mischievous dog Sasa. Her previous board affiliations include Equal Rights Advocates.

Galen Quaring, CPA (retired)

In addition to professional experience in public accounting, Galen spent the majority of his career in the financial management of environmental nonprofit organizations.  He was Controller at the Trust for Public Land and Save the Redwoods League and completed his career as Chief Financial Officer of NatureBridge. His particular areas of interest include board governance and financial oversight of nonprofit organizations. Galen has had a lifelong interest in chamber music. In retirement, he enjoys international travel, community engagement projects, studying flute, and learning to speak French.