Charles County Arts Alliance - Board of Directors

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	Governance The affairs of the Charles County Arts Alliance are conducted within the framework of the CCAA bylaws and are under the direction of a volunteer Board of Directors, which consists of three elected officers (President, Vice President, and Secretary/Treasurer), the Immediate Past President, and up to nine appointed members. The Board oversees the planning of annual events and the organization's budget. The President, as Chief Executive Officer, ensures that the orders and resolutions of the Board are carried out and put into effect. The day to day operations of the CCAA are carried out by an Administrator who is responsible for such things as producing interim and final reports to county and state agencies, writing and designing special publications and the Arts Insider newsletter, providing content to the CCAA webmaster, handling general publicity, and coordinating exhibiting artists, special events, and volunteer assistance.
	CCAA Board of Directors and Staff FY 2008

The CCAA Board of Directors is comprised of 3 elected officers (President, Vice President, and Secretary/Treasurer), the Immediate Past President, and up to 9 appointed members.
	Executive Committee:
	President Vice President Secretary/Treasurer, River Artsfest Committee Co-Chair Immediate Past President, Budget & Finance Committee Chair, and Grant Review Committee Chair	Diane Rausch Connie Miller Cindy Johnson Robert K. Rausch
	Other Board Members:
	Membership Committee Chair Program Committee Chair Historian River Artsfest Committee Co-Chair Member Member Member	John O'Loughlin Elaine Moses Sue Belmore Steve Cavanaugh Amy Blessinger Jennifer Pinto Frank Comstock
	Staff:
	Administrator Staff Assistant	Therese Thiedeman Susan Burch

Diane Rausch, President

Diane is a native of Charles County where her family, the Berry family, has lived for over 300 years. She is a senior executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC, where she currently serves as Director, Advisory Committee Management Division, in the Office of External Relations. She has been an active participant in the arts all her life, especially music, where she has performed with a variety of church, school, college and community instrumental and choral ensembles. She plays bassoon and clarinet, and sings alto. She and her husband Bob are the co-founders of three nonprofit arts and humanities organizations in Charles County: the Southern Maryland Concert Band (1984), the Charles County Arts Alliance (1987) and the Friends of Old Waldorf School Foundation (1994). Diane has previously served as president of the SMCB (7 years), president of FOWS (5 years) and is now completing her second year as president of the CCAA. Diane has an M.A. in Political Science/International Relations from East Carolina University, a B.A. in Foreign Affairs from University of Virginia, and graduated from Thomas Stone High School in Waldorf. She and Bob enjoy attending performing arts events, galleries and historic sites in and around Southern Maryland, Chesapeake Bay living and boating at their condo at Solomons Island, foreign travel, and their "children" - two Dalmatians, Kasper and Jasper.

Connie Miller, Vice President

Connie Miller is a native Maryland artist now living on Cobb Island. Although she has worked in multiple media, Connie prefers working in watercolors because of their transparency, spontaneity, and freshness. Her work has been exhibited throughout Maryland in Charles, St. Mary's, and Prince George's counties, and in Virginia. Connie's watercolors have won an array of art awards and are included in both private and corporate collections. Additionally, she has painted numerous commissioned paintings. Connie taught watercolor classes at the Charles County Richard R. Clark Senior Center and currently coordinates the CCAA Visual Artists Workshop Series.

Cindy Johnson, Secretary/Treasurer

Cindy Johnson is an administrator for the St. Charles Planning and Design Review Board and has been involved with the CCAA on and off, for many years. A Past President and Board Member of the Port Tobacco Players, Cindy is no stranger to the theater. She is a founding member of the Maryland Community Theatre Festival Association which promotes excellence in community theatre for the State of Maryland. She and her husband Zeke serve on the MCTFA Board of Directors. Cindy lives conveniently close by in La Plata.

Robert K. Rausch, Immediate Past President, Budget & Finance Committee Chair, Grant Committee Chair

Bob is the Founder, and first and past President of the CCAA. He has served on the Board of Directors in several capacities since the inception of the organization in 1987. His other community service activities include: Charter member of Old Waldorf School and life member and past conductor of the Southern Maryland Concert Band. A Music Educator for 29 years, he taught in both Prince George's and Charles County, and recently retired from teaching, after serving as the Instrumental Music Teacher at Milton Somers Middle School (La Plata) for seventeen of those years. Recipient of numerous awards, he recently received his fifth nomination to "Who's Who Among American Teachers," and will appear in the 2007 Special Edition of "Who's Who" for those receiving this honor multiple times. Currently, he is pursuing new educational goals at the College of Southern Maryland in Spanish and Accounting. Bob lives in Waldorf with the CCAA President (Diane Rausch) and "Da Boys" (Kasper and Jasper) his Dalmatian sons.

Sue Belmore, Historian

Sue wrote and applied for her first CCAA grant in 1983. In 1988, she held her first VSA Arts Festival (formerly called "Very Special Arts") at the F.B. Gwynn Center with Nancy Carsey's guidance. Sue has held VSA Arts Festivals almost every year since, including one in conjunction with the CCAA ArtsFest 2002 at the Village Green Pavilion. Since 1984, she has been actively involved with the Port Tobacco Players (PTP), where she performs mostly in musicals, and paints many background sets as well. She also takes tap at her daughters dance studio - Judy's - in La Plata, MD. Her children, Sean, age 17, and Anna, age 14, attend La Plata High School, and have also been very active with PTP. Her husband, Glenn, keeps her busy with the Charles County Fair. Sue has lived in Charles County for 24 years, and now teaches art at T.C. Martin Elementary School in Bryantown.

Amy Blessinger, Member

Frank Comstock, Member

Frank Comstock took up writing after retiring from the Air Force. His first published novel, Charlie's Gift is set for publication in early 2008 with more novels to follow. Frank has published fiction in Connections and Types and Shadows and has had non-fiction published in Old Cars Weekly and Municipal Maryland. Frank has recently returned to photography and has shown photos at Mattawoman Creek Art Center . Although born into a typical New England family with more than three hundred and fifty years of growth (and a bit of rot – he admits to at least one witch in the Massachusetts witch trials in the 1600s) on the family tree, Frank spent most of his youth in South Carolina learning and observing Southern ways of the 1950s and 1960s. Frank blends his Southern and Yankee experiences in a writing style that is direct and touching at the same time. Peace, serenity, hope, and small-town values permeate his novels and short stories. Living in Waldorf since 1993, Frank has served Charles County as a member of the Charles County Comprehensive Land Use Board, St. Charles Planning and Design Review Board, Westlake Village Association Board, and in various other charitable and fund-raising activities. Frank has been married to his wife Terry for more than thirty years; their daughter, Kathleen, is finishing graduate school at Westminster Choir College where she majors in voice performance and vocal pedagogy.

Steve Cavanaugh, Member

Steve Cavanaugh is an entrepreneur and musician born and raised in La Plata, MD. He is the President of Southern Maryland Home Buyers, Inc., a real estate investment company. Steve has a BA with a Jazz Guitar Performance Minor from Salisbury University. He founded Southern Maryland's only "jam band", the Nanjemoy Creek Boys in 1997. In 10 years NCB toured the East Coast, produced two full length albums, a live DVD, and six "Wathfest" music festivals. He teaches "The Art of Jamming" at the College of Southern Maryland, a class based solely on a method he developed, that teaches musicians how to play improvised music with one another. He plans to retail his "Jam Method" in 2008. Steve, whose hobbies include reading and working out, also works in IT with Garcia Information Systems Corporation in Indian Head, MD. Steve and his beautiful wife Keri are expecting their first child in February 2008.

Elaine Moses, Program Committee Chair

Elaine Moses is a retired postal service employee who has been married to Lemon Moses for 63 years. They have a daughter, Yvonne, who is a federal government retiree and son, Michael, who is a computer specialist and private school teacher. There are also two granddaughters and two great grandchildren in the family. Elaine was a substitute teacher for a number of years and later attended CCCC (now the College of Southern Maryland) and graduated in 1991 having received an Associate of Arts degree in General Studies. She also attended St. Mary's College of Maryland from which she graduated in May 1999 and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Human Development. While acquiring an education, Elaine was quite active with El Circulo Cultural Hispanico (the Spanish Club of CSM) serving as its president for ten years. Through the club and its members, she was instrumental in arranging many concerts featuring Hispanic performers and musicians to entertain the tri-county communities of Southern Maryland, introducing the culture of all Hispanic countries, and raising funds for the Bill Wood Memorial Scholarship. Elaine says she is slowing down now but she is still active as a Board member of the Charles County Arts Alliance, line dances at the Clark Senior Center when she has the time, attends Spanish classes, and often exercises in the Center.

John O'Loughlin, Membership Committee Chair

John O'Loughlin is a musician and lawyer in La Plata , Maryland . He is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and the College of William and Mary. His orchestra, The Capital Quicksteps Quadrille Orchestra, performs traditional American dance music, and he plays many instruments in both classical and traditional styles. Currently he is President of the Board of Directors of The Jude House, a recovery program in Bel Alton, Maryland. John lives on Cobb Island with his wife, Marcia Keeth and enjoys singing, playing guitar, fiddle and tinwhistle, composing music, and studying local history.

Jennifer Pinto, Member

Jennifer is a graduate of George Mason University with degrees in Studio Art and Art & Visual Technology. Jennifer's Resume includes Time Life Books, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Travel Media, and KEI Pearson (as Graphic Support for the Army Materiel Command). At the present time, she is launching a new business "Corner Studio ArtWorks," which deals in fine art printing and personalized notecards. Jennifer is from Charles County.

Therese Thiedeman, Administrator

Therese Thiedeman is the wife of active duty Coast Guardsman Edwin Thiedeman, and mother of Mary and William. Therese has been active with the Port Tobacco Players since 1993, directing the ENCORE KIDS and TEENS, performing in a variety of shows, serving as director, music director, pit conductor, pit musician (clarinet and saxophone), directing the summer theater camp, and serving on the Board of Directors. She is also an active ALTO with the Chesapeake Choral Arts Society, and guitarist/vocalist with the 11:30 am choir at Our Lady Help of Christians Church. Therese enjoys serving as Administrator for the Charles County Arts Alliance and using her talents to help promote the Arts in all its forms within this county. Although her background is in the performing arts, she is enjoying learning more about the literary and visual arts as well.

Susan Burch, Staff Assistant

Susan enjoys the arts and has participated in dance and art classes throughout her life. Growing up in Annapolis , her mother plunged her into many imaginable activities: drawing and painting to ballet and gymnastics and even horseback riding and piano lessons, to name a few. Her parents also took her to many stage performances at Maryland Hall and the Kennedy Center . As a child a memorable trip to Lincoln Center in New York City with her father gave her the once in a lifetime chance to see Mikhail Baryshnikov dance. Currently Susan is introducing her own husband and children into arts related activities such as ballet and attending local cultural events. She has working experience with ad layout and graphic design with local newspapers plus secretarial experience. She is excited to put these skills to work for the Arts Alliance.

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