New Jersey Performing Arts Center

John Schreiber

President and CEO [email protected] 973.297.5846 “I fell in love with the theater and I thought, I don’t know how, but I want to be part of that.” I grew up in Queens, and I lived at the last stop on the subway. Starting at the age of nine, my parents let me take the subway into the city, and they gave me $5, and I could buy a seat in the balcony at a Broadway show. I have memories of seeing Carol Channing in Hello Dolly, Angela Lansbury in Mame, Linda Lavin in It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman. And I fell in love with the theater and with what it felt like to be transported into another world. I thought that was the greatest. And I thought, I don’t know how, but I want to do that. I want to be part of that. When I went to college, I ran a concert series, and I started a summer theater. And I just knew that I needed to be in this universe somehow. I went to work for George Wein, who was the founder of the Newport Jazz Festival. I’ve been doing this sort of thing in music and

Warren Tranquada

Timothy Lizura

Lennon Register

Beth Silver

Vice President, Chief People Officer [email protected] 973.297.5148 “I became so moved by the show that I got up out of my seat and started singing and dancing in the aisle.” My parents are big theatergoers. They took me at age four to see Hello Dolly, which was my first Broadway show. My seminal moment happened when I became so moved by the show that I got up out of my seat, started singing and dancing in the aisle and experienced pure bliss. In elementary school, I learned to play clarinet and piano. In middle school and high school I was in concert band, marching band, girls’ touring choir and performed in several musicals. I also joined the Broadway Theater Club. The first show we saw was the revival of Hello Dolly, starring Carol Channing. As aspiring thespians, we were invited to go back stage to meet Ms. Channing. That was my first star struck moment, and I loved it!   I will always remember the first show I attended at NJPAC. It was a George Winston concert right before the hol

Ernest Dirocco

Sarah Rosen

Managing Director, Women@NJPAC [email protected] 973.297.5806 “I wanted to be part of the anchor cultural institution driving the resurgence of Newark.” There’s three things I’m passionate about, and my job at NJPAC brings all of them together. The first is Newark. Both of my parents were born in Newark. My grandfather spent his entire career at Howard Savings Bank. I have a great-great uncle who ran for mayor of Newark in 1896. Newark has always been a big part of our family’s history, and I wanted to be part of the anchor cultural institution driving the resurgence of Newark.  The second thing I’m passionate about is women’s issues. That’s specifically why I took this role. I serve as Managing Director of Women@NJPAC, a dynamic group of women who raised over $52 million for NJPAC over the past 25 years. I’m really excited about the opportunity to use this platform to open up the doors to bring more people into NJPAC. We have an incredibly diverse community who represent not only the t

Lennon Register

David D Rodriguez

Executive Vice President & Executive Producer [email protected] 973.297.5831 “For artists, NJPAC is more than a stop on a tour—they’re part of our community.” I was born in Newark and was a full-time musician on the road with groups ranging from Isaac Hayes to Tito Puente to the Rochester Philharmonic. Over the course of the years, I studied at Juilliard, the Eastman School of Music and Mansfield University. I worked at Carnegie Hall, Aaron Davis Hall, AOL Live and the Apollo Theater. The opportunity arose to work at NJPAC and not just fill the seats, but to create diverse programs that resonate beyond the four walls of the venue.  A lot of touring artists go on stage in a different city every night. They might have a little sign taped to the piano that says the name of the city. “I’m so glad to be here in…Newark!” What we try and do here is to make artists feel like NJPAC is more than a stop on a tour—that they’re part of our community. Kevin Hart came here right after Hurricane Sa

Amy Fitzpatrick

Vice President, Development [email protected] 973.297.5822 “Somehow I was destined to find my way back to NJPAC.” The arts have always been in my life. I was an art history major at Rutgers in New Brunswick, and I had my first encounter with NJPAC when I was a senior in college. I got an internship at Aljira, a gallery space in Newark. I would commute to Newark Penn Station and get on a bus that took me downtown to the gallery. I also had a class taught by Miguel Algarín, one of the founders of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, who talked about teaching at Rutgers-Newark and the Newark poetry scene. This was 1997, the same year NJPAC opened. I vividly remember being on the bus and driving past NJPAC and thinking, “What is this place?” It was like a spaceship had descended on the city. I finished my internship and moved to New York City. Only later in life, when I was working at WNYC, did I start to learn about what was happening at NJPAC. I started coming to NJPAC for programs and the rel

Katie L Sword

Vice President, Marketing [email protected] 973.297.5166 “I never thought I’d be in the arts. But now that I’m here, it feels like home.” I originally wanted to be a math teacher. I was a math major, and I thought, Ooh, maybe I’ll become an accountant. I took business classes and finance classes, then I took a marketing class. All the people in finance were kind of boring and all the people in marketing were really fun. So I ended up doing a dual major in marketing. I worked for Student Life doing the marketing for all of the events on campus. I would create the posters, emails and table tents for distribution and loved it. I always felt I had a creative mind and once I found marketing, it was the right fit.  I always loved the arts, but I didn’t think of it as a possible profession. I kind of fell into it when I started working at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts doing concerts. Then I moved to another theater, doing marketing. I never thought I’d be in the arts. But now that I’m here,

Chad D Spies

Vice President, Operations & Real Estate [email protected] 973.297.8013 “I’ve never been a part of anything like opening night of a brand new performing arts center. It was magical.” My career in theater operations started in the ninth grade, changing the marquee at the John Harms Theater in Englewood. Every couple weeks, they would call up and say, “Hey, we need you to change the marquee.” Along with that, I began cleaning the theater after concerts, and then working the concession stands. At one point I started working as a stage hand, and I then began hiring my friends to work as crew to load shows in and out. One day the executive director asked me if I wanted to come on full-time. So I kind of became the defacto “guy with the keys”. Years later, I was hired at NJPAC just before it opened in ’97. I then went on to work at the PNC Bank Art Center and Jones Beach Theater before returning to NJPAC in ’03. My biggest NJPAC moment was the Opening Night Gala. There’s been other big shows,

Jennifer L Tsukayama

Vice President, Arts Education [email protected] 973.297.5152 “It was so real and honest, and I saw dance in a different way after that.” One of my most compelling moments in the performing arts happened when I was getting my undergraduate dance degree. The intergenerational, interdisciplinary Liz Lerman Dance Exchange came to our campus. One company member was a ninety-year-old woman, and she gave an incredible performance sitting in a chair. It was so powerful that, watching the beauty of her solo and the story she was conveying, I was moved to tears. It was so real and honest that she changed the way I saw dance forever. I realized my college degree was focused on technique, and that it is important—but I saw that dance, and the arts, really are about the story of life, which is most visibly, undeniably and unavoidably portrayed in the way you move. I was so struck by the power of that lesson. Liz Lerman changed the trajectory of my career and the work that I’ve done at NYU Tisch

Austin G Cleary

John Evan White

Vice President, Programming [email protected] 973.297.5803 “The energy during a live show is something that can never be replaced.” I was born and raised in New Jersey and these days I call Central New Jersey my home. Growing up I always remembered being surrounded by good music. My father was a fan of Sinatra and the classic big bands and my mother, a music aficionado and veteran of the 1969 Woodstock Festival, was like a musical ambassador in our home. She was always playing great music and as a small child I remember sitting on the family room floor and listening to her record collection full of classical, jazz, folk, blues and world music. When no one was around I’d sneak into her comedy collection and play Richard Prior, George Carlin, Eddie Murphy and Rodney Dangerfield (sorry mom). I fell in love with music and eventually I asked my mother if I could have the old, abandoned Woodstock-era guitar that had been living in our closet for years. Fast-forward fifteen years later and I h

Mary C Jaffa

Vice President, Finance [email protected] 973.353.8034 “I like working for companies that have a mission. Not just counting widgets.” At the end of the day, I like to see the good that’s coming out of the organization I work with. That’s why I’ve chosen to work with nonprofits throughout my career. Before I came to NJPAC in 2000, I worked at the national headquarters of Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and also at the Brooklyn Museum. I’m currently Board Treasurer for GlassRoots, Inc., which provides kids and young adults the opportunity to experience science through the art of glassmaking. I value NJPAC’s mission, and I know from personal experience how powerful the performing arts can be. One particularly great concert I saw here was Jennifer Hudson. It was 2009, and she had just released her first album. My friends and I were sitting in the fifth row in Prudential Hall, and we were so close, we could see Robin Thicke (who opened the show) sweating through his shirt. That’s the kind of en

Christopher Moses

Yolanda Doganay

Todd Tantillo

Deborah Purdon

James McMorrow

Simma Levine

Eyesha Marable

Assistant Vice President, Community Engagement [email protected] 973.353.8058 NJPAC is where my passion and profession meet. Recently, the Senior Management team helped usher a children’s performance at NJPAC. I was so excited, I made up a little dance for each family that I ushered, making sure the parents and kids were ready to have some fun. I want everyone who passes through our doors to feel like they’re coming home. My heart is to welcome people home. I’m proud to say that NJPAC is the place where my passion and profession meet. I was living in Newark at the time NJPAC was being built. As a graduate of NYC’s High School of Performing Arts (LaGuardia), and a professional dancer, I said, one day I want to work there, and make it my artistic home. I worked my way up the ranks at NJPAC. My first role was as a liturgical dancer on the Prudential Hall stage as part of the MLK Celebration. Next, I was brought on as a consultant to sell tickets at local churches to Alvin Ailey performan

Meggan Gomez End 62022

Erin Morales

Tim Lizura

executive vice president, real estate & capital projects [email protected] 973.297.5144 “The transformation of the NJPAC campus will positively impact Newark in the same way the redevelopment of the World Trade Center (WTC) site changed lower Manhattan.”  I know that from my previous role as Director of the World Trade Center Redevelopment at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.  I saw how a combination of stunning architecture and good planning could set the foundation for a vibrant, new residential neighborhood.  Later, as President and Chief Operating Officer of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA), I led the EDA’s business operations and mission to grow the economy of my home state of New Jersey. Among the highlights of my EDA career was my work on significant redevelopment projects in Newark including the construction of NJPAC, One Theater Square and the renovation of the Hahne’s building. When I joined NJPAC in 2018, I was well-positioned to lead our comp

Sherri-Ann Butterfield

Alyson Maier Lokuta

AVP, Arts & Well-Being “Like exercise and good nutrition, the arts are good for your health.” When I was growing up, I always wanted to be a doctor AND an artist. It wasn’t until grad school that I learned of a field that brought those seemingly disparate career tracks together: Arts in Health. Arts in Health is a growing field of research and practice rooted in one simple fact: Like exercise and good nutrition, the arts are good for your health. My journey in arts in health has been deeply enriching, marked by collaborations with esteemed organizations and initiatives including the UF Center for Arts in Medicine, the National Organization for Arts in Health, NYC Health and Hospitals Arts in Medicine, and the Creating Healthy Communities Arts in Public Health Initiative. Through working with them, I’ve had the privilege to lead the largest public mural project since the historic WPA era; to contribute to the Advisory Task Force for the first Social Prescribing pilot in the United State

Andre Mutovic

Vice President, Chief Technology Officer [email protected] 973.353.7030 “We can find even more innovative and strategic ways to run our organization—onstage and behind the scenes.” Since I was a kid in Verona, New Jersey, I was passionate about all things tech. I once got in trouble for taking apart my dad’s new stereo. When I was a bit older, I built my own computers, wrote programs, and built out a dial-up internet service provider. That led me to New Jersey Institute of Technology, where I earned my BS in Management of Information Systems. I’ve also always been a fan of music,attending shows both big and small. While in college, I landed in the music industry, first working in technology operations at Universal Music Group, then at Napster. I expanded into the world of events, venues, and nonprofits, with roles at Prudential Center and the New Jersey Devils, New York Road Runners, and ION Media Networks, where I was Chief Information Officer. It’s amazing to think that my interests

Donna Walker-Kuhne

Senior Advisor, Social Impact [email protected] 973.297.5842 “I thought, That’s something that I can do to help change the world.” I started my career as a dancer at the age of five. My mom took my twin sister and I to see the Bolshoi Ballet in Chicago. When I saw Maya Plisetskaya, who was the reigning ballerina in the world at that time, I said to my mom, “I’m going to do that. I want to be a ballerina.” So my mom enrolled us in dance classes. In a few years, we were invited to join a dance company in Chicago. I found, for me, dance was a way that I could see the world, and also my goal had always been to change the world. At the same time, a lawyer came to our high school, and spoke at our career day panel. I thought, That’s something that I can do to help change the world. So I went to law school, and I danced every day in law school. I had ballet classes at 7 am. Then I finished law school and I thought, well, I better hang up my dance shoes and start to really act like a lawy