Jess Abbott is the CEO for Greenville Center for Creative Arts with over 16 years of experience in nonprofit arts administration. She has a proven track record of start-up to growth-phase organizational leadership and development. From formulating strategic fundraising plans to preparing annual budgets and implementing sound strategies, her background has consistently been characterized by a steadfast dedication to managing fiscal responsibility and achieving organizational growth objectives. She has dedicated her career to diligently diversifying income streams and building lasting relationships to secure financial stability for arts organizations that will ensure all programming emphasizes diversity, equity, inclusion, and access. Art should be a fundamental right, not a privilege.
Tami is currently the Assistant Director of Enrollment Services at Furman University. Years before that she was the Director of Freshman Advising at the University of Miami and the head guidance counselor at Robinson School in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Her favorite people to work with are teenagers (true!).
Tami received her Master’s degree in Higher Education from the University of Georgia and completed her undergraduate degree from Winthrop University. She’s married, and currently lives with 2 dogs, a very large needy cat, and is always looking for a good excuse to hop on her EBike.
Racquel “Rocky” Collier is the President of Caliber Real Estate, a development firm specializing in developing multifamily communities and residential subdivisions.
She graduated from Clemson University, where she studied English with an Emphasis on Writing + Publication Studies and Real Estate Development.
Racquel serves on the Board of Commissioners for The Greenville Housing Authority and Ten At The Top.
Samuel Hunter (b. 1988) has been writing music for over twenty years, specializing in chamber works and music for voice. Commissioning ensembles include Houston Grand Opera’s HGOco, Vox Cordis, Furman University’s Chancel Choir, Pastyme, the Association of Anglican Musicians, the AURA Contemporary Ensemble, and a variety of Anglican church choirs, and his music has been performed by Coro Città di Roma, the Association of Anglican Musicians Conference Choir, the Furman University Chamber Choir, The Meridian Symphony Orchestra, and many others. Samuel is a graduate winner of the Sarofim Composition Competition and recipient of the Sarofim Graduate Commission, and is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda. Samuel holds degrees from Furman University and the University of Houston, and has studied with Mark Kilstofte, Lorenzo Donati, Benjamin Broening, and Rob Smith.
In addition to his work as a composer, Samuel is an experienced orchestrator and arranger, and is the Principal Orchestrator and publisher of Frances Pollock’s critically acclaimed debut opera Stinney: An American Execution. Samuel is currently an Instructor in Music Theory and History and the Composer in Residence at the Fine Arts Center in Greenville, South Carolina. Samuel is also an Adjunct Professor of Music Composition at Furman University. He is married to répétiteur Hailey Anthum Hunter, and they live in Flat Rock, North Carolina, with their cat Dinah.
Photography by Zane Logan
West Hyler (He/Him) is the Executive Artistic Director of the South Carolina New Play Festival and co-Artistic Director of the socially-distanced theater company Artistic Stamp. Prior to COVID, West was the Producing Artistic Director of the New York Musical Festival, the largest Musical Theater Festival in the World.
West was the supervising director of Jersey Boys on Broadway and around the world (including South Africa, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, London, and Canada), the associate director on the Broadway premiere of How The Grinch Stole Christmas, and he directed Vanessa Carlton into Beautiful on Broadway and assisted David Hyde Pierce on It Shoulda Been You.
He received his MFA in Directing from University of California at San Diego where he studied with Darko Tresnjak, Anne Bogart, Des McAnuff, Ivo Van Hove, and Tina Landau and directed Measure for Measure and A Dream Play by Strindberg. He has been a Drama League Fall Directing Fellow as well as a Drama League Resident Artist, a recipient of two South Carolina Arts Commission Grants, and a hosts a weekly Dungeons and Dragon campaign on youtube called “Broadway Hit Points”.
His writing credits include:
Nicole Michel has almost two decades of experience as an educator in Greenville County Schools. From 2005-2016 she taught English at Mauldin High School, before entering the administrative ranks as sixth-grade Assistant Principal at Greer Middle School. From there she went on to be Assistant Principal at Carolina High School and Academy and in 2019 was named Assistant Director at the Fine Arts Center.
Vee Popat is the Director of the Fine Arts Center of the Greenville County Schools. The Fine Arts Center (FAC) is South Carolina’s first public school for the visual, performing, and creative arts, offering pre-professional education in – Architecture, Creative Writing, Concert Dance, Digital Filmmaking, Music (Jazz, Chamber Strings, Percussion, Recording Arts, Winds, and Voice), Theatre (Performance and Design/Production), and Visual Arts. Vee started as Director of the FAC in 2019, and was named as Greenville County Schools’ Administrator of the Year in 2022. Under his leadership, the Fine Arts Center earned Arts in Basic Curriculum Certification in 2020, and was named an Arts School Network Exemplary School in 2023.
With 23 years of experience as a public school educator, Vee served as a band director for the first 9 years of his career before moving into the administrative level. He holds a B.A. in Music Education from Virginia Tech, an M.M. in Jazz Education from the University of Miami (FL), and an M.S. in Educational Administration from the University of Scranton.
The bulk of Vee’s career as a music educator was in the award-winning programs of the Randolph Township Schools in Randolph, NJ, where he was twice named “Teacher of the Year.” His tenure as an administrator began as an Arts Supervisor, serving in that role in the Randolph Township Schools and the West Essex Regional School District (North Caldwell, NJ). He then served 6 years as West Essex Middle School Principal before moving to Greenville to become the Fine Arts Center’s Director. Vee currently serves on the Board of the Greenville Center for Creative Arts, Palmetto State Arts Education, South Carolina New Play Festival, and the Arts School Network. He also maintains an active career as a saxophonist and educator, playing jazz gigs in both South and North Carolina, and teaching sax lessons in person and over Zoom.
Tom Strange has an extensive background in materials science and is the author of fifty-three patents and numerous papers over the last three decades, covering all aspects of capacitor development. He was a member of a small team of entrepreneurs who developed and produced the pioneering flat medical-grade electrolytic capacitor that made thoracic implantable cardioverter defibrillators possible. Strange has presented numerous lectures/concerts on early piano development in the US and around the world and is a builder and restorer of early keyboard instruments. He now serves as the Executive Director of the Sigal Music Museum in Greenville.
Creative + Innovation leader with 20+years of expertise driving transformation across multiple industries by placing the human experience at the core of the design + development process. Passionate about understanding value systems of individuals, organizations and culture. By understanding where value is placed, interactions take on a stronger purpose. Identifying key actionable insights to use as a springboard for development of future scenarios that are human experience driven and business relevant.
Carrie Woodward is a wife, mother of 2 and a marketing professional with Michelin NA residing in Greenville, SC for 26 years. A graduate of Clemson University in Economics and achieved a master’s degree in Human Resource Development, she has worked in various marketing rolls on both the corporate and agency side. When not working, Carrie loves volunteering in the community with the SC Children’s Theater. She is looking forward to serving on the Fine Arts Center Board to support the very talented students in the Greenville community. What she brings to this role:
1.) Building brands through research, data and deriving insights from consumers
2.) Connecting people to drive change
3.) Bringing an entrepreneurial spirit to grow a business and community relationships
4.) Training people to reach their potential for the company and for themselves
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