JCA Dean's Advisory Council
2018-2019 Membership
Christopher Beltran
Co-Founder & Vice President of Passageways LLC
Christopher Beltran is an energized entrepreneur with a particular passion for working with amazing people building high-impact companies that move the world forward in a positive way. Mr. Beltran is co-founder of a successful industry-leading software company, Passageways, which he started out of his dorm room at Purdue University and turned into an industry-leading internal corporate management software for CEOs, Board Members, and Operations Groups in over 6 countries. His company also was recognized by Inc. 500, for being the 27th fastest growing software company in the country.
Christopher is also involved in the humanities, receiving the Governor's Award for Tomorrow's Leaders by the Indiana Humanities Council. Christopher was an organizer of the inaugural TEDxPurdueU event as well as the inaugural TEDxIndianapolis event. Christopher is the longest-standing mentor for entrepreneurship high school kids at the Purdue Entrepreneurship Academy and has taught at Purdue University graduate-level entrepreneurship.
Christopher is from McAllen, Texas and moved to Indiana to attend Purdue University. He resides in Carmel, Indiana and is actively involved in the technology startups and investment community in Indianapolis.
He currently serves on the boards of several software startups in a variety of industries and has previously done work for Purdue University's IBM WebSphere-based portal implementation, Purdue University's Discovery Park Research Center and Prudential Financial Real Estate. He holds a bachelor of science from Purdue University.
Craig Gigax
President, Meridian Music
A native of Carmel, IN, Craig Gigax is the second-generation owner of Meridian Music Company. Craig bought Meridian Music Company in 1995 from his mother after the death of his father and its founder, Richard Gigax. Craig attended Carmel public schools as well as Ball State University and Northwestern University.
Craig worked in various sales and management positions within the semiconductor industry in both the Chicago and Minneapolis areas before relocating his family to Carmel in 1995 to operate and manage Meridian Music Company. Craig and his Minnesota-native wife have 3 grown children and are also the proud parents of 2 Portuguese Water Dogs, Bentley and Yogi.
Craig has been active in the music industry and in the Central Indiana Arts community through Board service with NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants), the American Pianists Association, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Carmel Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Opera and the Jordan College of the Arts at Butler University.
Craig's involvement with JCA goes back several decades - as a high school French Horn player, he studied with Harry Michaels at Butler University and played under the baton of Jackson Wiley in the Central Indiana Youth Symphony Orchestra. The role JCA played in forming Craig's love of the arts led him to become involved as chairman of the first Board of Visitors.
Giving Philosophy: As the owner of Meridian Music Company, whose success depends upon an interested and motivated arts community, Craig strongly believes that he has an obligation to support those organizations with demographics and patrons which closely resemble his.
R.K. Kelley ('87)
Retired Director of Entertainment Strategy & Operations, Walt Disney World Entertainment
R.K. Kelley has worked with The Walt Disney Company for twenty-four years in the entertainment field. Prior to Disney, R.K. received a Bachelor's of Science in Arts Administration from the Jordan College of the Arts at Butler University.
William Kleinman, MD
Orthopedic Surgeon; Clinical Professor of Othopaedic Surgery, IU School of Medicine
Richard Miles ('87 & '91)
Alumni Committee Chair; Vice President, Audio Services and TV Programming, WFYI
Richard Miles graduated from Butler not once, but twice, with bachelor's ('87) and master's ('91) degrees in what was then Radio & Television. From 1987 till 1999 he helped manage Butler's radio and television stations WAJC and WTBU, and taught in the department. In 1999, he transitioned to WFYI (PBS) as part of the WTBU-WFYI television joint operating agreement and has been there ever since. He is currently the Vice President for Interactive Media and Content Strategies, which means he works with the folks in programming and operations who pick and schedule the content from PBS, NPR, BBC, APM, PRI and others, including local shows, to create the channels, stations and Web sites that WFYI offers to the community.
Richard is an active leader, serving on several boards including the Public Television Programmers Association, WEDM-FM (Warren Central High School), Y-Press, the Lacy Leadership Association, Butler's new College of Communication's Board of Visitors and of course here at JCFA. Richard is obsessed about soccer, particularly the English Premier League, loves old radios, and good food! He lives in Indianapolis and has two daughters.
Giving Philosophy: Richard's giving philosophy is that time and talent is as valuable as treasure. Find where you can be of use, and be there!
Jenny Mobley ('87 & '89)
Adjunct Instructor, School of Music, Jordan College of the Arts
Jenny Mobley received her Master of Music Education degree from Butler University; she has an undergraduate degree from Butler and another from Indiana University and has done post-graduate work at Indiana University and The Juilliard. A pianist, she has taught privately for over 20 years, has been an instructor at Butler since 1987 and was the founder and director of the Indianapolis Piano Academy. She has performed in Bloomington, IN with the Chamber Music Association and Town Theater and was also a keyboardist with the Bloomington Town Theater Orchestra and Bloomington Symphony Orchestra.
Ms. Mobley has conducted workshops for IPTG and IPTA and is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, MTNA, IMTA and GIMTA, and has served on the Committee on Independent Studio Teaching of The National Conference on Piano Pedagogy.
Michael O'Brien
President, Printing Partners
A University of Wisconsin graduate with a dairy background, Michael O'Brien began his career as a dairy extension agent with the American Peace Corps in Punjab, India. Upon returning to the United States, O'Brien worked in agricultural marketing for companies including Countrymark Cooperative, Elanco Products Company and Central Soya where he was responsible for both communications and marketing. In addition, his career includes agency experience working for Trent-Jones, Inc. in Princeton, NJ and Bader Rutter & Associates in Milwaukee, WI.
Following the birth of their son, Patrick, in l987 he and his wife, Jackie Nytes, bought an Insty-Prints franchise in Indianapolis. Within ten years the business had expanded to four locations and sales increased more than tenfold. Before discontinuing the franchise in 1999, Printing Partners was the largest multiple-unit Insty-Prints in existence.
Today, O'Brien and his partner, Joel O'Brien, operate Printing Partners from two Indianapolis locations. During a period of industry consolidation, Printing Partners has made significant investments to become a G-7 Master Printer and to acquire FSC and ISO certification.
Throughout its history Printing Partners has been known for its generous support of the arts and in 2011 Americans for the Arts recognized Printing Partners as one of the top ten companies in the United States in terms of art support.
O'Brien currently serves on the boards of CICOA Foundation, International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, Indianapolis School of Ballet, University of Wisconsin Alumni Club of Indianapolis and St. Joan of Arc Church Pastoral Council.
Patricia See ('74)
Community Volunteer
Kathleen Shields
Senior Vice President, Simon Property Group
Marianne Tobias
Program Annotator, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra
A native Hoosier, Marianne Williams Tobias attended Harvard University, where she accompanied the Harvard Glee Club and was pianist for the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra. She graduated cum laude in 1962 with a degree in European History, focusing on national socialism and communism.
Marianne continued her musical education at Longy School of Music, where she received an Artist Diploma in 1967. She spent the next 19 years in St. Paul, MN, earning her M.F.A. in 1973 and her PH.D. in 1977 from the University of Minnesota, where she also taught; she also worked for Dominick Argento. After her children were born, she worked at St. Paul Academy and Summit School and for the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. After returning to Indianapolis, Marianne continued post-doctoral work with pianist Menahem Pressler, Distinguished Professor at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.
Besides music, Marianne has collected a diverse resume of experiences. In Boston, she worked as an assistant producer of WGBH's The French Chef, working directly with legendary chef Julia Child. She also spent two years working with Harvard Professor Robert Albion in American History courses as an illustrator for sailors on Polaris submarines. Having earned a Legal Translation Training Certificate in Spanish from the University of Chicago in 2008, Marianne translates personal documents and recently gave tours in Spanish at the IMA's Sacred Spain exhibit.
Marianne is the author of Classical Music Without Fear: A Guide for General Audiences and co-author of Opera for All Seasons: 60 Years of Indiana University Opera Theater, from the Indiana University Press. Currently, she is working on two books: a history of Crown Hill Cemetery and a celebratory biography of David Higgins, set designer at the Indiana Opera Theatre at Indiana University's School of Music.
Employed by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra as their resident musicologist and writer of program notes, Marianne has frequently collaborated in concert with ISO musicians, and since 2009, has also written program notes for the Ensemble Music Society. Zach de Pue (ISO concertmaster), Geoffrey Lapin (ISO cellist), and Marianne were recently appointed as Trio in Residence for the new concert hall at the Old Centrum.
Always ready for a new endeavor, Marianne began studying the cello in 2009 and recently completed Veterinary Technology School. She works part-time at the Cat Care clinic, and at the heart of her daily life are Patches and Isabel, both "rescue kitties." She has 2 children, five grand children and five step grandchildren.
She serves on the Boards of the Indianapolis Symphony, IMA, Indy Baroque, Indiana Landmarks, Crown Hill Foundation, and over the past five years has rotated off 10 other boards in Indianapolis, Philadelphia, and Cambridge, MA.
Marianne says, "The board of Visitors at Butler gives an opportunity to link into a fascinating University right in my back yard. I see Butler as a city asset as well as a place of learning, and as a citizen I hope it will flourish. As an "outsider" I hope to bring perspectives from other arts organizations to the Board of Visitors which might be of use to them in their strategic plans, in their concepts of the school and its activities, and to provide a link to the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (where I work) which could be helpful."
Giving Philosophy: First of all: you have to feel good about the request and confidence in the institution making the ask. Engage yourself in an institution or cause only when you have emotion or respect for it. Try to engage in the future of an organization as well as the present. A gift is something for the future, and if that future idea or plan has merit: then join in making it happen. The giving does not have to be money, but I am aware this is keenly important in making anything emerge in our modern society. Budget your own giving carefully..... try not to get carried away!
Jerry Toomer
Membership Committee Chair; Executive in Residence, Andre B. Lacy School of Business; Retired, Dow Chemical Company
In this professional career, Jerry has worked closely with key leaders to design effective strategies that clearly link individual and team effectiveness to total organizational performance. With 30+ years as a Human Resources Executive, Educator, and Psychologist, he has effectively worked with a wide range of individuals and work groups in achieving their professional and personal goals in complex organizations.
At Butler University, he has been actively involved in the development of a "Real Life, Real Business" curriculum and also serves as an Executive Partner in the College of Business as well as an Adjunct Professor in the MBA program.
Jerry's academic credentials include a Bachelors Degree in Psychology from Wartburg College and a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Iowa. For over 25 years, Jerry worked at The Dow Chemical Company and Dow AgroSciences, where he held senior leadership positions in Human Resources. He was a key member of Dow executive management teams that have successfully completed several corporate mergers, acquisitions, restructurings and global diversification initiatives. His effective blend of teaching experience, executive coaching & consulting skills and highly successful corporate work experience has provided a basis for sound, fundamental transition management.
Jerry's particular areas of expertise are Executive Coaching and Consulting; Not-for-Profit Leadership Development; Human Resources Strategy; Family Business Succession Planning; Mergers, Acquisitions, Restructuring and Global Diversification; and Leadership Selection & Development.
Giving Philosophy: Jerry Toomer's passion for music and the arts extends back to his youth. In high school and college he was part of several choral groups: "as a small town kid, it was my ticket to expanding my horizons in getting to know a wide range of people, and to travelling the US and the world. Now that I have time to give back to the Indianapolis and Butler communities, I find that the JCA is a perfect fit."
Timothy Wright ('73)
President, WTW, Inc.