Who We Are
Board of Directors
Jim DeMersman, President
Jim DeMersman currently serves as the Director of the Amador-Livermore Valley Historical Society and Museum on Main in Pleasanton. He is the Past President of the Board of the California Association of Museums and serves as a peer reviewer for Institute of Museum and Library Service grants program and as a visiting consultant for the American Association of Museums' Museum Assessment Program, where he has conducted over a dozen assessments throughout the country.
Theresa Hanley, Treasurer
Theresa Hanley has served as the Director of the Museum of the History and Art, Ontario since 1990. She has earned a Master's Degree in History from the University of California, Riverside specializing in Historic Resources Management. She has served as a grant reviewer for the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She serves as a Museum Assessment Program Peer Reviewer for the American Association of Museums. Theresa has served Exhibit Envoy in several capacities since 1992 including as a Member of the Board of Directors from 2003-present.
David Stuart, Secretary
David Stuart has an extensive career of working within museums and other cultural institutions which have included Archaeologist/Park Planner for the National Park Service, Director of Sacramento Science Center and Sacramento History Museum, and V.P. of Operations of the Foundation for California Community Colleges, the non-profit auxiliary for California's community college system. He majored in Anthropology at the California State University, Fresno and in graduate school at the University of Colorado. In December 2006, Dave was excited to return to his home county roots to lead the San Joaquin County Historical Society and Museum.
Diane Curry
Diane Curry has over sixteen years of curatorial experience in the museum field. She holds both a B.A. and M.A. in history with an emphasis on Western U.S. studies from California State University, East Bay. Diane has conducted research, exhibit text writing, image and artifact acquisition, and general project management on permanent, temporary and traveling exhibitions covering a wide range of topics from technological advances in modern farming to the California Gold Rush to popular culture in the 1970s. She has worked at the Hayward Area Historical Society for six years as the curator and archivist while also working as an independent content developer.
Jan McKay
With more than 20 years in management, fund raising and public relations, Jan McKay has developed a passion for nonprofit destinations and the cultural arts. She has worked at both large and small institutions and has had the pleasure of working as the Director of the Communications and Marketing Division at the The Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Executive Director at both Old Cowtown Museum, Wichita, Kansas and Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens, San Clemente, CA. Presently Jan is the owner of Jan McKay & Associates, a consulting firm for nonprofit destinations with clients across the country including a Museum Assessment Program consultant for the American Association of Museums and also serves on the Board of Family Assistance Ministries. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio, and a Master’s Degree from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.
Beth L. Schecter
Beth Schecter is an independent consultant specializing in Executive Staff Transitions for non-profit organizations, executive coaching, and non-profit board governance and leadership. She has over 20 years of executive management experience and approaches her work with clarity, calmness, and a practical hands-on approach to most nonprofit challenges. She has lead organizations in the health and social service sectors to new levels of achievement and also worked closely with faith-based and arts organizations creatively. Ms. Schecter has been Executive Director of three Bay Area non-profits and most recently served as the Interim Executive Director of Garrison Institute in New York and before that Hillel at Stanford University and the Interim Deputy Director of Edgewood Center for Children and Families in San Francisco. Before she began consulting, she served as the Director of the Peninsula Region of Jewish Family and Children’s Services (JFCS).
Evangeline Tai, Past President
Evangeline Tai has close to 30 years of experience in the museum field. She worked in numerous museums in Canada including the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology, and at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum, California Academy of Sciences, and others in the United States. Ms. Tai is currently an independent consultant focusing on pubic programming and visitor services. She recently expanded her focus to include non-profit board governance by completing a certificate course on non-profit board education. Ms. Tai also has experience with non-profit performing arts venues including Wolf Trap and for-profit organizations such as the Vancouver Olympic Committee. She was also on the Western Museums Association Board of Directors and its Annual Meeting Program Committees from 2001 to 2004. Ms. Tai continues to be a Field Reviewer in the Museums for America grant program for the Institute of Museum and Library Services where she has served since 2002.
Mandi L. Toutsch
Mandi Toutsch has over 18 years experience working in both the public and private sector building collaborative relationships with world-class global organizations for XO Communications and Attachmate. For the past two years, she held various roles within the non-profit and academic sector as a fundraiser to an interim executive director, at Palo Alto Art Center and the Ohnward Performing Arts Center. Mandi has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska in Omaha, NE, and completed a certificate in Global Business Management at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. Currently, she has been taking Liberal Arts courses through Stanford’s Continuing Studies program and holds a Visitor Services role with the Cantor Art Center and is active with Women in Consulting based in San Jose.
Staff
Adrienne McGraw, Executive Director
adrienne@exhibitenvoy.org
Adrienne McGraw has been involved with Exhibit Envoy since 1999 as staff at hosting venues and author of the educational materials for exhibits and in 2007, she independently curated Bear In Mind: The Story of the California Grizzly. Adrienne became Executive Director in 2008. She received her MA in Museum Studies with an emphasis in public programming from John F. Kennedy University and an MS Ed with an emphasis in Environmental Education from CSU East Bay and holds a BA in Environmental Studies. Adrienne is a founding member of the California Association of Museums' Green Museums Initiative Committee and is currently adjunct faculty at JFK University Museum Studies where she teaches a course on museum history and contemporary issues and advises students in the thesis seminar.
Lexie Smith Kliebe, Project Manager
lexie@exhibitenvoy.org
Since 1999, Lexie Smith Kliebe has accumulated a breath of experience in the non-profit field including project management, educational and interpretive planning, exhibition coordination, marketing, fundraising, and grants administration. Ms. Smith Kliebe earned her BS from the University of Oregon, MA in Museum Studies from John F. Kennedy University and is a graduate of the Grantsmanship Center. Lexie initially began as an intern with Exhibit Envoy in 2005 and joined the staff in May 2006. Throughout her service, she has coordinated many projects including the Sing Me Your Story Community Connections Project, development of exhibition audio tours, and production Bear In Mind education materials. Additionally, she assists with exhibition development and marketing.