About Us

Gary Roberts

President, Chair of Strategic Planning, Chair of DEI

Gary Roberts, a Medford resident and ceramics collector, works at the MIT Sloan School of Management as Director of Faculty and Research Services, where he develops strategy and oversees an array of operations and resource planning. Prior to MIT, he worked at Tufts University as Assistant Provost for Academic Affairs and held a number of positions at Harvard University. Gary has served as the chair of the Medford Arts Council promoting community arts and culture.

Jeannine Falino

Vice President

Jeannine Falino has been involved with SA+C since she was the Peter and Carolyn Lynch Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts in the 1990s.  Now a resident of New York, Jeannine is a private curator and art historian with a long list of acclaimed exhibitions and books to her credit.

Lois Russell

Second Vice President

Lois Russell is a contemporary basket maker whose award-winning work has been exhibited internationally. President of the National Basketry Organization for three years, Lois teaches basketry across the country.  Before becoming a studio artist, Lois was a journalist writing about education and served as an advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Education on national education reports.

Polly Allen

Treasurer

Polly Allen left the corporate world in 1998 after a successful career in the apparel industry specializing in product development, merchandising and design. She has made a second career of volunteering her graphic design and financial skills to craft organizations. She serves on the Boards of North Country Studio Workshops and Snow Farm.

Jo Stealey

Secretary

Josephine (Jo) Stealey is an artist known for her multi-media work using textiles and handmade paper. Her work is exhibited widely and is found in many private and public collections, including the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art.

Queen Allotey-Pappoe

Board of Trustees

Queen Allotey-Pappoe is an award-winning Artist born and raised in Accra, Ghana. She moved to England to further her education and finally to Boston (USA) where she worked in the nonprofit Industry for a while before transitioning to study Fashion Design at the Massachusetts College of Art for Design.

Lorraine Bressler

Board of Trustees

Lorraine Bressler has been an active participant in the Boston arts community for many years.  A collector of contemporary art and craft, she has a special interest in glass and ceramics. 

Ellen-Deane Cummins

Life Trustee

Ellen-Deane lives in Saratoga Springs, New York, and has been a summer resident on Lake George, in the town of Bolton Landing, for over 35 years. She was a Boston area resident for 23 years. Ellen-Deane is an avid collector of fine art and contemporary craft.  She also has a passionate interest in classical music.

Lynne Francis-Lunn

Board of Trustees

Lynne Francis-Lunn was until recently the Director of Merchandising at the Peabody Essex Museum where she was responsible for generating revenue at the museum store and online. She served as a liaison to major donors, volunteers and the museum’s Fashion Visiting Committee.

Beverly Gomes

Board of Trustees

Beverly has been a maker of craft objects since she was a child. She became a collector while still in college. She initially went to Pratt Institute to study design but abandoned the field in favor of psychology. With a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University, she served as a research psychologist at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School and New England Medical Center/Tufts Medical School.

Miguel Gómez‐Ibáñez

Board of Trustees

Miguel Gómez‐Ibáñez is a nationally recognized designer and maker of studio furniture. He is President Emeritus of North Bennet Street School. During his tenure at NBSS, he completed a $28 million development project bringing all eight professional training programs under one roof for the first time in a decade.

Judith H. Obermayer

Board of Trustees

Judith  is a former consultant to small high technology companies in the areas of strategic planning, financial management, and the commercialization of new technology. For many years she was associated with Moleculon Research Corp. (an R & D company in the chemical and pharmaceutical fields) as an officer, a director, and as a director of Moleculon, Inc., a public spinoff, later sold to an Australian company.

Arthur Pressman

Board of Trustees

Arthur Pressman retired several years ago from a legal career that included being a partner at Buchanan Ingersoll PC in Pennsylvania and at Nixon Peabody LLP in Boston. He has continued to teach at Boston University School of Law and is working as a professional mediator.

Paulette Werger

Board of Trustees

Paulette Werger has been involved with SA+C for over 20 years. She  is a metalsmith living in  Lebanon, New Hampshire, whose work has been exhibited widely, including at the Chazen Museum of Art, the Renwick Gallery of Craft, and Fuller Craft Museum. Paulette has received numerous awards and permanent collection acquisitions.

Martin Wice

Board of Trustees

Martin Wice has been a collector of craft art for 30 years.  He and his late wife Cathy began their quest into craft collection with a purchase of two glass sculptures at an outdoor art show in their hometown of St. Louis.  They were further introduced to fine crafts at the St. Louis Art

Brigitte Martin

Executive Director

Brigitte Martin, a longtime figure in the US craft field, joined the SA+C as Executive Director in March 2019, following a national search. Martin was previously the Executive Director of the Furniture Society where she was instrumental in securing grants in support of innovative programmatic efforts, and leading the board through a Strategic Planning process. Prior to that, she served as board president for the Society of North American Goldsmiths following a 4-year term on their board where she led and implemented numerous Fundraising, Professional Development and Community outreach efforts.

Since coming on board with the SA+C, she has overseen the organization’s Strategic Planning efforts in 2019 as well as the Society’s 2020 move from the Seaport location into the virtual realm when Covid-19 forced national shutdowns. At the Society, Brigitte is responsible for Organizational Oversight and Planning, Financial Oversight, Community outreach, FR & Development Oversight, CraftBoston Program Planning, Board support and newsletter editing.

Martin is well-known to international crafting communities for founding and managing Crafthaus from 2008-2012, a virtual community that supports and provides services to craft artists in all disciplines, as well as for organizing national Craft Think Tank events for many years in collaboration with the American Craft Council. She’s served as editor at large for the American Craft Council’s award-winning publication, American Craft.

Her book, Humor in Craft, published by Schiffer Books in 2012 received a gold medal in the Humor Category of the 2013 Independent Publisher Book Awards.

Karina Burston

Deputy Director

Karina has 25 years of experience in marketing, strategy, and operations roles in both for-profit and non-profit organizations. At SA+C she is responsible for managing staff, marketing, website redesign, and administrative functions. She has an MBA from Columbia University and a BA in English from Mount Holyoke College.

At the Society, Karina is the Administrative Director and HR Director. She is also responsible for Website Development, CraftBoston Operational Oversight, Volunteer management, Membership program oversight and she is the Editor of the organization’s online newsletter.

Molly Burroughs

CraftBoston Manager

Molly is a recent graduate of Williams College with a degree in Art History and History. Prior to SA+C, she worked at Vose Galleries, Cuseum, and the Clark Art Institute. At SA+C she is responsible for running the high profile CraftBoston program and assisting the team with her in-depth knowledge of background support program functions.

At the Society, Molly is responsible for CraftBoston program administration, artist support, customer support, and website management.

Zoe Langosy

Marketing, Graphic Design

Zoe has twenty years of marketing, graphic design, illustration, and office management experience. Her most recent work has been for nonprofit organizations such as Trinity Church Boston, Munroe Center for the Arts, and the Multicultural Arts Center in Cambridge, as well as freelancing for other arts nonprofits in the area. Prior to 2008 she worked in illustration and design in Los Angeles and London. She is a graduate of Massachusetts College of Art.

At the Society, Zoe creates visual content for all marketing efforts relating to CraftBoston, the website, and newsletters.

Joan Ciolino

Bookkeeper

Joan has worked in arts administration for over twenty years, and has been with SA+C for five. She also works as Administrative Manager at the National Basketry Organization and as Bookkeeper at North Country Studio Workshop, while also managing her family gift shop in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Prior to that she worked for five years at the New England Quilt Museum. At SA+C she is responsible for all bookkeeping and human resource functions, as well as assisting with financial forecasting.

Martin Gredinger

CFO

Martin has worked as a consulting CFO for over 30 years with a variety of arts and nonprofit institutions including the Fuller Craft Museum, the deCordova Sculpture Park Museum, Fruitlands Museum, and Concord Museum. Martin has an MBA from University of Connecticut and a BA from Syracuse University.

John Michael Kennedy

PR Consultant

John Michael is president of JMKPR: Communications for Creative Industries, a public relations firm focused on working with individuals and organizations involved in the arts. The Society of Arts + Crafts has retained John Michael for more than five years to assist with a variety of public relations needs.