_0.jpg){kind=logo}
Americans for the Arts Action Fund is pleased to announce the addition of four new members to its board of directors: Nolen V. Bivens, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts; Patrick Brien, executive director of the Riverside Arts Council; Colleen Jennings-Roggensack, vice president for cultural affairs for Arizona State University and executive director of ASU Gammage; and Felix Sanchez, chairman and co-founder of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts.
“I am pleased to welcome these four tremendous leaders to our board of directors, who each bring a diverse range of experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds to the collective voice of the Americans for the Arts Action Fund,” said Nina Ozlu Tunceli, executive director of the Americans for the Arts Action Fund. “The Arts Action Fund is committed to promoting more vibrant and livable communities throughout the country and mobilizing the largest grassroots arts advocacy network in America to help advance the arts on both the electoral and legislative landscapes. These new members will be an asset and I look forward to working with them in the years to come.”
The biographies of the new members of the Americans for the Arts Action Fund board of directors are:
Nolen V. Bivens
 |
Nolen V. Bivens, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts, is a former U.S. Army General and serves as chair of the National Leadership Advisory Council, the National Initiative for Arts & Health Across the Military (NIAHM); military community advisor for the National Endowment for the Arts Military Healing Arts Network’s Creative Forces program, and senior Policy Fellow on Arts & Military.
Bivens is president of Leader Six, Inc. and has executive leadership experience delivering successful results for public, private sector, and nonprofit organizations with $1B (+) in annual revenue, including strategic business development and sales at the VP level for a top four defense corporation, General Dynamics Mission Systems. A retired U.S. Army Brigadier General, he’s held leadership and staff positions from company through Army and Joint Pentagon Staff and U.S. Combatant and Special Operations Command levels. He has testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, and co-chairs the National Leadership Advisory Committee for NIAHM. He has been guest speaker for national nonprofit conferences, the Aspen Seminar for Leadership in the Arts; and is a contributing writer for the Smithsonian Institution, HuffPost, and American for the Arts’ social media.
Bivens holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from South Carolina State University, a Master of Science in Management from the Naval Post Graduate School, and a Master of Science in National Security and Strategic Studies from the National Defense University.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Patrick Brien
 |
Patrick Brien has been the Executive Director of the Riverside Arts Council for the past 17 years. In addition to conducting capacity building workshops and providing private consultations throughout Riverside County, he has developed programs that include art as therapy for dementia patients and arts in corrections within the state penitentiary system. Sporting a long list of acting, directing and producing credits that span from Hawaii to Germany, Patrick ran theatre companies in various parts of the world before entering the local arts agency field. On the side, he is Founder and Artistic Director of The Gestalt Theatre Project, where he has directed and produced several regional and West Coast premieres. The numerous boards he serves on include the Riverside Downtown Partnership, Californians for the Arts and California Arts Advocates. He is also the President of the Inland Theatre League and serves on the executive committee of the United States Urban Arts Federation. Patrick is a graduate of Chapman University with a BA in Theatre and in Film.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Colleen Jennings-Roggensack
 |
Colleen Jennings-Roggensack, arts leader and visionary is Vice President for Cultural Affairs for Arizona State University and Executive Director of ASU Gammage. She has artistic, fiscal and administrative responsibility for the historic Frank Lloyd Wright designed ASU Gammage, ASU Kerr Cultural Center, with responsibility for Sun Devil Stadium and Desert Financial Arena for non-athletic activities. She oversees the activation and transformation of Sun Devil Stadium into a year-round hub of cultural activity as ASU 365 Community Union. Colleen was also appointed by ASU President Michael Crow to co-lead the Advisory Council on African American Affairs. The council will enhance diversity, growth and opportunity for Black undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff. https://president.asu.edu/sites/default/files/the_lift_report.pdf
She serves on The Broadway League's Executive Committee and Board of Governors; Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee; Government Relations Committee; Labor Committee; and co-chairs the Legislative Council and Road Presenters/Intra-Industry Committees. She is Arizona's only Tony voter. Colleen is a founding and current member of the Creative Capital Board and Senior Advisor to Women of Color in the Arts, former Association of Performing Arts Professionals board president, served on the National Council on the Arts at the bequest of President Clinton and is a Life Director of the Fiesta Bowl. She is a consultant to universities, international governments and a featured speaker at conferences. In 2020, she has served on multiple panels addressing human rights, justice, diversity, equity and inclusion and the future of Broadway; including interviews with W. Kamau Bell and Tony Awardâ director Kenny Leon related to the pandemic of racism; and participated in the TheaterMakers Summit on getting Broadway touring productions back on the road. Colleen was part of the summit with Black Theatre United and The Broadway League on the creation of A New Deal for Broadway. She currently serves on the Black Theatre United 7G Committee addressing EDIAB issues. https://www.blacktheatreunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/BTU-New-Deal-For-Broadway.pdf
Colleen is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2021 City of Tempe Arts and Culture Community Impactor, 2020 National Coalition of 100 Black Women Education Legend, 2019 Valley Leadership Woman of the Year, 2019 ASU West Pioneer Award, National Society of Arts and Letters Medallion of Merit, Valle del Sol’s Mom of the Year, APAP Fan Taylor Award, Black Philanthropy Initiative Honor, The Broadway League's Outstanding Achievement in Presenter Management and Arizona's Governor’s Arts Award. In 2012, The Arizona Republic recognized Colleen for Arizona’s 100th Anniversary as one of the individuals who had the greatest impact in the era.
Former dancer and choreographer, Colleen is married to Dr. Kurt Roggensack, volcanologist at Arizona State University, and the proud mother of Kelsey, an All-American swimmer, a graduate of Williams College, two-time Fulbright Scholar, who earned a master’s degree from Harvard University and currently pursuing a PhD at Cornell University.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Felix Sanchez
 |
Felix Sanchez is the Chairman and Co-founder of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts (NHFA), a veteran media and communications expert, who consults regularly on Latino programming and content. NHFA was launched in 1997 by then-First Lady Hillary Clinton. NHFA co-founders include: Jimmy Smits, Sonia Braga, Esai Morales and Merel Julia. NHFA ambassadors include: Melissa Barrera (Starz’s VIDA) and Ryan Guzman (Fox’s 9-1-1).
Felix has created a number of impactful programs focused on creating diverse content and a new generation of diverse content creators. He launched the NHFA scholarship program with eight esteemed universities: NYU, Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Northwestern, USC, UCLA and UT Austin; created the PitchNY program with Governor Cuomo’s Office of Motion Pictures and Television, NBCUniversal and industry leaders to cultivate the talent of higher ed students throughout New York. Developed PitchDC - a content pitch program--made possible through a community grant from the D.C. Mayor’s Office of Latino Affairs. Created PitchLA with VIACOMCBS to connected development executives at CBS, Showtime and C.W. with NHFA’s Artists. Collaborated with Connecticut Public Television & Radio to develop PitchCT and The State of Latinos in Media 2020, which aired last May.
As a response to COVID 19, Felix created InformGente, a web talk series aimed at bringing current and relevant information to the Latino community on topics like the pandemic, floods, wildfires, earthquakes and other natural disasters. InformaGente, was created in association with Gov. Newsom’s Office of Emergency Services and LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens.
Felix also launched: “Coctelitos con Rita Moreno and then-Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Joaquín Castro, D-TX;” along with a program highlighting emerging high school talent in a homage to the play: “In the Heights.”
Felix, as NHFA Chairman, led the fight to desegregate the honors and awards programs of major cultural and entertainment institutions. His work resulted in major administrative and personnel changes at the Kennedy Center, and yielded new Latino honorees for Kennedy Center Honors, along with the induction of 22 new Latino members into the Association of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (Oscars). He was also the force behind convincing NBC’s Saturday Night Live to hire Melissa Villaseñor, the first Latina cast member ever in the show’s then-47-year history.
Felix Sanchez was a legislative assistant to then-U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, D-TX, with principal responsibilities for issues arising from the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Felix has been an advisor to numerous Democratic presidential and corporate campaigns. Felix served as the first National Deputy Campaign manager to the Paul Simon for President campaign. Felix went on to work on the Dukakis/Bentsen campaign as the head of the inaugural Hispanic Outreach office and originated the first Latino celebrity engagement/outreach campaign effort. Felix duplicated this role in the Clinton 1992, 1996 and Gore 2000 campaigns. Felix created a signature Florida campaign event with former President Clinton, then-Presidential Candidate Obama and former TV POTUS Jimmy Smits (The West Wing). Felix’s work on behalf of NHFA has been honored by the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP), (Advocacy Award), and the Government of Mexico (Ohtlí Award its highest national honor presented to Mexican American and Latino philanthropy leaders).
Felix serves on a number of advisory boards: the American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) Latino Jewish Leadership Council; the Kennedy Center Latino Advisory Board, the El Rey Network’s Diversity Council (Robert Rodriguez’s streaming platform); the Creative Thread Foundation and Storytelling Unbound. He also advises the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Congressional Multicultural Media Caucus; and the Congressional Caucus for Advancement of Studio, Talent (CAST) on diversity and inclusion issues in the entertainment industry.
Felix is a CNN opinions contributor. Felix has a B.A. in Child Psychology and an M.A. in Curriculum & Instruction from The University of Texas at Austin; Felix also holds a J.D. in International Law from the University of Houston Law Center. Felix’s daughter, Isabella is a 2018 sum cum laude graduate of Boston University and his son Philippe is a 2020 West Point graduate, currently stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson, Alaska. He developed PitchDC—a content pitch program—and PitchLA with ViacomCBS to connected development executives at CBS, Showtime, and CW, with NHFA’s artists. In June, PitchTexas with TelevisaUnivision will launch in Houston.
Visit this page to learn more about Americans for the Arts Action Fund's current board of directors.