Jack Rasmussen

Museum Director/Curator

Jack Rasmussen is the Director and Curator of the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center. He previously held Executive Director positions at di Rosa Preserve: Art & Nature, Maryland Art Place, and Rockville Arts Place. He was the owner and director of Jack Rasmussen Gallery in Washington, DC. He holds a PhD in Anthropological Linguistics, MA’s in Anthropology and Arts Management, and an MFA in Painting from American University.

William Stapp

Advisory Board

William Stapp is a photographic historian, independent curator and photography appraiser in Washington, D.C. He was the founding Curator of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, and has also held the positions of Senior Curator of Photography at George Eastman House, and Head of Interpretation and Visiting Curator of Photographs at Great Britain’s National Science + Media Museum in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Will Stapp has published, organized exhibitions, and lectured widely on a wide range of photographic subjects, including the introduction of photography to America; the history of photography in Maryland; the origins of photojournalism; portraiture; the first Americans to photograph in Egypt; photography in Asia in the 19th century; the work of the contemporary Canadian artist-photographer Evergon; and contemporary circus photographs. Bio photo (C) Carol Harrison.

Susan Rosebaum

Advisory Board

Susan Rosenbaum earned a Master of Arts degree in Dramatic Literature from Tufts University, a Bachelor’s degree in Theatre from Brandeis University and was a Fellow of the Institute for Educational Leadership. Her career spans four decades of institutional planning, management, fundraising, marketing and communications. Clients have included the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the National Jewish Museum, Washington Performing Arts Society, Dana Tai Soon Burgess Contemporary Dance, Provisions Library and Art Center, the University of the District of Columbia, George Mason University, Maryland State Arts Council, Trust for Museum Exhibitions, U.S. Department of Education, Alliance for Arts Education, and Massachusetts Council on the Arts. She guides a major estate of paintings, works on paper, and sculpture – Abramowitz Artworks.

Joshua Belhumeur

Partner - BRINK

Josh has a B.S. in Marketing from the University of Arizona and has earned a variety of accolades throughout his career including Webby and American Advertising awards. In addition to being a skilled designer, developer, producer and writer, he works directly with BRINK’s largest clients as a strategy consultant. In his non-existent free time, Josh consults with tech startups and volunteers with AAF DC, Day Eight, and Swing Left.

Carol Harrison

Advisory Board

Carol Harrison’s photographs are included in the collections of the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Mississippi Museum of Art, Holocaust Museum (DC), Ogden Museum of Southern Art, the Museum of Polish History, and other museums, as well as in private collections. She has taught photography at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Artist Workshop Program; the Bullis School, Potomac, Maryland; The Peninsula Fine Arts Center, Newport News, VA; The Fredericksburg Center for the Creative Arts, Fredericksburg, VA; and other institutions. A number of museums use Ms. Harrison’s portraits of artists in their exhibitions and publications, and they are also frequently published in The Washington Post, Washingtonian Magazine, and others.

Steve Shapiro

Advisory Board

Steve grew up with an artist mother — Hilda Shapiro Thorpe — and a mathematician father who worked in design, graphics and advertising. He began building elaborate model airplanes early in his childhood, and has always had a passion for motors and machines (repairing and restoring British cars and motorbikes), as well as art (particularly the works of Picasso). His love of water and water craft began with his stepfather’s 68′ wooden yawl, which he enjoyed on regular several-day-long cruises in the Chesapeake Bay as a teenager. He began his boat repair career between his undergraduate and medical school education, working at the custom ocean going sailboat and cruiser building shop, Alexandria Yacht Co. Through this experience, he became expert in Marine composite fabrication, repair, and restoration. Steve attended the Corcoran School of Art, and received his B.A. from George Washington University in Biology. He continued on to receive his M.D from Georgetown University School of Medicine. He has owned and operated Alexandria Boatworks for more than twenty years, specializing in carbon fiber hull and shell repair.

John Wise

Advisory Board

John Wise is a painter and sculptor based in Frederick, Maryland.He had solo shows at Jefferson Place Gallery in 1970 and 1974 and enjoyed associations with many of the artists of the gallery at the time. His works continue to explore the boundaries of the canvas, and the meaning of materials. His works are in several museum and university collections, and have been included in numerous solo and groups shows.

Alexandra Reigle

Advisory Board

Alex is a Reference Librarian at the American Art/Portrait Gallery Library. She answer reference questions, provides instruction and orientations, and manages the Art and Artist Files.Her background is in art history and Asian studies, particularly South East Asian Buddhist art. Her interests include American history, ancient art, spicy foods, Asian pop music, and becoming the world’s leading expert on the Simpsons. She holds her BA in Art History with a focus in Asian Studies from the University of Mary Washington, and received her MLS from the University of Maryland in 2015.

Mary Higgins

Advisory Board

Mary Welch Higgins is a fifth generation Washingtonian. She grew up surrounded by art and artists. She received her BFA from the Corcoran School of Art in Washington DC in 1986. After the Corcoran, she worked at the Phillips Collection for a number of years before moving to Northern Virginia where she received a Masters in Visual Information Technologies from George Mason University. She taught interactive design process as an adjunct professor for George Mason University for six years while working as an art director producing interactive digital media projects for an array of clients. Recently, she has been working as gallery director and curator at The Schlesinger Center Concert Hall and Arts Center at the Northern Virginia Community College where she showcases the work of artists living and working the DC area.

Micah Salb

Advisory Board

Micah Salb has more than two decades of experience litigating complex employment matters,
primarily representing employees in discrimination cases, including faculty in higher education matters nation-wide. Mr. Salb also serves clients in Estate Planning and Business Law Matters, providing both foundational planning for middle-class families and sophisticated tax-planning and wealth transfer strategies for high net worth families. Mr. Salb has extensive courtroom and appellate experience, having litigated hundreds of complex cases, brought about two dozen cases to trial, and handled twenty cases in the courts of appeals. Mr. Salb earned his B.A. from the University of Connecticut in 1991 and his J.D. from Emory University School of Law in 1994, where he received the school’s 1994 Dean’s Public Service Award. He was appointed in early 2017 to the DC Court of Appeals’ Committee on Admissions.