Leadership & Staff

Julie Rios has been a Woolly fan since the late 1980s. Now retired, Julie enjoys all forms of performing arts and attends over 100 performances a year. In her 34 year career with the U. S. Postal Service, she had responsibility for key marketing, IT, web, operations, strategy and energy initiatives. A California native, she has lived on Capitol Hill for the last 28 years. She received her BA in Studio Art from the University of California and attended the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Nancy Hartsock is a Financial Advisor and Financial Planning Specialist with The Hasenberg Hartsock Group at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Washington, DC. She specializes in Wealth Management, Financial Planning, and multi-generational family work. Prior to her career as a Financial Advisor, she worked for 25 years in the health care industry with the last 10 years in senior management as a business owner. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and English from Southern Illinois University and her Master of Science degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from the Rehabilitation Institute at Southern Illinois.  

Scott B. Schreiber, founding Chair of the Securities Class and Derivative Litigation and Securities Enforcement and Litigation Practices for Arnold & Porter, is a seasoned litigator with experience serving as lead trial counsel in defending against actions filed in federal courts and administrative tribunals by the SEC, PCAOB, and class and derivative action plaintiffs. He regularly represents corporations, directors, officers, board committees and accountants in civil litigation and business disputes, securities fraud class actions, shareholder derivative and breach of fiduciary duty litigation. Scott also focuses on litigating insurance coverage and bad faith cases, and representing foreign corporations, hedge funds, universities, and limited partnerships. He has also rendered public sector service, having been appointed as Special Counsel to the US Congress, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights, and as Special Assistant Counsel to the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He served as Law Clerk to the Hon. William H. Timbers, US Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. Scott serves as the Co-Chair of the Directors’ and Officers’ Subcommittee of the Professional Liability Litigation Committee for the American Bar Association, as an Educator/Teacher for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and as the Immediate Past President of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company’s Board of Directors. He sees the theatre as an agent for social change and building community in our pluralistic society and is particularly keen on the playwright’s ability to move and communicate with the audience by creating empathy. 

David Sharman is a long time DC-area resident (although still tainted by an English accent) and joined the Woolly board in 2015. His passions include theatre, sailing, anything outdoors, photography, ski racing, sailing, and his two daughters – one is studying acting at NYU Tisch, the other working in NYC. David was until recently the chief executive officer of a $1bn revenue digital marketing company and has an MA in mathematics and theoretical physics from Cambridge University, England. 

Avani Gala hails from the Deep South. She is a graduate from Mercer University (go bears!) and the University of Virginia (wahoowa!). Avani first moved to the DC area over a decade ago to begin her career in public accounting. As a CPA and Certified Fraud Examiner, she’s conducted white-collar, forensic investigations around the world and developed ethics and compliance programs for media companies. Avani enjoys creating (sewing, cooking, and gardening) and consuming (time with loved ones, food, and stories). She has nurtured a love of storytelling in its many forms—word of mouth, print, music, audiovisual and live performance—and humbly contributes to this lifelong passion through the Woolly community. 

Barbara Strack is a lawyer by training who has worked in the public and private sectors over a 34-year career in Washington. She has practiced law, worked for a Senate subcommittee staff, led a project on immigrant integration at a leading nonprofit, and focused on immigration policy and refugee resettlement at the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security. Barbara was introduced to theatre at an early age and became a regular theatregoer when she returned to DC after law school. Her first Woolly production was New York Mets in the summer of 1986, in a church basement on F Street, and she has been a fan and supporter over the years.  She  joined the board in 2015. 

Colin K. Bills (he/him/his) is a Washington, DC, based Lighting and Set Designer.  He is a Company Member and member of the EDI Working Group at Woolly Mammoth where has lit over fifty productions and designed several sets, including lighting for Fairview, Gloria, Botticelli in the Fire, An Octoroon, Black Side of the Moon (also set design), Stupid Fucking Bird, The Convert, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, A Bright New Boise, Oedipus el Rey, Clybourne Park, and Dead Man’s Cell Phone. As a Conspirator with the devised theater company dog & pony dc, he collaborated in the writing, direction and design of A Killing Game and Beertown, and has designed the sets and lighting for Courage and Punch…that’s the way we do it. In the DC area, his favorite designs include The Originalist and Oliver at Arena Stage; Once and Colossal at Olney Theater, Hairspray, A Little Night Music, Threepenny Opera and Midwestern Gothic at Signature. His designs have been seen nationally (and internationally) at Arena Stage, Asolo Rep, The Berkshire Theater Festival, CENTERSTAGE, Chicago’s Second City, Constellation Theatre, Contemporary American Theater Festival, Court Theater, Dallas Theater Center, Everyman Theatre, 59E59, Ford’s Theatre, Forum Theatre, Imagination Stage, Intiman Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Marin Theatre Company, Metro Stage, Olney Theatre Center, Opera Lafayette, Opéra Royal Versailles, Pasadena Playhouse, Portland Center Stage, Round House Theatre, The Smithsonian, Signature Theatre, Studio Theatre, Synetic Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Theater J, The Washington Revels, The Welders, The Wilma Theater, and the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Colin has won three Helen Hayes Awards and is a recipient of a Princess Grace Fellowship in Theater. He is the Director of Production for the Washington Revels, has taught lighting and set design at Howard and American Universities, and is a graduate of Dartmouth College.

Lushaé Cook (he/him/his) was born in Denver, Colorado but claims Phoenix, Arizona as his hometown. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Master of Business Administration from Howard University. He has been a resident of Washington, DC since 2001 when he first began his undergraduate studies. Lushaé’s career efforts have centered on Finance and Accounting across varying industries servings as an Assistant Finance Manager with Four Seasons Hotel Washington, DC, the Finance Manager for US, UK, and APAC regions with Clutch Group LLC, and providing contracted finance and accounting support services to Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts as well as the Watergate Hotel. More recently, Lushaé has played a vital role in the development and deployment of budget-neutral energy efficiency and renewable projects for public, private, and Federal customers across the mid-Atlantic region while serving as a Senior Account Executive with Ameresco, Inc. Currently, Lushaé is the Senior Manager of Innovation and New Programs at Pepco Holdings, Inc. In this role, he drives strategy to advance the development of energy efficient, renewable, and resilient infrastructure projects, establish value-adding partnerships, and manage cross-functional team efforts to prepare for implementation of projects that center equity and connect with communities. In his free time, Lushaé enjoys spending quality time with his family and friends, experimenting with recipes and new culinary techniques, and frequenting live music and varied artistic performances.    

Jane Grove Fishkin (she, her, hers) is a technologist and economist by training. Following her 35 years at Brookings Institution, Jane retired as Vice President of Information Technology/ Chief Information Officer Emerita. She was a frequent speaker on technology and knowledge management issues and involved in many technology organizations, particularly those concerned with the evolving role of women in technology.

Jane has served on a variety of organization boards, including N Street Village, The Computer Ethics Institute, E. Gov Knowledge Management, and the Russian Cultural Society. At N Street Village, Jane has served as Board Vice Chairman, Audit Chair, and on the Building, Capital Campaign and Governance Committees. Jane was instrumental in forming the successful N Street Ambassadors Council to further community outreach.

Sari Hornstein (she/her/hers) was born and raised in Montreal, but also lived in London and the Netherlands before moving to the US in 1983. In addition to teaching college history, Sari served as the Executive Director at ArtStream – an inclusive theatre company and currently serves on their Board of Directors. She has authored and edited numerous books and writes extensively on issues related to people with disabilities. Sari is an outspoken advocate for people with disabilities and currently serves on the Board of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Advisory Board of the Institute for After School Development, an affiliate of the All Stars Project, that focuses on after school and youth development; and the Quality Advisory Committee of SEEC, a DDA licensed agency that serves adults with disabilities in Maryland. Sari graduated from McGill University (BA 1978), the London School of Economics (MSc 1980) and Leiden University (PhD 1985).

Sara Mindel (she/her) is owner and practitioner at Embodied Psychotherapy LLC, who specializes in Trauma, Sexuality and Somatic Psychotherapy. Sara is trained in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and EMDR and has a long history and experience working in and for the LGBTQ and BIPOC communities. For the almost two decades Sara has been providing therapeutic trauma and somatic healing. She received her Master’s in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work and a BS in Human Development and Family Studies from Lesley University. In addition to her current work, she has held clinical positions at Whitman-Walker Health, SMYAL (Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League), and The Lambda Center at The Psychiatric Institute of Washington, Sara has lectured and presented throughout the area on issues of both Trauma and Working with LGBTQ clients and Sexuality. As for her time with Woolly, Sara has been a friend of the theater for the past ten years. Enjoying the shows and attending fundraising and theater events. Not only has Sara been connected to the theater through the arts but also has supported the theater through her mental health work on multiple occasions, which has propelled her to offer her support services to the regional DC Theater Consortium. Creating safe spaces and supportive community for the actors cast and theater community.

Pete Miller (he/him/his) became an enthusiastic playgoer after a high school class brought him to the Folger Library to see a production of Love’s Labours Lost. He volunteered as a stage manager while an undergraduate at the University of Chicago. During his seven years in the Air Force, theater availability varied – pretty good in Austin, Texas, not so easy to find English language plays in Kaiserslautern, Germany, great DC theater available during his final tour at the Pentagon. Continued to see a lot of DC theater while working for KPMG for four years, during which time he moved into the District. Worked for AOL for eleven years, mostly in network operations, at the same time working his way up within Woolly Mammoth from volunteer usher to board member. With his long time partner Sara, co-chaired the Breaking New Ground capital campaign. Took a brief hiatus from board membership while living in Portland, Oregon then rejoined upon his return to DC. While resident in DC, Pete averages around 100 evenings of theater per year.

Liz Norton (she/her/hers) was a freelance television producer for over ten years, with a focus on public policy issues. Those programs included several Fred Friendly Seminars for PBS and youth violence programming for MTV News. Liz founded Stone Soup Films in 2008 in response to the gap in the communications capacity of the nonprofit sector. Since then, the organization has grown nearly 2,000%, has completed over 100 films and has a roster of nearly 700 industry volunteers. During the Clinton Administration, Ms. Norton was a research director in the White House Office of Communications. In that role, she served as a link between the president, the press and the public, primarily on the issues involving crime and drug policy. For twenty-five years, Ms. Norton has been a director of the Diane and Norman Bernstein Foundation. In addition to joining the Woolly board in 2016, she also serves on the board of The Environmental Film Festival and lives in Washington DC with her husband and two teenage children.

Michael E. Ramirez (he/him/his) has been an enthusiastic Woolly fan since 1990. Recently retired from the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Amtrak, Michael enjoys all forms of theatre: film and stage. His career in Human Resources spans 25 years, most recently as the Senior Director for Workforce Planning and HR Operations, where he lead Amtrak’s human resources operations in developing and implementing nation-wide recruitment and staffing, strategic workforce planning, and HR business strategies and programs. Defining and emphasizing managerial roles in optimizing human capital, Michael implemented strategies linked to organizational goals and short/long range objectives and established and maintained the organization’s succession planning programs. Prior to his appointment at Amtrak, Michael served as the Associate Director, Personnel Operations Administration, District of Columbia Office of Personnel. He was responsible for the management, direction, coordination, evaluation and administrative control of personnel responsible for providing analytical and technical human resource management functions in agencies and departments under the personnel authority of Mayors Sharon Pratt, Marion Barry and Anthony Williams, respectively. Michael has a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Master’s degree in Social Work/Public Administration from the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs, also at the University of Texas.

Eric Ruffin’s most recent regional theatre directing credits include 2-2 Tango at Studio Theatre, A Raisin in the Sun at Crossroads Theatre, Old Settler for The African Continuum Theatre Company, Gutta Beautiful at New Federal Theatre, New Kid for Imagination Stage, and the critically acclaimed New Jersey premiere of Topdog/Underdog for Luna Stage. He has also directed Venus, Passing Strange, and Cut Flowers at the Ira Aldridge Theatre in addition to In The Blood, Antigone, In Arabia We’d All Be Kings, Jesus Hopped the “A” Train and Our Lady of 121st Street for the Rutgers Theatre Company. Other credits include Public Ghosts/Private Stories at the George Street Playhouse, Romeo and Juliet at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, The Piano Lesson for The African Globe, My Children! My Africa! at Luna Stage, Waiting to be Invited for The Black Theatre Troupe, and The Story for the Howard Players. He founded “The Acting Studio” at the Newark School of the Arts, a professional training program for actors, and was the founder and Artistic Director for the Newark Youth Ensemble, Newark, NJ. Additionally he has served as the Artistic Director for The New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s Young Writer Workshop and has taught acting and performance theory courses at various schools including Howard University, Duke Ellington School of the Arts and Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts. Ruffin holds a B.F.A.  in Theatre Arts from Howard University and an MFA in Directing from Rutgers University. He is a Society for Stage Directors and Choreographers Associate, a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect and a 1999 recipient of the New York Drama League Directing Fellowship. He has also been honored with a Shakespeare Theatre Acting Fellowship, and the Princess Grace Grant for Dance.

Born and raised in Pawley’s Island in the Gullah/Geechee Lowcountry of South Carolina, Sheldon Scott now lives and works in Washington, DC. His fine-art practices plays in the intersection of Race, Sexuality and Economics, while impugning mythologies of Black Male supernaturality, and includes works of Performance, Sculpture, Installation, Photography, Spoken word, Creative Nonfiction, Objects and Ephemera. Scott has exhibited at the WPA Select Auction, Arlington Arts Center, Delaware State University, Goucher University, Art Miami, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, National African Art Museum, Katzen Art Museum, David C. Driskell Center, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and has been recently acquired by the National Museum of African-American History and Culture. Scott’s works has been collected by other esteemed institutions including J.P. Morgan Chase and private collections globally. He has been featured in Forbes Magazine, Blouin Art Info, Art 21 and Hyperallergic and has been recognized as by Americans for the Arts’ Best Public Art Program in 2017 and as a Finalist for the National Portrait Gallery’s 2019 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. Scott has been a featured presenter at TEDx Mid- Atlantic, ArtTable, CreativeTime Festival, College Arts Association Conference, Washington Ideas Festival, and the Smithsonian Long Conversation. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Teaching for Change, Transformer Arts, and the Advisory Board of the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum. Scott is the Founder of ProjectUnlearn and also currently serves as the Director of Culture at Eaton DC. Scott’s Fine-Art practice is represented by ConnerSmith Gallery.

Ivania Stack (she/her/hers) is a costume designer based in the Washington, DC Area. With over 20 years of experience, she has designed costumes for over 300 shows. Her work as been seen at several regional and DC area theatres including: Woolly Mammoth Arena Stage, Gulf Shore Playhouse, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, The McCarter Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, The Wilma Theatre, Everyman Theatre, The Karski Project, Andy’s Summer Playhouse, The Second City ,The Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Ford’s Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Signature Theatre, Round House Theatre,  Imagination Stage, Olney Theatre Center, Studio Theatre, Theatre J, Pointless Theatre, dog & pony dc, Theatre Alliance, and Gala Hispanic Theatre. Ivania is a proud company member with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, and has been a resident artist  with Roundhouse Theatre as well as serving on the Board,  an associate artist with Olney Theatre Center, and an adjunct lecturer for McDaniel College, Georgetown University and University of Maryland. She has an MFA in design from the University of Maryland, College Park. Ivania is also a member of United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829. 

Cameron (Cam) Tommey (he/him) is Associate General Counsel to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the NRDC Action Fund. In this role he advises the organization on legal and compliance issues related to tax exemption, fundraising, lobbying, and electoral activities. He previously served as Senior Attorney and Assistant Secretary for The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and chaired TNC’s Government Relations Legal Practice Team. Prior to TNC, Cam was the Director of Legal and Program Compliance at the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities. He received his J.D. from Washington & Lee University School of Law (Lexington, VA) and a Bachelor of Science in Earth & Environmental Science from Furman University (Greenville, SC). Cam lives in Washington, D.C. and when he’s not at a farmer’s market or reading in a park you can find him hiking on a trail in the DMV or West Virginia.