BOARD OF DIRECTORS
BOARD MEMBERS
Steve Howard, a founding member of StoryArts Board, and current Chair since 2002, also served as board member and president of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego. He has spent the past 30 years as a hardware/software engineer. Steve also has volunteered as an activist for a number of political issues and his hobbies include developing computerized videos. Steve holds a BA and a Master of Library Science from the University of Arizona. He believes in using story as a tool for life development. He supported and encouraged Storymakers' vision in 1990, and then also as it grew into StoryArts, Inc. Steve's steadfast, generous and wise contribution on StoryArts Board has been invaluable to our existence.
Adele Sloboda, StoryArts' Secretary/Treasurer, has over 20 years experience in the field of credit and finance. Her experience includes revenue reporting, training of new administrators, customer service, marketing, budget preparation, expense tracking, sales forecasting, quarterly business reports, and annual financial plans. Adele has been responsible for up to $130 million in annual revenue. She has worked for General Electric/Honeywell and Unisys Corporation. Before retiring, she also worked with Los Angeles County on a $112 million welfare system conversion project. Adele holds an accounting and computer science degree from West Los Angeles College. Adele has a strong interest in supporting local nonprofits, especially in the arts. StoryArts is exceedingly fortunate to have her exceptional skills and warm hearted support.
Lois Sunrich is StoryArts' Founding Director. Her expertise includes 25 years as a community developer, including leading community story art projects. Prior to StoryArts, Lois founded Storymakers, a women's journal writing community that began as a ten year project collecting the story of 50 women from around San Diego county during the last decade in the 20th century. Lois has taught life writing to individuals and groups in the United States and Japan. Lois also has fifteen years experience working as a community developer for several nonprofit family counseling agencies in the San Diego area. For these organizations she designed and implemented innovative human development programs. Lois has a BA in humanistic psychology from UCSD and studied poetics at Naropa, a Buddhist educational institute in Boulder, Colorado. Lois also studied under the tutelage of Dr. Jack Gibb, a pioneer in the human development field.
Karin Brock is a highly respected massage therapist and teacher. She has been doing bodywork for over 30 years and is known for her intuitive approach to her clients' health and well-being. Karin's involvement in StoryArts began in 1986, when she joined a journaling group led by Lois. Karin was impressed by the healing power of recording life as it unfolds, and became a founding board member in 2000 and remained on until 2006. She then continued her association as a participant in Memoir Makers (2012). She believes that recording our stories is a helpful tool to positively move forward in life. She also believes that being involved in elders' stories helps families build solid, enduring roots. Karin's art talents include design, photography, cooking and painting.
Greg Brown Who knows why some of us are motivated to create something new — to make ART? For Greg it's an urge to share his fascination with visual and emotional experience with others. It's also a love of playing with materials, of experimenting with colors, textures, and processes to see what will happen. Greg is retired from a career as an architect specializing in buildings incorporating solar design and energy conservation. Soon after graduation from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Architecture degree, he joined the Peace Corps and spent two years in Iran. His world travel after Peace Corps left him with many memorable experiences that still influence his work today. Greg joined StoryArts Board in 2012. He has a long history with StoryArts as a strong supporter of Storymakers, our founding women's community project. And he became a member of Memoir Makers Men's Project.
Lorraine Gibb's art life began in 1982 when she was sixty. She enrolled in art classes at Palomar College, there she learned to make paper, which she did for many years, as well as created a great many large-framed collage works. Eventually Off Track Gallery, then in the old train station in Leucadia, asked her to become a member. Galleries need affordable art to exist so she began making jewelry, which she became well known. When an artist friend showed her a book she had made in a Book Arts class, Lorraine knew that was something she felt called to do. These classes also taught her how to share her life stories. She has made and exhibited many book art works over the years. Lorraine has found through art there is always a new way to look at life and express it. Lorraine was also engaged in the human potential movement and helped develop the Trust Theory. She is the beloved mother of two adult sons and three admiring granddaughters.
Laura Hansen with her mother, BJ Curry Spitler, founded Age Concerns, a San Diego, California based firm that provides care management, home care, and consulting to older people and their families. She remained active in the organization's development and ongoing management and served as chief executive officer until she retired in 2003. She has a long personal history with StoryArts as a journal keeper. She is interested in the development of the Youth/Elder Project and the ways in which it can contribute to our society. She is a graduate of Georgetown University and received her masters degree in clinical social work from San Diego State University. Laura is now offering her life long artistic talents to the community as an expressive art coach and international retreat facilitator.
Katharine Harrison is a mother, poet, teacher and scholar with advanced degrees in evolutionary biology and literacy education. A long time member of Storymakers, the women's writing and art community formed by Lois Sunrich in 1989, Katharine resides in the Ridge View neighborhood of San Diego and is currently teaching high school mathematics at San Diego Early/Middle College by day. Her husband, Wesley is a retired aircraft technician and woodworker and her daughter, Wesleigh is an alum of the Waldorf School of San Diego and a theater-arts major/dance minor at Hendrix College in Arkansas. Katharine holds many interests including gardening, singing in a community choir, brain-behavior studies and Buddhist-based spirituality.
Lynne Lewallen is a Planner for a Fortune 500 company. Previously she had an almost 20 year run in commercial real estate management. The knowledge and experience gained during that 20 year period was an excellent preparation for a new career in field of project management which eventually segued into her current field in Facility Planning. Lynne has a strong business sense which combined with her intuitive and sensitive nature is extremely beneficial to StoryArts. Lynne always has our best interest at heart because of her innate desire to be of service and support the arts. Lynne was one of Storymakers early members, and also in Lois' early journaling root groups, with like-minded women. Lynne dabbles in various art mediums and has a keen interest in the arts.
Jan Wier was an elementary school teacher for 45 years, and also became a pioneering consultant in language arts and early childhood education. She has a B.A. from American University, with graduate work in education. Jan is a valued and beloved volunteer, tutor and docent in her community, with San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy, Casa de Amistad, Solana Beach Civic & Historical Society, American Education Guidance Association for which she is the Alliance for Education Chairperson. In 2006 as a full time volunteer, Jan helped coordinate the StoryArts Youth/Elder Legacies Project in Solana Beach, and then joined our Board in 2011. In her rare moments when Jan is not giving back to her community, she enjoys golfing, reading, traveling, the theater and symphony. She is also a devoted mother to her adult children, Anna and Patrick.

HONORARY BOARD MEMBERS

Elaine Antoniuk, is an international, award winning book artist with previous experience on large established and newly forming nonprofit boards. She has served on San Diego Book Arts' Board as both President and Vice President of Programs and spent several years on Rancho Santa Fe Art Guild's Board. Her art books are in collections at the University of California San Diego, Giesel Library, Legal Arts in La Jolla, the Suzzalo Library, University of Washington in Seattle, the National Gallery of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C., the Bruce Peel Special Collections Library, University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, as well as in the collection of sculptor Leopold Bernhard, Nuremberg, Germany and private collections in the U.S. and Canada. Elaine has traveled extensively. Her interest in ancient history has taken her to many of the world's archaeological sites. She was a Founding Member of Story Arts Board, and also, joined the Memoir Makers Project (2010), out of which she wrote and published her memoir "Becoming Elaine".
Lois Brock spent 30 years researching and writing Our Family History for her children and grandchildren. To track the steps of her ancestors, who arrived in Maryland in 1634, she crisscrossed the U.S. and traveled a total of 11,000 miles. She then audio taped her own story, which will complement her 12 beautiful scrapbooks. For 20 years Lois was a Phoenix-based production manager for Motorola, where she managed both product and people. Lois was close to her seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren and believed that it is important for youth and elders to understand one another. Dedicated to supporting StoryArts' goals and projects. Lois, during her four years on StoryArts Board, edited one of StoryArts' custom published family books, and was an Elder in our Encinitas Legacies Project.
Blair Gibb has over 20 years of experience developing both database applications and websites. This includes systems analysis work in educational research at the largest and most aggressive educational research laboratory in the country, WestEd, in San Francisco. Blair's experience includes working for AOL, Johnson & Johnson, and the UCSD Antiviral Research Center. Prior to that he taught mathematics at the high school level. Blair holds a Masters degree in Mathematics from UC Berkeley and a BA in Mathematics from UC Santa Cruz. He has also been a database developer at GreatCall, makers of the Jitterbug phone. As a Board member for StoryArts, Blair created two websites for us, due to getting involved in our Legacies Youth/ Elder Project through his daughter.
Theresa Beauchamp is a family practice physician's assistant. Her educational background is in business, international relations and medicine, and she was a Peace Corps worker in Senegal, West Africa. She has served on the Board of the California Academy of Physician Assistants and as a Delegate of the House of the American Academy of Physician Assistants. Her parents exposed her and her four siblings to all art forms including creative writing, dance, piano and theatre. Theresa shares with StoryArts a passionate interest in preserving people's life stories and became involved in StoryArts Board through her Storymakers' roots that began in 1991. She is the proud mother of two sons. Her oldest son participated in the StoryArts' Youth Elder project in 2005 where he paid tribute to his five grandparents.
Marybeth Holliday, a founding member of StoryArts Board, brings both extensive training and management skills to our organization. We have been very fortunate to be able to utilize her consultation over the years. She is currently retired from her management role at Cox Communications, and has a history of volunteering with National Charity League, Junior League of San Diego, the Mingei International Museum, United Way, Assistance League of Greater San Diego and her church. Marybeth's involvement with StoryArts started in 1990, as one of the original Storymakers and a key member in her journal-writing circle, Witches Bee. Marybeth believes in the power of life writing, especially its effect on women.
Keri Losavio is an accomplished writer and editor with nearly 20 years of publishing experience in the fields of public safety communications and medicine, including writing for and editing print and online publications. She has extensive digital and print media experience. For five years, she was a member of StoryArts Board. Before Keri joined the Board, she was our primary editor of the life stories published by both StoryArts and Storymakers. Most of the 33 publications we have produced were edited by Keri. She is very proud to have been a part of this important work, and we were very fortunate to have her invaluable contribution.
Nancy Faulkner Sackheim graduated with a B.A. in Theater from Delta State University in her hometown of Cleveland, Mississippi, and received a master’s in fine arts from USC’s Professional Writing Program. She spent the next several years working in the television industry and is a member of the Writer’s Guild of America, West. In recent years she has turned to memoir and fiction, and is a member of both the San Diego and Boston writing communities. Nancy has been a generous member of the StoryArts Board and continues as a consulting writing teacher and life story performer with StoryArts memoir writing circle, Writers Ignited. ​
Stan Sewitch is a business psychologist and entrepreneur. He has founded four companies since 1989: HRG, Inc., Emlyn Systems, Chromagen Corporation and KI Investment Holdings, LLC. Stan currently serves as Vice President of Global Organization Development for the WD-40 Company. He serves as a director for several corporations as well: Helix Environmental Planning, Inc., Sabia Inc., Ridge Diagnostics and KI Daily Transcript entitled "Notes from the Corporate Underground" on subjects of strategy, leadership and the larger patterns affecting businesses around the world. Stan initiated the organizational planning that developed StoryArts' strategic direction and nonprofit structure. Stan served as the first Chair of the Board for StoryArts.
Debbie Willis has been involved in the arts since the third grade. Born in New York and raised in Los Angeles, she became a musician, with the flute as her primary instrument. Her parents encouraged her involvement in all forms of art, including writing and singing. Her mother was a freelance writer. Debbie earned her Associate Arts degree in Liberal Studies from San Diego Mesa College and now holds a B.A. degree in Humanities at San Diego State University, where she is currently employed in the School of Music and Dance as the Administrative Coordinator. As the bookkeeper for StoryArts during our inception, she helped us form into a non-profit organization. She was our first Financial Director, serving on the Board for one year. She and her husband live on their 36' sailboat, which they have been restoring for several years. They plan to retire on it and sail Mexico, Latin America or wherever the wind takes them.
Yuko Ijichi is the owner of Tokyo-based The Muse Company, a training institute for counselors who use the arts to work with people with physical challenges. In the past they have held workshops at retreat centers in the heart of Tokyo and in Hotaka Yojoen, at the foot of the Japanese Alps. The Muse Company created and produced the Me & My Town project in Minato Ward of Tokyo, by collecting elders' stories along with old photos, which were displayed at a public institution as an exhibit and basis of dialog among local community members.

Advisory Council

Laurie Sanders Cannon has made homemaking and raising a family into an art form. Her own artistry is based on a deep appreciation of indigenous cultures and spirituality, especially folk art textiles and their enhancement of daily family life. During her family's early years she created a woman's journaling group. As a member of that group she recorded her unfolding story as a young mother. She currently is facilitating writing workshops in her own community.
Lisa Dean is the author of a full color, oversized, collage art book titled Night Vision. She developed the book, with StoryArts guidance, in an attempt to understand her childhood, as she left those years and entered adulthood. Born and raised in Leucadia, California, she is presently living in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Lisa received her yoga teacher certificate in 2010, and her Masters in education and teaching credential in 2011. She is dedicated and passionate about sharing the practice of yoga with students from all over the world. Lisa is a loyal student herself, as she continues to learn new practices such as Chinese Medicine, Reiki, and Feng Shui. Lisa is dedicated to supporting StoryArts growth.
Sally Husch Dean directs the Palomar Chorale and Chamber Singers. The ensembles perform diverse repertoire, from Major Works such as Vivaldi's "Gloria"and Charpentier's "Midnight Mass for Christmas Eve" to eclectic contemporary works by composers such as Eric Whitacre, Libby Larsen, and Cary Ratcliff. She is the founding Artistic Director of the San Diego North Coast Singers Youth Chorus and has led this prestigious ensemble on national and international tours. She is a long time member of the La Jolla Symphony Chorus. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Voice Performance from the University of California, San Diego, and a Masters of Music: Choral Conducting at California State University, Los Angeles. Sally has studied conducting with Dr. David Chase in San Diego and Donald Brinegar in Los Angeles. She has directed local honor choirs and served as an adjudicator for local high school festivals. In 1997 she was one of six choral directors in the country selected for a fellowship program with the well-known composer/conductor, Alice Parker.
Rosemary KimBal is a contemporary Chinese brush painter and teacher at Dancing Brush Studios, located in Cardiff, California. Rosemary's artistic career began with her first brush painting lesson, when she instantly knew that she had found her place of personal tranquility. Her goal, while in the creative process, is to discover the quiet moment within that is achieved by joining the body and mind harmoniously. She is a founding and active member of Storymakers. And, she is one of StoryArts guardian angels, often offering Dancing Brush Studios for our memoir circles, and connecting StoryArts to valuable community leaders and resources.
Christine Lehman, soprano, pianist, and clinical social worker, uses her unique training in music and social work to train voice and piano students in her private studio. As a soprano soloist, Chris has performed with the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus, the Palomar Orchestra and Chorale, the Mendocino Music Festival, Fallbrook Music Society and others. She has held positions as Staff Singer with the La Jolla Symphony Chorus and Soprano Soloist at the Congregational Church of La Jolla. An active recitalist, Chris enjoys creating dramatic/comedic original shows with fellow musicians, such as "Tales From a Psychiatrist's Couch" featuring classical and musical theatre literature. Chris has accompanied for San Diego North Coast Singers, Palomar Chorale, La Jolla Symphony and Chorus, and the Birmingham School of Music. She has directed choirs for San Diego North Coast Singers, the Encinitas Union School District, and the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of San Dieguito. Chris currently directs the adult choir at San Marcos Lutheran Church and serves as Musicianship Coordinator for San Diego North Coast Singers. She holds a post-graduate certification in Kodaly Music Education. Prior to her music career, she received a Master of Social Work degree and worked as a psychotherapist for 10 years. Her personal spiritual inquiry has led her to a variety of teachers in consciousness-raising and participation in StoryArts' Memoir Makers project and community journal writing.
David R. Moore, Esq. is a partner in the law firm of Moore & Skiljan located in Carlsbad, California. David has the highest "AV" rating for an attorney by Martindale-Hubbell, which attests to a lawyer's professional legal ability and ethics. He has twenty-three years experience in corporate, business, and real estate transactions and litigation. David serves as outside and in-house counsel for small to mid-sized companies. He has served on the Board of Directors of nonprofits. He generously provided StoryArts with legal advice needed to incorporate as a nonprofit entity. He has also offered us ongoing guiding legal counsel, whenever we have needed it.
Antonet O'Toole has spent almost all of her life in California. She went to college at the University of California, San Diego, in La Jolla, majoring in Comparative Literature. She retired as a CA licensed building contractor in 1999. After decades, living and working in "North County," she now lives with her husband on a remote 80 acres in the mountains above San Diego. They have two children and 5 grandchildren. She presently spends her time with at risk teenagers, at a local drug rehabilitation center, facilitating art projects and art excursions for the facility's youth. She is a lifelong poet and for some years, a collage artist. She is involved in other artistic pursuits, including art and story as a member of the StoryArts, "Memoir Makers" group.
Donna Otter, MA, REAT is a writer who has worked in many forms, including poetry, essay and performance art. The foundation of all her work is the diary. Also, visual art has been a joyful and important way for her to play with non-verbal imagery. She has made many artist's books employing collage, text, paint, photography and family archives. She received her BA in Creative Writing from SDSU and her MA in Expressive Arts Therapy from the Expressive Arts Institute of San Diego and the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee Switzerland. Donna was a founding member of Storymakers, has been a Project Coordinator for StoryArts Family Publishing services, facilitated book art workshops for our Legacies Project, was a member of the Memoir Makers Project, and now provides consultation for our Community Projects from her new home and art studio in Portland, Oregon.
Doug Shaw lives in Leucadia with his wife, Wendy. Grown children Alina and Tolan are also in Encinitas, and the entire family has connections to the StoryArts circle. Doug has been involved in Story Arts since 2008. He has participated in various projects including individual and group journaling, and most notably was a member of the Men's Memoir Makers tribe in 2012, which continues to meet regularly and be a source of growth and connection for its members. After a long, successful career as an Account Executive in large institutional Information Technology sales, Doug is now writing the next chapter of his life as an entrepreneur and creative artist. He is partnered with Wendy to help grow her ArtNSol fine art business, as well as playing and promoting local music with his band The Rhythm Method and supports his son Tolan Shaw. He has also become interested in creating and marketing travel-inspired gourmet foods. Doug's lifetime love of words and writing was inspired by his cleverly humorous wordsmith father.
Wendy Gauntlett-Shaw is a sculptor and oil painter based in Leucadia. Her website, ArtNSol, showcases her most recent series titled Relevant Women: Painting Women's Spirit of Hope – A Global Reflection. These oils are portraits of women around the world as they are actively involved in the daily tasks of their lives, capturing their spirit of hope. She also loves the outdoors and painting the intense color and graceful shapes of the landscapes. Some of her best-known pieces are those of Dog Beach, which bring whimsey and laughter to their audience. Wendy, her husband Doug and both children, Alina and Tolan have worked with Lois and Story Arts Inc. for many years. Wendy has been part of Tree Goddesses, a women's journaling circle since 2006, as well as a member of Memoir Makers Women's Circle. Wendy's Relevant Women series was inspired and held by Lois and her StoryArts circles, and has given her great inspiration as an artist. These circles have been a guide to look deeply at her artistic passion, as well as the meaning and purpose of her art. Wendy and her husband are now embarking on a new journey. They are following their creative passions together, once again, after many years raising a family, with Lois as a guide.
Kathleen Murphy Stiven, a native Californian, lives in Cardiff, with her husband Jim Stiven. Kathleen taught elementary school when her three children were young. In 1980 she became a docent at the San Diego Museum of Art and volunteered there for 23 years. During those years, Kathleen gave presentations with art slides to the classrooms of San Diego City, County and private schools. She taught Children's Workshop at the museum and gave tours to children and adults. After retiring from SDMA, Kathleen has continued to volunteer in the classroom with the Lux Art Institute Valise Project. Kathleen was one of the founding members of Storymakers in 1990 and worked on Story Arts' Legacy Project in 2004-05, as well as became a member of Memoir Makers, 2010. Jim joined the Memoir Makers Men's Project in 2012. Kathleen and Jim have five grandchildren.
Christy Wilson is the executive director of the Rancho Santa Fe Foundation. Early in StoryArts' development, Christy shared her knowledge about guidelines for creating a successful non-profit organization. Also, from her experience as president of the North County Philanthropy Council, Christy provided StoryArts with timely and invaluable fundraising training.  ​
Wendy Woolf, a local teacher, composer and artist, grew up in Del Mar and has a BA in Biology and Genetics from UCSD. For 20 years she has been a teaching consultant for science, theater, music, and art in the Encinitas and Carlsbad Schools as well as the music director and composer for The Park Dale Players, an Encinitas-based children's musical company that she co-owns. She has composed the music to over 100 songs, collaborating with local playwright and director Pat Lydersen. Several of their musicals have been published by Pioneer Drama. Besides her teaching and composing, Wendy paints in oils and writes guest vegetarian cooking posts on her daughter's popular blog, www.girlsgonechild.net. Wendy and her husband, Larry, live in La Costa. They have three grown children and four grandchildren, all of whom, Wendy says, "Rock their world!"