Staffs

Anita M. Lauricella has been committed throughout her professional career to applying strategic thinking, operational assessments, and financial analysis to serve community nonprofit and public-focused organizations. Since 2001 she has worked as an independent consultant, providing financial management, coalition-building, facility development, and strategic planning consulting to organizations involved in the arts, community service, and education. Recent projects have focused on place management, arts-based placemaking, cultural facilities, and cultural economic development.

Since 2013, Anita has had various positions at the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District. Initially hired as a senior planner/project manager, Anita has also been the interim CFO, the interim co-executive director, and most recently the Director of Planning and Research. Anita’s work included ensuring that the BID’s 34 blocks of public realm meet the needs of members, residents, and visitors and is welcoming to everyone. At the BID, Anita was responsible for cultural placemaking, urban planning/urban design, and design and management of the BID’s research program.

As president of the Fort Point Cultural Coalition from 2002-2010, Anita built a reputation for effectively bringing together disparate constituencies — artists, arts organizations, real estate interests, funders, and public sector officials — to preserve this vital arts community in Boston. She was instrumental in developing a one-quarter million square foot mixed-use space in the Fort Point neighborhood and establishing a cultural community development corporation to advance an arts district and preserve the artists’ neighborhood. Additionally, she has consulted commercial developers and government entities on cultural planning and community partnerships.

Previously, she was the director of business development and planning for the New England Foundation for the Arts. She is currently the treasurer of the Boston Dance Alliance and has served on the Boards of Friends of Fort Point Channel, the Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston, and as the Women-Express/Teen Voices Board Chair. Anita has taught Financial Management for Performing Arts Organizations at Emerson College, been a guest lecturer at Simmons College, and developed financial literacy training for boards, senior staff, and grant review panels. Since its inception, she has been a site adviser to the MCC’s Cultural District program and a grant adviser to the Cultural Facilities Fund.

Anita is on the faculty of Boston University’s graduate arts administration program, where she teaches ​Advanced Management and Consulting for Arts Organizations and Leadership. She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Clark University and an M.B.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Teresa Mazur is a Global Human Resources Leader at Takeda Pharmaceuticals in Boston. She has served in HR leadership roles for financial services technology and healthcare companies and began her career in consulting with Towers Perrin.  She is passionate about creating value-driven sustainable businesses that are great places to work.  She holds a Master of Science degree in human resources development from Villanova University, a Master of Science certificate in training and organizational development from Temple University, and bachelor’s degree in labor and industrial relations from Penn State University. She trained as a classical ballet dancer which sparked her enduring love of dance.  You will find her taking adult classes around town even now.  As a newcomer to Boston she has been inspired by the vibrancy of the Boston dance community and looks forward to supporting outlets for self-expression and creativity in the community.

Jeanne Hays Beaman, who danced with the San Francisco Ballet in the 1930s, trained at Bennington with modern dance’s great pioneers, was professor of dance at University of Pittsburgh and was an early exponent of computer-generated choreography. After moving to Massachusetts, she spearheaded dance programs for a number of local cultural agencies including the Massachusetts Arts and Humanities Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts and Massachusetts Cultural Council from 1986-1992.

Thelma Goldberg, tap teacher, choreographer, producer, and pedagogue is committed to bringing the best of tap to the Boston metropolitan community.

Carl Alleyne is a hip hop artist, teacher and producer who runs the Boston Mobile Dance Studio which each month sparks dance parties in different neighborhoods. A native Bostonian, Carl has performed in front of thousands of people, sharing the stage with artists such as Gladys Knight, the late Ray Charles, the O-jays, Fabolous, SPEECH of Arrested Development, Sir Elton John, Neill Young and others.

Thelma Goldberg, Boston Dance Alliance’s 2015 Dr. Michael Shannon Dance Champion, is a tap teacher, choreographer, producer, and pedagogue committed to bringing the best of tap to the Boston metropolitan community. She is the founder of The Dance Inn in Lexington, Mass.

Gretchen Hayden, a senior disciple of the late kathak master Pandit Chitresh Das, has fostered this classical north Indian dance form across New England through teaching, scholarship, and performances with her company, Chhandika.

Kieran Jordan is a lifelong Irish step dancer with a specialty in sean-nós, the improvised “old-style” tradition from Ireland. A choreographer, teacher, and performer, she has collaborated with some of today’s finest Celtic musicians and produced two DVDs.

Essence McGill Arzu (Co-President) is a transactional lawyer who focuses on corporate finance, business combinations, banking and nonprofit governance. Essence was first introduced to BDA in 2006 through the Arts and Business Council’s Business on Board program. In addition to her service on BDA’s board, she has served on numerous other nonprofit boards, including the Big Sister Association of Greater Boston, The Partnership, Inc., Boston Bar Foundation, Harvard Club of Boston, Celebrity Series of Boston, Boston Children’s Museum and Boston Educational Development Foundation. Essence received her B.A. from Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges, her M.A. from Harvard Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, Davis Center for Russian Studies, and her J.D. from Columbia University School of Law. Essence studied classical ballet and other dance forms for twelve years and now is an enthusiastic dance audience member. She is proud of BDA’s role as convener and connector within and outside of the dance community.

Erinn King, CFA, (Co-President) is a principal at the international investment services firm of Payden & Rygel. Based in the firm’s Boston office, she is a portfolio manager serving institutional clients including insurance companies, corporations, and health care entities. She earned an MBA in Finance at Boston University and also holds an MFA in Dance from the University of Oklahoma. Erinn is a member of the Boston Security Analysts Society and chairs its fixed-income programming subcommittee. A former professional ballerina with the Oklahoma Festival Ballet and Royal Winnepeg Ballet, she is also a member of the board of directors of Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre.