SSDA Board Officers

Robert Selent, CPA, CFA
SSDA Board President
CPA, Griffith, Indiana
Masters of Business Administration (Finance), with distribution, De Paul University, Bachelor of Science Accounting Northing Illinois University 1982, Certified Public Account licensed in Illinois and Indiana 1982.

Larry Brewer 
SSDA Board Vice President
Artistic Director and Founder of South Shore Dance Alliance
B.S. Communications/Sociology St. Joseph College Calumet. Studied Ballet, Modern, Jazz, and West African Dance at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana and Dance Theater of Harlem, The Alvin Ailey School, and the Chuck Davis African American Dance Company in New York. Since 2000, he has been a full-time dance instructor at the Emerson School for the Visual and Performing Arts in Gary, teaching ballet, modern dance (Horton Technique), jazz, and West African dance. Brewer recently received the Quality of Life Council Sustainability Award (2009) and was an Education 2010 finalist in the College Mentors for Kids: Inspire/Power of Mentoring Awards.

Nancy M. Kemp Brewer
SSDA Board Treasurer
B.S. Indiana University. Social worker, retired, Child Protective Services Lake County Division of Family and Children’s Services. Division Head Foster Parent Licensing and Institutional Placement

Michal Davis
SSDA Board Secretary
B.A. Social Services Indiana University. Full-time dance instructor at the Emerson School for the Visual and Performing Arts since 1986. Studied ballet, modern, and jazz at Indiana University, ballet at The Ruth Page Dance Center, Horton and Graham technique at Joseph Holmes in Chicago.
 

Special Advisor to the Board

Kevin Iega Jeff
Artistic Director, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, Chicago, Illinois
B.A. Dance, Julliard School of the Arts, New York City.  He has over fifteen years of experience in managing and directing dance companies and  is an accomplished choreographer, director, teacher, and performer. He has received choreography fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, merit awards from the National Council for Culture and Art, and the International Conference of Blacks in Dance. 

SSDA Board Members

Nina Arzumanian
Pharmacist, Walgreen’s Corp
Bachelor of Pharmacy, Purdue University, and parent representative on the SSDA Board, Nina and her husband, Sam, have two daughters, Ani and Alena, dancing with South Shore Dance Alliance.

Patricia DiNaso
Bachelor of Arts, Education, Mundelein College. Retired campus minister in Catholic school community with involvement on library board, school board committees. Also involved in the Miller Art Project, assisting in local Gary shelters. Pat is an accomplished sculptor and is an active SSDA volunteer and brings her arts vision and school administration experience to SSDA and the South Shore Centre for the Arts.

Barbara Hirshfeld
Columbia College, Chicago, Photography; B.A., Art History, University of Missouri, St. Louis. Barbara has worked in the arts as an administrator since 1989 and in 2005 went back to school to study photography. Executive director of Arts At Large an artist resource in Chicago. Board member,  Chicago Artists Coalition.

Nancy Niequist Schoon
Marketing Director, South Shore Dance Alliance
Art Director, Illinois Institute of Technology
B.S. Business (Marketing/Advertising) Indiana University. Currently, she is Art Director, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois and owner of Miller Beach Creative, a freelance design company in Gary. Nancy volunteers her time and services to SSDA as marketing director, managing all media, print and online communications.

Krystle Simmons
Bachelor of Science in Public Relations, Ball State University, 2007. Simmons graduated from Emerson School for the Visual and Performing Arts dance program in 2003. Simmons served as an intern with Deeply Rooted Dance Theater from 2005 to 2007.

Irene Smith King
Ms. Smith-King serves on The Indiana Arts Commission, and is an active leader in arts and arts education programs in the Gary area. She is the founder of the not-for-profit organization Gary Artworks, an arts-focused job training program for youth. 

Nina Turner
Employment Specialist/Facilitator, Workforce Development Services
B.S., Continuing Studies, Indiana University Northwest. Experienced in instructional design, curriculum development and teaching job training and readiness skills to diverse populations in the community, Nina has also been involved in dance and the arts for many years.

Channae Watkins