Photo Courtesy of the José Limón Dance Foundation
“The contemporary artist can do no less than to dedicate the power of his spirit and the flame of his art to bring light to the dark places.”
Board of Directors
Jonathan Leinbach M.D.
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Jonathan is graduate of The Juilliard School (BFA, 1983) and a former member of the Limon Company, dancing with the company (along with Colin Connor) from 1986-1991. After leaving Limon, Jonathan moved to New Orleans, taught dance and prepared to attend medical school, graduating in 1998. Jonathan completed his residency in Psychiatry at Duke University in 2002 and he has lived with Jenny and their two sons in Durham since 1998. Jonathan has spent his career in a combination of public Mental Health and private practice and is now the Chief of Mental Health for the Durham VA Medical Center. He is on the faculty of Duke as a clinical associate.
Board experience includes serving on the board of a Mental Health Clubhouse (Threshold) here in Durham as the Vice President. He also served on the local Little League board for five years when his sons were growing up (and obsessed with Baseball!). Jonathan is very excited to begin his service to the Arts as a member of the board of the Limon Foundation.
Alejandra Castro Rioseco
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Alejandra Castro Rioseco, a trained civil engineer, works as a philanthropist. She is a director of several foundations in Chile, including Meri Foundation (dedicated to the protection of the oceans and whales), Make a Wish International Foundation and Sociedad Federico Chopin Chile, where she promotes the work of the Polish pianist and composer, Federico Chopin.
In the last year she was elected as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Federation of Societies of Chopin. She also serves as a member of the Board for El Museo del Barrio in New York City.
Special Advisor to the Board
Cecilia Picón
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Cecilia Picon was born in Merida, Venezuela. She worked as the Editor in Chief for the weekly magazine "Mujer-Mujer" and "El Diario de Caracas”, studied, and danced Ballet for 20 years. She attended Parson's Design School as well as Hunter College.
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She has lived in New York City with her husband and son for the last ten years. She belongs to the Board of Trustees of the Brooklyn Museum, a member of the Chairman's Council at ABT and she is involved in different BAM art committees and an active member of Lincoln Center and Repertorio Español.
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She has dedicated all her life to promote the defense of women’s rights through the media and the family Foundation "Torres Picon Foundation" which co-chairs with her husband.
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Actually, she is working as a Jewelry Designer and as a painter and sculptor working with mixed media with her personal technique. She is a collector of Latin American, Aslan and Contemporary Art.
Sonia Garcia Romero
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Sonia Garcia-Romero is a Managing Director and market manager responsible for the Andes, Central America and Caribbean region of J.P. Morgan Latin America Private Bank. Sonia began her career in Spain with J.P. Morgan Investment Bank in 1994 and moved to London in 1995 to work with the Global Markets Treasury Liquidity and Repo desks. In March 2000, she joined Bankers Trust in New York as a structured derivatives specialist for the Latin American Private Wealth Management. She returned to J.P. Morgan Private Bank in May 2003 as senior investment advisor to manage client’s portfolios. Sonia holds a B.S. in Economics and Business Administration from C.U.N.E.F. (Universidad Complutense) in Madrid.
Sylvia Ann Hewlett
Sylvia Ann Hewlett is an author, an economist, and the CEO of Hewlett Consulting. She is the best-selling author of seventeen critically acclaimed books, including When the Bough Breaks (Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Book prize), Executive Presence (Amazon Best Book of the Month), and The Sponsor Effect (Financial Times Business Book of the Month). She has been honored by Google with its Global Diversity Award. Hewlett has taught at Columbia and Princeton universities and has appeared on 60 Minutes, Oprah, Today, and Saturday Night Live. A graduate of Cambridge University, she won a Kennedy Scholarship to Harvard University and earned a Ph.D. in economics at London University. She is deeply involved in the dance world. Her son, Adam H. Weinert, is a dancer and choreographer. Through him, she has been involved in the Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival and Hudson Hall, advising these organizations on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Hewlett grew up in a family of six daughters in a coal mining community in South Wales and now lives with her family in New York City.
Kurt Douglas
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Kurt Douglas joined the Boston Conservatory faculty in 2015 and is an associate professor of dance, specializing in technique, repertory, and pedagogy for modern dance. Douglas also serves as artistic director for Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s Summer Dance Intensive (SDI).
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A graduate of New York’s LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and the Performing Arts and originally from Guyana, Douglas earned a B.F.A. in dance from Boston Conservatory and an M.F.A. in dance from Hollins University.
After graduating in 2001, he joined the Limón Dance Company, where he performed in many of Limón’s most influential works. He received a 2002 Princess Grace Award and was honored by an invitation to perform for the royal family of Monaco. In 2007, Douglas became the first African American to portray Iago in The Moor's Pavane, José Limón's most famous work. Douglas was named one of Dance Magazine’s "Top 25 to Watch” in the January 2006 issue. He danced from 2002 to 2007 in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and joined Ballet Hispanico from 2005 to 2006 under the direction of Tina Ramirez. In 2009, he joined the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company during their 40th anniversary season, touring throughout the United States and Asia. In 2011, he began touring with the Tony Award-winning musical A Chorus Line throughout the United States, Japan, Singapore, and Australia.
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Douglas remains invested in his teaching practices, conducting Limón Dance workshops all over the U.S., Haiti, France, England, and Australia. Douglas is currently a reconstructor with the Limón Foundation and continues to serve as faculty with the Limón4Kids program and the Limón Institute.
Paula Carriço
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Paula Carriço is a Director at Toro Advisors with a focus on M&A and strategic financial advisory with deep knowledge of Latin America where she has had active involvement in over 50 transactions. Paula Carriço was a Director at Athelera LLC from 2005 to 2014. From 1999 to 2005 Maria Paula worked at Violy & Company and Violy, Byorum & Partners as an Associate and Vice President providing strategic advisory and capital raising capability to companies across sectors in Latin America. Paula developed a particular focus in the telecommunications, airline, gaming, beverage and packaging industries as well as in the development of new business opportunities and client relationships.
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From 1996 through 1999, Paula was a Corporate Finance Analyst at Lehman Brothers within the Latin America and Global Privatization Groups where she focused primarily on strategic advisory assignments with clients in the telecommunications and energy sectors in Latin America. Assignments included the strategic advisory to the Government of Brazil regarding the privatization of the telecommunications sector, and M&A privatization advisory to Telefonica Internacional on their acquisition of telecommunications assets in Brazil totaling US$10 billion.
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In 1995, Maria Paula was a summer professional at the Inter-American Development Bank's Project Evaluation department in Washington D.C. From 1994 to 1996, Paula worked part-time at the Harvard Institute for International Development in Boston on a number of projects focused on the evaluation of economic and environmental development projects around the world.
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Paula holds a Master in Environmental and Energy Analysis from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Universidad de Belgrano, Buenos Aires. Paula is a citizen of Brazil and is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, English and French.
Tina Evans
Secretary
With her husband Wayne, Tina is the co-owner of W &T Thoroughbred Holdings LLC, which owns and breeds Thoroughbred racehorses. She is vice president and senior trust advisor with Bank of America, as well as Board Secretary of the Belmont Child Care Association.
Robert A. Meister
Treasurer
Robert A. Meister is an Attorney, a partner in Pedowitz & Meister LLP, and an Adjunct Professor of Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. A graduate of Columbia University School of Law, he is a member of the Bars of New York State and numerous federal courts. He is listed in Marquis Who’s Who in America and in Marquis Who’s Who in American Law.
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Bob became a Director of the José Limón Dance Foundation in 2004 and serves on its Executive Committee. He was President and Chairman from 2006 to June, 2013. He traces his interest in Limón to the 1940’s when his mother studied dance with José Limón.
Ivan Sacks
Chairman
Ivan Sacks is a private client lawyer and trusted advisor to international and domestic families of significant wealth. He became global Chairman of Withers Worldwide in July 2013. Ivan is also head of the firm’s Latin American Planning Group.
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Both in the US and in an international context, he counsels families and entrepreneurs on the structuring of their closely held business interests, family offices, and charitable foundations, the design and administration of trusts and estates, and comprehensive risk management, governance and succession planning. He also frequently advises banks and trust companies on fiduciary matters.
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Mr. Sacks is admitted to the bar of the State of New York and the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York. He graduated from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, a Charles Evans Hughes Fellow and Editor-in-Chief of the Columbia Human Rights Law Review. He is an active member of several bar and professional bar associations and speaks frequently on topics related to wealth planning. He also serves as a director or other fiduciary for a number of private and non-profit organizations.
Katrina Robinson
Katrina Robinson is the CEO of Teton Trust Company (TTC), headquartered in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. With over $20 billion in assets under administration, TTC helps individuals and families plan, protect, and preserve their legacies. Katrina also serves as CEO of the Cone Marshall Group, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Commercial Bank (NYSE: MCB). An attorney admitted to practice in New York, Robinson is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (“STEP”) and the International Tax Planning Association (“ITPA”). She is an internationally sought-after speaker on family trusts, cross-border succession planning, and asset protection.
