Executive Board Members
Board of Directors
Honorary Board
Honorary Members

Executive Board

Gary Schaub, President
Arts consultant; director of cultural services for City of Walnut Creek, 1974-2001; executive director, Quincy Society of Fine Arts, Quincy, IL. Recognized for Lifetime Contributions to the Local Arts Agency Field by the California Arts Council (2001); Special Arts Recognition Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts by the Arts & Culture Commission of Contra Costa County (2001), Outstanding Arts Supporter: 1974-2001 by Diablo Regional Arts Association. Contra Costa County Theatre Shellie Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Performing Arts (1991 & 1999). Served on board of League of California Cities, California Assembly of Local Arts Agencies, and Performing Arts Services, Inc. Serving on advisory and loan committee of Non-Profit Finance Fund; member of task force that created Arts and Culture Commission of Contra Costa County and its predecessor, Arts: Contra Costa.

Trudy McMahon, President Elect
Community volunteer. Served on the Board of Directors of Danville Alamo AAUW, Junior League of Oakland East Bay, the 32nd District PTA and the Diablo Valley Chapter of the National Charity League.

Dan Cawthon, Vice President, Programs
Member of the Performing Arts faculty at Saint Mary's College, where he has taught and directed since 1980. A member of Actors' Equity Association, he has performed at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, San Jose Rep, California Shakespeare Festival and the Eureka in San Francisco, and directed at the Willows Theatre in Concord and Center Rep in Walnut Creek. He is Artistic Director of the foundation’s Playwrights' Theatre. His musical revue, "O'Neill: The Rhythms of His Soul," was the centerpiece of the Eugene O'Neill Festival, 2003.

Mary Greco, Vice President, Education Programs, received her B.A. in English from Holy Names University in 1965 and also a Masters degree in Education in 1983. She recently retired from the San Ramon Unified School District where she was active on many district committees and attended summer programs for teaching the gifted at the University of Connecticut and also attended sessions at Columbia University focusing on teaching literature and writing to elementary students. She was a mentor teacher for beginning teachers for several years and spent the last three years teaching special education students. Raised in Alamo, she and her husband Guy have lived in the valley for almost 35 years. They are also active in the community through Rotary and the Danville Chamber of Commerce. They have two married daughters who live in the area and have five grandchildren who attend local schools.

Claudia Nemir, Vice President Development
Immediate past president and member of Board of Directors since 1996;. Diablo Light Opera Company - Board of Directors 2001-Present. Past President: Danville-Alamo Branch AAUW, SRV Republican Women's Club, Soroptimist International of Alamo-Danville, Discovery, Inc. Walnut Creek Arts Commission 1994-2000, Civic Arts Advisory Council 2001-2004. Phi Mu Foundation Trustee and President 1996-2004. Alamo Citizen of the Year 1994. 5th Generation resident of San Ramon Valley

Robert Rezak, Vice President, Marketing; founding commissioner and chairman, Arts and Culture Commission of Contra Costa County; member of Pleasant Hill District Arts Commission; member of the boards of the Diablo Light Opera Company, Sonos Handbell Ensemble, trustee, Diablo Regional Arts Association; founding member, Producers’ Round Table of Walnut Creek; retired manager of corporate communications, Pacific Bell.

Ginny Iverson, Treasurer
Member of exhibit committee at the Museum of the San Ramon Valley. Membership chairman, Eugene O'Neill Foundation. Participated in numerous volunteer activities as a resident of Danville for more than 30 years.

Lorraine Walsh, Secretary
An attorney for more than 20 years, specializing in litigation, with offices in Walnut Creek; active member of the California Bar Association and Contra Costa Bar Association; 20-year resident of the San Ramon Valley and former resident of Danville, down the street from Tao House.

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Board of Directors

The Foundation is governed by a Board of Directors (at least 12, not more than 24) who serve three-year terms. Members of the Executive Committee are also members of the board.

Willard Carmel, sculptor; owner, Danville Mobile Vacuum; former instructor, Humboldt State and Southern Illinois Universities; former member, Board of North Coast Arts Group, Humboldt County; designed first Tao House Award, 1989.

Gary DeAtley, President and chief operating officer of California Sun Dry Foods in Danville; Mr. DeAtley has been active the Museum of the San Ramon Valley, and Role Players Ensemble and is a former chair of the Danville Heritage Resource Commission and the Danville Area Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Committee. He has received the San Ramon Valley Times “Citizen of the Year” award as well as the Valley Herald “Businessman of the Year” recognition for his leadership role in the restoration of the Southern Pacific Depot in Danville and the passage of Danville’s nationally recognized Historical Preservation Ordinance.

Jack De Rieux, a resident of Concord and retired director of drama at Northgate High School. He is a graduate of San Francisco State University, where he majored in theater arts. One of his top goals: Helping further the recognition and appreciation of America's greatest playwright, Eugene O'Neill.

Tom Donahoe, Member, Walnut Creek Library Foundation Board and Arts Vision Task Force; retired president, Pacific Telesis Foundation; former member/chair, Walnut Creek Arts Commission; past president/trustee, San Francisco Business Arts Council

Eric Frashier Hayes, a resident of Danville, is a member of Actors’ Equity, the labor union representing American actors and stage managers in the theatre.  He is employed at Solano College, where he works with the youth theatre program.  He works with the California Shakespeare Festival and its intermediate and high school teachers’ program. Hayes also is involved with the New Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, where he teaches workshops for teens in acting, filmmaking and summer stock.

Eileen Herrmann-Miller, instructor of literature and writing at Dominican University, San Rafael, CA since 2000. Prior, she was twice a Fulbright recipient, residing in Germany. She has lectured at the Universities of Santa Cruz and Davis, from where she obtained her doctorate in 1998. Her dissertation, "O'Neill the Misprized Modernist," forges a direct link between O'Neill's brand of Modernism with that of other great Modernist writers of his age--e.g., Pound, Eliot, Joyce. She is the author of several articles on O'Neill, as well as on other dramatists. She is currently researching the relationship of Metaphor to Modern American Dramatists.

Susan Jackson is a theatre arts instructor at City College of San Francisco and a Bay Area actress. She has performed leading roles in plays that include “Wit,” “Three Tall Women,” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” She performed scenes from “Mourning Becomes Electra” for the Eugene O’Neill Foundation at Tao House. She has also directed over 60 plays. She teaches acting, directing, improvisation and playwrighting.

Lisa Ludden teaches English at John Muir Middle School in Hayward. She is also a writing instructor and internship co-instructor for Center REP's Young Repertory Program in Walnut Creek. Lisa has a B. A. in English and Creative Writing (SF State), and an MFA in Creative Writing (St. Mary's College). At Center REP, she has been stage manager for 12 productions, including "Anna Christie." In 1998, she was the first inductee into the Alameda County Women's Hall of Fame for her work with the Valley AIDS Project.

Merilyn Milam, retired from the Mt. Diablo School District where she headed all the GATE programs. Past president of the Danville/Alamo branch of the AAUW and past president of the Panhellenic Council. She has her teaching credential from Cal State Hayward and a Masters in Educational Leadership from St. Mary’s.

Robert J. Sehr, Jr., Walnut Creek attorney, specializing in tax, business and estate planning. He is experienced in the related fields of business transfers, mergers and reorganization, probate and real estate law. He is a graduate of Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana, where he majored in economics. He later enrolled in the Yale Law School. His professional activities have included membership in the Mt. Diablo Estate Planning Council (former President), associate membership in the Mt. Diablo Association of Life Underwriters and membership in the International Association for Financial Planning. He is an adjunct professor at Golden Gate University where he has taught Corporate Taxation and Financial Planning for Closely-Held Businesses, and at John F. Kennedy University where he has taught income taxation. In addition, he has taught advanced Estate Planning for The American College.

Carole Wynstra, Past President and past Vice President of Development;
Director and former Trustee Chair, Diablo Regional Arts Association; member, Junior League of Oakland-East Bay; past member, Walnut Creek Arts Commission; former board member, American Cancer Society; board member, Diablo Light Opera Company.

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Honorary Board of Directors
HONORARY DIRECTORS are those who have served the Foundation in the past with distinction. The board appoints them for an indefinite term.

Linda Best
Mary Camezon
Wendy Cooper
Carol Lea Jones
J.R.K. Kantor
Beverly Lane (chair)
Florence McAuley
Diane Schinnerer
Carol Sherrill
Brian Thiessen


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Honorary Members

Kaye Albertoni
Stephen A. Black
Arvin Brown
Ric Burns
Zoe Caldwell
Kiera Chaplin
Brian Dennehy
Arthur Gelb
Barbara Gelb
Edward Hastings
Glenda Jackson
Paul Libin
Theodore Mann
Lois Robards
Kevin Spacey
Gerald Eugene Stram
Liv Ullman
Max von Sydow
Jane Caldwell Washburn
George C. White

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