Board of Directors
Deborah Stein
Sharpe,
President
Debby is an engineer, businesswoman,
gardener, cyclist, and
mother of 3. Her two sons
were Smirkos together,
and now perform as a diabolo
duo.
Linda Shrier Schiffer,
Vice President
Linda is
Commons Coordinator, Residential
Life staff, for Middlebury
College, with significant
background in PR and communications.
She loves to cook, has
been known to build a car
from a kit, and can fix
most anything. Her daughter
performed with Smirkus
for 10 years, and both
her son and daughter have
worked for the Big Top
Tour.
Jane Culbert, Treasurer
When she is not consulting to cultural organizations
with her firm WolfBrown, Jane is still drawn to the
nonprofit sector, serving on the board of a local
school foundation (as well as on Smirkus' board).
She also sings with a women's Balkan music group.
Her daughter is a former Smirkus camper and Trouper
aerialist.
Jane Fisher, Secretary
Jane consults in strategic planning, organization,
and governance for not-for-profit organizations. She’s
also an avid traveler and budding travel website developer.
Her daughter performed with the Circus Smirkus Big
Top Tour for five years and attended Smirkus camp
for three years.
Shelley Glassner
Shelley 's professional work focused on College Advancement
at Middlebury College for 20 years. Now retired, Shelley,
a former educator, volunteers in the Exeter, New Hampshire
elementary school. She is a photographer, basket maker,
avid reader and edits her husband's professional publications.
Francey Grund
Francey was a Smirkus trouper and performer for eight
years, before attending the Medill School of Journalism
at Northwestern University, where she graduated with
a BS. She's continuing to juggle as she balances a
full MBA curriculum at USC and her other interests.
Fred Nanni
Fred is Chairman of the Division of Accounting &
Law and the Vander Wolk Professor of Management Accounting
and Operational Performance at Babson College in Wellesley,
Massachusetts. Fred has admired Circus Smirkus for
years and was pleased to become an official Smirko
Parent beginning with the 2008 Big Top Tour.
Dick and Pam Reynolds
Having failed at retirement, Dick provides strategic
real estate advice for a variety of non-profits as
a second career after 40 years in commercial real
estate. Pam continues to train teachers to work with
dyslexic students but her preferred role is “mum”
to their 7 and 4 year old grandchildren. Their son
Ben was a Smirkus trouper for 5 years and has gone
on to stints with Big Apple Circus and is now with
Cirque Du Soleil’s “O” in Las Vegas.
Elinor Ross
Elinor is the only Smirkus Board member who can claim
she opened a pickle business in Faneuil Hall. Currently
working as a special events fundraiser, she is also
a partner in Six Degrees Consulting, an organization
that specializes in fund raising for non-profit organizations.
Elinor has also been an award-winning collegiate tennis
coach. She has two grown sons and four adorable grandchildren,
and enjoys tennis, golf, and collecting cast iron
still banks.
Honorary
Board Members
Circus Smirkus appreciates
the support of its Honorary
Board members, each of
whom has contributed
to Smirkus in many ways.
Ernest Albrecht
Publisher
of Spectacle Magazine,
a quarterly journal of
the circus arts
John and Lisa Hewett
Greensboro
residents and longtime
friends of Circus Smirkus
Curtis Ingham
Educator,
journalist, and community
leader
Ed Koren
Artist and cartoonist
for The New Yorker
Barry Lubin
Grandma” the clown of New York's Big Apple Circus
Norman Lear
Television
writer and producer, known
in Smirkus for having done
a somersault in our ring
on his 80th birthday
Paul Zaloom
Actor,
filmmaker, and puppeteer
Circus Smirkus mourns
the loss of these Honorary
Board members and long-time
Smirkus supporters:
Marcel Marceau (1923-2007),
Mime and Actor
Tim
Holst (1947-2009), Vice President
of Talent and Production,
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey
Circus
Press Room
Directions to Circus Smirkus
World Headquarters
See you at the circus!
