Board of Trustees
Heather Sannes
President
Brian Bryzinski
Member-At-Large
Ian McCutcheon
Vice President/Treasurer
Beth Boyd
Past President
Ignatius Valentine Aloysius
Writer, Poet, Literary Citizen
Lan Samantha Chang
Author, Director of Iowa Writers’ Workshop
John Cialone
Tom Stringer Design Partners
Dawn Cooke
Jacob (Jake) Goldberg
Goldberg General Contracting, Inc.
Jason Kalajainen
Co-Trustee, Holly Palmer Foundation
Rebecca Makkai
Novelist and Short Story Writer, Artistic Director of StoryStudio Chicago
Margot McMahon
Visual Artist and Sculptor
Victoria Medvec
CEO of Medvec & Associates, Adeline Barry Davee Professor of Management and Organizations at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University
Sue Shattock
Brett Taylor
Vice President, Lake Forest Bank & Trust
Scott (Sandy) Turner
Ann Walters
Book group facilitator at Between the Covers
Cindy Wilson
Clinical Professor of Law, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
Roland Kulla
Life Trustee
John Merritt
Life Trustee
Carol Newman
Life Trustee
Phoebe Turner
Life Trustee
Penny West
Life Trustee
Ragdale Staff
Our staff can be reached by calling 847.234.1063 and then entering their individual extensions, which are listed below. Many of our staff members can also be reached directly via email below.
Paul Sacaridiz
Executive Director
847.234.1063 Ext. 22
paul@ragdale.org
Paul Sacaridiz has been widely recognized for his work as an artist, educator, administrator, and leader in higher education and the nonprofit sector. Most recently he was the Maxine and Stuart Frankel Director of Cranbrook Academy of Art and previously held the position of Executive Director of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Earlier in his career, he served as Professor and Chair of the Department of Art at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Associate Director of the Wonsook Kim School of Art at Illinois State University. As a speaker, he has lectured nationally on art, education and leadership through the Artists Communities Alliance, American Craft Council, College Art Association, International Academy of Ceramics, and the Smithsonian Institution. In addition to organizational leadership, Sacaridiz is an accomplished sculptor, having shown his work at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Denver Art Museum, and the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, among others. He is also the recipient of numerous artist residencies including the Archie Bray Foundation, the Arts/Industry Program at Kohler Company, the Ragdale Foundation, and the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts.
Hermelindo “Mele” Cruz
Property Associate
Alejandra Oliva
Development & Communications Associate
Ext. 29
alejandra@ragdale.org
Avery Grant
Resident Facilities Coordinator avery@ragdale.org
Regin Igloria
Artistic Director Ext. 26
regin@ragdale.org
Deanna Miera
Residency Manager
deanna@ragdale.org
Martha Quintanilla
Housekeeping Associate
Cathy Ramsay
Finance Director
Ext. 27
accountant@ragdale.org
Danna Blancas
Garden and Land Assistant
David Rodriguez
Property Associate
Marita Seaberg
Office & Development Manager
Ext. 21
marita@ragdale.org
Mary Beth Sova
Director of Funding Resources Ext. 24
marybeth@ragdale.org
Jess Sladek
Garden & Land Manager
Ext. 25
jess@ragdale.org
Linda Williams
Chef linda@ragdale.org
Interns & Seasonal Staff
Curatorial Board
Xiandani Perez
Cristo Rey Corporate Work Study Program Intern
Cristo Rey St. Martin College Prep
Curatorial Board Co-Chair
Ignatius Valentine Aloysius is a naturalized U.S. citizen, born in India and raised in Mumbai by a Tamilian father and Anglo-Indian mother. He earned his MFA in Creative Writing from Northwestern University, where he won the Distinguished Thesis Award for fiction. He is a lecturer in writing at Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and in the Writing Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Ignatius is the current host and curator of the long-running reading series Sunday Salon Chicago (sundaysalon-chicago.com). A resident of Evanston, he also serves as a mayor-appointed board member of the Evanston Arts Council. Twice Pushcart nominated, Ignatius is the author of the experimental novel Fishhead. Republic of Want, and his prose and poetry appear in several venues, including Cold Mountain Review, Another Chicago Magazine, Porter Gulch Review, Trampset, Olney Magazine, Roi Fainéant Press, and others. He is currently at work on his next book. Visit https://linktr.ee/ignatius.valentine.aloysius
Alice’s Board
Named in honor of Ragdale founder Alice Judson Ryerson Hayes, who drew artists and supporters to Ragdale through her friendship and hospitality, Alice’s Board seeks to extend the reach of Ragdale throughout the global arts community, both inviting people in and bringing Ragdale out into the light.
Alice’s Board is an advisory board comprised of individuals with a strong connection to the Ragdale Foundation who are committed to representing Ragdale in the world, supporting the Foundation’s mission and operations, and being a key part of the Ragdale family.
Kaveh Akbar
Andrea Change
Stuart Cohen
Carey Cranston
Molly Cullum
Danielle Evans
Jamie Ford
Alex Kotlowitz
Jeffrey Meeuwsen
Jill Pollack
Roberta Rubin
Craig Snider