Honorary Chairman,
Martha R. Ingram
Ingram Industries
Chairman
• Larry Papel
Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell and Berkowitz PC
Founding Board of Directors
H. Lee Barfield II
Bass, Berry & Sims
Joe Barker
Market Street Enterprises
Lee A. Beaman
Beaman Automotive
Jack Bovender Jr.
Hospitals Corporation of America
Connie Bradley
ASCAP Records
Ramon Cisneros
Millenium Marketing
Ron Corbin
Allstate Insurance
• Elizabeth Seigenthaler Courtney
Seigenthaler PR
Mike Curb
Curb Records
Marty Dickens
AT&T, Retired
Dr. Priscilla Partridge de Garcia
Psychologist
• Dr. Bob Fisher
Belmont University
Arthur Keith
Gaylord Opryland
Alyne Massey
The Jack C. Massey Foundation
Rob McCabe
Pinnacle Financial
Tom Negri
Loews Vanderbilt Plaza
Dr. Hazel R. O’ Leary
Fisk University
Earl Swensson
Earl Swensson Associates Inc.
• Dr. Ming Wang
The Wang VIsion Institute
Ted Welch
Ted Welch Investments
• Executive Committee Member
Administration
Connie Linsler Valentine
President and CEO
With extensive experience as an orchestra executive, Connie Linsler Valentine brings to the NBCA a passion for creating partnerships between the arts and businesses that contribute to the economic and cultural vitality of greater Nashville.
Most recently Executive Director of the Nashville Chamber Orchestra / Orchestra Nashville, she previously served as Executive Director of the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, the largest performing arts organization in Florida. For seven years she was Executive Director of the Greater Akron Musical Association, encompassing the Akron Symphony Orchestra, the Akron Youth Symphony, the Akron Symphony Chorus, and Akron Symphony Gospel Choir. She also has held the position of Executive Director with the Midland-Odessa Symphony & Chorale. She began her career as one of seven individuals selected nationally to participate in the prestigious League of American Orchestra’s Management Fellowship program, during which time she worked with the Boston, Hartford, and Oregon Symphony Orchestras. Throughout her orchestra career, she continued to hold national leadership roles in the League of American Orchestra’s manager associations, and has been a speaker/presenter at the local and national level. She holds a B.S. in Business Administration and a minor in music from the State University of New York.
Connie is a member of the Rotary Club of Nashville and Nashville CABLE, for which she chaired the 2005 Diversity & Inclusion Luncheon. She has been a participant in the Leadership Akron and Leadership Midland (Texas) programs and is currently participating in Leadership Middle Tennessee and is president of her class. She has been a member of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce’s Music Association Task Force and in 2004 chaired the Convention and Visitor Bureaus Awesome April Campaign.
Deborah Wiston
Program Director
Deborah Wiston, the Program Director for the Nashville Business Committee for the Arts is thrilled to take part in ensuring the strong ties between the business world and the arts community.
Deborah worked most recently as a program director for the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta. Her main responsibility was the implementation of outreach programs and events linking the “Intown” area with Atlanta’s greater Jewish community. She also served as an education director of both a synagogue and a day camp in Atlanta, Georgia before moving to Hendersonville, TN.
Deborah earned joint degrees in Political Science from Columbia University in New York and in Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary, also located in New York.
Deborah lives in Hendersonville with her husband, Stuart, a commercial real estate developer and their two children, Leo and Celia. She serves as a board member of the Hendersonville chapter of the Greater Federated Women’s Club and the Friends of Historic Rock Castle, she is currently an officer of the West End Synagogue and she is active in the Hendersonville Chamber of Commerce and Junior Chamber of Commerce. She is also a newly appointed member of the board of Camp Ramah Darom.
