Staff
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Board
Susan Anthony, Board Member
Susan J. Anthony formed Sawmill Marketing Public Relations in 1995, following a 20-year tenure with national marketing communications agencies, including Carton Donofrio Partners in Baltimore where she served as Executive Vice President, Director of Public Relations. Her broad public relations experience includes all facets of marketing public relations with a particular expertise in designing and executing media relations programs as key business development strategies.
Baltazar Benavides, Board Member, BIG Performer
Baltazar Benavides started improvising with his college troupe Mama’s Pot Roast, the longest running improvisational and sketch comedy troupe at WashU. He has studied improv in Chicago with Second City and here with the Baltimore Improv Group, which he joined in 2015. He is a member of Training For Prom and an instructor for BIG University. Outside of improv, Baltazar taught and led in public schools for six years before joining Education Elements' design and implementation team as a consultant.
Kathryn Carlsen, Board Member, BIG Performer
Kathryn graduated from the University of Maryland College Park with a BA in Secondary Theatre and English Education and from Brooklyn College with a MFA in Performing Arts Management. Currently, she is theatre teacher at Centennial High School. She has been performing and coaching with the Baltimore Improv Group since 2006 with the house team Gus. She has taught improv at Johns Hopkins Medical School, University of Maryland Business School, and through BIG University serving as Education Director for three years. She has been a part of Unscripted: a fully improvised play as a cast member and a co-director since 2007. She has performed at improv festivals in Chicago, Austin, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York.
Jennifer Diamond, Board Member, BIG Performer
Jen Diamond lives in Baltimore, writes plays, performs comedy, and makes Good Snacks. She’s a member of BIG special project troupe Surprise Party, and makes up one-half of the indie comedy-duo OLGA. Jen has been performing improv since 2010 and is a former member of Johns Hopkins’ improv troupe the Buttered Niblets and sketch troupe Throat Culture. With OLGA, Jen has performed stand up, improv, and sketch comedy in Baltimore, DC, Philadelphia, and New York. Jen is also a co-host of BIG's weekly bring-your-own team show Impropourri.
Kat Martineau, Board Member, BIG Performer
Kat joined the board in 2017 and started taking classes at BIG in October 2015. Her background includes project management, user experience design, writing, recruiting, and managing events. She currently works at The Park School as a database administrator and has managed software projects in previous jobs. Kat also performed with BIG's The Caucus, and BIG's Conservatory program. In her spare time, Kat enjoys reading, painting, improv, gardening, and listening to copious amounts of music while she works.
Art McCombs, Board Member
Art McCombs is a senior human resources consultant whose professional career spans over thirty years as a staff specialist, trainer, manager, external consultant and executive, representing primarily the healthcare and higher education fields. His primary areas of professional expertise are in employee/labor relations, talent acquisition, strategic human resource planning, managing diversity and performance metrics.
He holds a BA with Honors in Political Science (Government) from The College of Wooster (Ohio) and an MA in Educational Administration from Columbia University. He also holds various professional certifications in his field e.g. senior human resources professional, employee-labor relations, human resource strategy and diversity training. He also served as an adjunct faculty instructor in the schools of Business and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University and teaches in the Professional Human Resource Management Program at the University of Maryland- Baltimore County.
Art is a long-term resident of Ellicott City along with his wife and three children and along with his participation on the BIG board enjoys music, theater, film and sports.
Art`s son, Alan J. McCombs joined the Baltimore Improv Group in 2014. Prior to joining BIG, Alan was a founding member of Minority Re’port, a BIG special project formed in 2013.He currently performs with Minority Re'port, After School Grandma, Local Spot and Fade to Black. Starting in 2017, he began teaching classes with BIG University.
Sheila McMenamin, Board Member, BIG Performer
Sheila first tried out improv in the spring of 2016. Starting with an intro class at BIG, she has been taking classes and performing ever since, happy to be a part of this growing community of performers and creatives. Sheila joined the board in 2017, and currently performs with BIG troupe Training for Prom and indie troupes Thigh Meat and Toe Money. Her professional background includes project management, writing, counseling, recruitment, event planning, and community engagement.
She currently works as the Director of Programs at Baltimore Tree Trust, a nonprofit that focuses on growing and maintaining Baltimore's urban tree canopy.
Anne Neal, Board Member, BIG Performer
Anne Neal, Board Member, BIG Performer joined the Board in 2017. She is a legal recruiter and owns her business, Neal Consulting. She is a former practicing attorney and special education teacher. She was President and Board member of the Central Baltimore Democratic Club. Anne has been performing improv since 2011 and has been a performer with BIG since 2016. She has one daughter, who performs with several improv troupes in Washington DC.
Jeffrey Richardson, Board Member, BIG Performer
Jeff was born in the shadow of Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. Baltimore is now his home. To improve his public speaking, as a Toastmaster he took a workshop at the 2014 Baltimore Improv Festival. Since then, he has studied at BIG University. Jeff has attended Improv Camp Utopia East twice, has taken workshops with improv legends, such Joe Bill, Armando Diaz and Mike Descoteaux. He is a member of the musical improv group Bad Karaoke Experience and now Harold Night.
Philip Tyler, Board Member
New to the BIG Board in 2017, Philip has been a big fan of Improv and a regular attendee at BIG shows for years. He studied at The University of York in the U.K. where he attained a B.A. (Hons) in Economics. He has worked in the financial industry for almost 20 years and currently is a Vice-President at Raymond James in Baltimore. He is also President of the Harris Hill Condominium Board, having served on that board for the past eight years. In his spare time Philip enjoys live theater and music. He understands the great value of BIG in the Baltimore Community and looks forward to assisting in moving the organization forward towards its goals.
Susan Anthony, Board Member
Susan J. Anthony formed Sawmill Marketing Public Relations in 1995, following a 20-year tenure with national marketing communications agencies, including Carton Donofrio Partners in Baltimore where she served as Executive Vice President, Director of Public Relations. Her broad public relations experience includes all facets of marketing public relations with a particular expertise in designing and executing media relations programs as key business development strategies.
Baltazar Benavides, Board Member, BIG Performer
Baltazar Benavides started improvising with his college troupe Mama’s Pot Roast, the longest running improvisational and sketch comedy troupe at WashU. He has studied improv in Chicago with Second City and here with the Baltimore Improv Group, which he joined in 2015. He is a member of Training For Prom and an instructor for BIG University. Outside of improv, Baltazar taught and led in public schools for six years before joining Education Elements' design and implementation team as a consultant.
Kathryn Carlsen, Board Member, BIG Performer
Kathryn graduated from the University of Maryland College Park with a BA in Secondary Theatre and English Education and from Brooklyn College with a MFA in Performing Arts Management. Currently, she is theatre teacher at Centennial High School. She has been performing and coaching with the Baltimore Improv Group since 2006 with the house team Gus. She has taught improv at Johns Hopkins Medical School, University of Maryland Business School, and through BIG University serving as Education Director for three years. She has been a part of Unscripted: a fully improvised play as a cast member and a co-director since 2007. She has performed at improv festivals in Chicago, Austin, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York.
Jennifer Diamond, Board Member, BIG Performer
Jen Diamond lives in Baltimore, writes plays, performs comedy, and makes Good Snacks. She’s a member of BIG special project troupe Surprise Party, and makes up one-half of the indie comedy-duo OLGA. Jen has been performing improv since 2010 and is a former member of Johns Hopkins’ improv troupe the Buttered Niblets and sketch troupe Throat Culture. With OLGA, Jen has performed stand up, improv, and sketch comedy in Baltimore, DC, Philadelphia, and New York. Jen is also a co-host of BIG's weekly bring-your-own team show Impropourri.
Kat Martineau, Board Member, BIG Performer
Kat joined the board in 2017 and started taking classes at BIG in October 2015. Her background includes project management, user experience design, writing, recruiting, and managing events. She currently works at The Park School as a database administrator and has managed software projects in previous jobs. Kat also performed with BIG's The Caucus, and BIG's Conservatory program. In her spare time, Kat enjoys reading, painting, improv, gardening, and listening to copious amounts of music while she works.
Art McCombs, Board Member
Art McCombs is a senior human resources consultant whose professional career spans over thirty years as a staff specialist, trainer, manager, external consultant and executive, representing primarily the healthcare and higher education fields. His primary areas of professional expertise are in employee/labor relations, talent acquisition, strategic human resource planning, managing diversity and performance metrics.
He holds a BA with Honors in Political Science (Government) from The College of Wooster (Ohio) and an MA in Educational Administration from Columbia University. He also holds various professional certifications in his field e.g. senior human resources professional, employee-labor relations, human resource strategy and diversity training. He also served as an adjunct faculty instructor in the schools of Business and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University and teaches in the Professional Human Resource Management Program at the University of Maryland- Baltimore County.
Art is a long-term resident of Ellicott City along with his wife and three children and along with his participation on the BIG board enjoys music, theater, film and sports.
Art`s son, Alan J. McCombs joined the Baltimore Improv Group in 2014. Prior to joining BIG, Alan was a founding member of Minority Re’port, a BIG special project formed in 2013.He currently performs with Minority Re'port, After School Grandma, Local Spot and Fade to Black. Starting in 2017, he began teaching classes with BIG University.
Sheila McMenamin, Board Member, BIG Performer
Sheila first tried out improv in the spring of 2016. Starting with an intro class at BIG, she has been taking classes and performing ever since, happy to be a part of this growing community of performers and creatives. Sheila joined the board in 2017, and currently performs with BIG troupe Training for Prom and indie troupes Thigh Meat and Toe Money. Her professional background includes project management, writing, counseling, recruitment, event planning, and community engagement.
She currently works as the Director of Programs at Baltimore Tree Trust, a nonprofit that focuses on growing and maintaining Baltimore's urban tree canopy.
Anne Neal, Board Member, BIG Performer
Anne Neal, Board Member, BIG Performer joined the Board in 2017. She is a legal recruiter and owns her business, Neal Consulting. She is a former practicing attorney and special education teacher. She was President and Board member of the Central Baltimore Democratic Club. Anne has been performing improv since 2011 and has been a performer with BIG since 2016. She has one daughter, who performs with several improv troupes in Washington DC.
Jeffrey Richardson, Board Member, BIG Performer
Jeff was born in the shadow of Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. Baltimore is now his home. To improve his public speaking, as a Toastmaster he took a workshop at the 2014 Baltimore Improv Festival. Since then, he has studied at BIG University. Jeff has attended Improv Camp Utopia East twice, has taken workshops with improv legends, such Joe Bill, Armando Diaz and Mike Descoteaux. He is a member of the musical improv group Bad Karaoke Experience and now Harold Night.
Philip Tyler, Board Member
New to the BIG Board in 2017, Philip has been a big fan of Improv and a regular attendee at BIG shows for years. He studied at The University of York in the U.K. where he attained a B.A. (Hons) in Economics. He has worked in the financial industry for almost 20 years and currently is a Vice-President at Raymond James in Baltimore. He is also President of the Harris Hill Condominium Board, having served on that board for the past eight years. In his spare time Philip enjoys live theater and music. He understands the great value of BIG in the Baltimore Community and looks forward to assisting in moving the organization forward towards its goals.