Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe Names 2024-2025 Board Of Trustees

Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe has announced its 2024-2025 Board of Trustees, who are charged with sharing their expertise and providing guidance to the arts organization. WBTT has named two new trustees to the board for the 2024-2025 fiscal year.

New to the board this year are Charles W. Brown and R. Dean Piccirillo, who will serve three-year terms. They join chair Doris A. Johnson, officers Lee Rainer (vice chair), Cheryl Anderson (treasurer), and Marian Moss (secretary), and trustees Ali Bahaj, Chris Caswell, JD, Kitty Cranor, Nancy Flanagan, Michael Gardiner, Sy Goldblatt, Asa Harris, Michele Hooper, Penelope Kingman, Howard Millman, Dr. Randall C. Morgan, Kimberly Parris, Mona Rankin, Dr. Donald Reaves,  and Dona Scott.

WBTT also benefits from the vision and support of Ambassadors Circle co-chairs Christine Jennings, Steven J. Krause and Jacquelyn Woods.

Charles W. Brown was an Adjunct Professor at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, where he taught human resources strategy as a part of the graduate program in Human Resource Management (MHRM) for six years until his retirement in 2018. Additionally, he recruited minority students and was the adviser to the MHRM Minority Students Networking Group. Prior to teaching at Rutgers, Brown was the Associate Ethics Officer for Merck and Company, Inc. in Whitehouse Station, N.J. He was responsible for assuring high ethical standards were maintained throughout Merck, domestically and internationally. He was honored by Merck's League of Employees of African Descent (LEAD) for his timeless contributions to the organization. He spent many years as Director of Human Resources for Merck and Schering-Plough.

R. Dean Piccirillo is a senior financial advisor, a principal, and client-service team director in the HBKS Wealth Advisors (HBKS) Fort Myers and Sarasota offices. He also directs the HBKS Wealth Advisors Retirement Plan Services Group, which provides investment consulting services to corporate, nonprofit and municipal retirement plans. One of the things he is particularly passionate about is his part-time role as an Adjunct Professor of Finance at Florida Gulf Coast University, where he helps educate future financial advisors. A veteran, Piccirillo is proud to have served his country for nearly 20 years in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. He achieved the rank of Captain prior to leaving the service and is a graduate of numerous U.S. Army schools, including the Army Airborne and Air Assault Schools.

“We are so excited to welcome these new trustees to the board: they each bring a unique background, professional experience, and skillset to the table in service to our organization,” said Julie Leach, executive director of WBTT. “We are thrilled to have successfully implemented our $8.8 million capital campaign renovation and made it through Covid – emerging stable and healthy – and now we look forward to celebrating our 25th anniversary and expanded programming, with our visionary and dedicated volunteer leadership helping to guide the way.”

This year, WBTT leaders will focus on creating a strategic plan for the next phase of WBTT's development, including building an endowment and fully utilizing its assets – including property recently purchased, adjacent to its current campus – to provide more theatre, education and outreach programming.

For more about WBTT, visit westcoastblacktheatre.org or call 941-366-1505.

About Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe:

The mission of Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe (WBTT) is to produce professional theatre that promotes and celebrates African American history and experience, engages a broad base of patrons and audiences, supports the development of a dynamic group of aspiring artists, and builds self-esteem in youth of color. Visit westcoastblacktheatre.org.

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