Board of Directors

Board Members

Susan Young, Board President

After 30 years in the defense industry, Susan retired from Raytheon as a Director of Finance.

Read More! She has a BS from Stanford and an MBA from UCLA. In high school and college, she performed in numerous musical theater productions and has enjoyed performing in Art Express Theatre productions of Secret Garden, Christmas Carol, Carousel, Oliver! and Titanic. She has sung with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra Chorus, the Arizona Repertory Singers, St Philips in the Hills Canterbury Choir and the Helios Ensemble. She is a Board Member of the Stanford Club of Southern Arizona.

Priscilla Marquez, Vice President

Priscilla brings forty years’ experience to Arts Express Theatre, cofounding Catalina Players in 1983.

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Noreen Nelson, Board Secretary

Norie is a retired Human Resources executive who spent over 30 years in the defense industry in Minnesota,

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Diane Murphey, Board Treasurer

Diane Murphy is a seasoned leader having been in executive roles with organizations in the aerospace, health care, telecommunications, and defense industries.

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She recently retired from Raytheon after 13 years leading marketing, communication, learning, talent development, and strategic planning efforts.  She has a BA in Communication with a minor in Leadership from Purdue University.  While not having a background in theatre, she has enjoyed a passion for attending performances of all genres through the years, following the examples set by her parents while growing up in the New York area.  Diane currently sits on the Boards of the Pima JTED Foundation and Equine Voices Rescue & Sanctuary and is excited to bring her skills to support the growth strategies of AET in our community.

Daniel Cavanagh, Board Member

A University of Arizona graduate, Dan’s 50 years in Tucson have been filled with family, community service, and a varied professional career.

Read More! With a degree in Radio-TV Communications, Dan’s work appeared in Tucson and around the world through newspapers, wire services, and radio-TV. Dan transitioned to business communications as vice president of the Tucson Chamber of Commerce. Dan served as editor of Chamber publication “Outlook,” lobbied at the local and state level, and in 1991 was elected president of the American Chamber of Commerce Executive’s Government Relations Council. With an IOM degree from the University of Colorado Boulder, Dan became the first executive of Tucson’s Arizona Builders’ Alliance, where the office won 3 National Chapter of the Year awards. He has served as President of the Southern Arizona Red Cross, Chairman of the University’s Lunar and Planetary Lab Community Advisory Board, Catalina Boy Scouts Good Scout of the Year Honoree, founder of the Cornerstone Building Foundation, and nominee for the Bill Clinton President’s Service Award.

Mario DiVetta, Board Member

Mario has been involved in the arts for 20 years in Tucson.  He began his career as a student at the University of Arizona where he worked as a box office attendant and house manager with

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the Arizona Repertory Theatre and as a stagehand at Centennial Hall.  Eventually making his way to Director of Marketing for UA Presents and then Broadway in Tucson where he is now General Manager.  He has worked on hundreds of concerts and world music events as well as over 70 Broadway productions.  His greatest accomplishment is his family, his wife Gabriela and two kids, Mario and Madison.

 

Michael Godnick, Board Member

Michael Godnick is a retired development and marketing professional.

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Living in Chicago for 30 years he worked as an independent consultant assisting non-profits in the areas of fundraising, governance, strategic planning and executive search. Michael served on the board of the Association of Fundraising Profesionals and received the Presidents Award for distinguished service and dedication to the fundraising profession. He was a frequent guest teacher and lecturer for a number of Chicago organizations. In addition he served on the board of Association of Philanthropic Counsel, Association of Consultants to Non-profits and Network of Non-profit Search Consultants.

Lendre Kearns, Board Member

Lendre Kearns has worked in arts management and marketing for 45 years including stints with Broadway in Tucson, La Jolla Playhouse,

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Minnesota Dance Theatre, The Guthrie Theatre, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and more. She has facilitated retreats and taught workshops in the U.S., Canada, England and Australia in a variety of subject areas among them, presenting, touring, strategic planning and marketing. She has taught at Goucher College, the University of Toronto and Thunder Bay Community College. She is a self-described “arts dilletante/worker bee”, serving on boards and volunteering her services for a number of Tucson organizations, most notably, Arts Express.  She is also occasionally taking on projects including workshops and facilitating planning for a variety of organizations outside Tucson.

Chris MacDonell, Board Member

Chris was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She attended Marywood Academy from kindergarten to graduation from high school. There she began her love of music and the arts.
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She also developed her interest in health care while in high school working as a recreation therapy aide in a freestanding rehabilitation center. She has played flute since she was 8 and was in the first band at University of Southern California (USC) in 1970 that allowed women. After graduating from the University of Southern California, Chris began her varied career in the health care industry as an occupational therapist in California working in pediatrics, home health and in and outpatient rehabilitation. While still in California, she became an administrator of a full continuum of rehabilitation care in Palm Springs, California. Chris came to Tucson to work for the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) in 1991. She served as the Managing Director of Medical Rehabilitation and Aging Services during her time with CARF. Chris was responsible for the merger of CARF with the Continuing Care Accreditation Commission (CCAC) located in Washington DC. She was in Washington, DC for 13 years and then returned to the Tucson office of CARF in 2016. Chris represented CARF at international, national, regional and local meetings to promote and interpret standards and the use of accreditation as a quality business and clinical strategy throughout the continuum of care. Throughout her tenure Chris was awarded many honors for her work and leadership in medical rehabilitation, sat on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Rehabilitation Committee, was named a Fellow of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, and presented more than 700 times throughout the world. When starting at CARF the organization was in Canada and the USA. When she retired in 2021, CARF was in 28 countries all in Medical Rehabilitation and Aging Services. She has traveled over 6 million miles which brought to her a great love of travel.
Since retirement Chris has volunteered at Tucson Medical Center, worked one day a week at Spirit of Santa Fe, and is active in the University of Arizona’s New Horizons band playing her flute. She enjoys art projects and especially mosaics. She is also the proud mama of Katy, a rescue white husky and white shepherd. She and her partner have been season ticket holders at Arts Express and is thrilled to be honored by being elected to the Board.

Scott Vaughn, Board Member

Scott is honored to have joined the AET Board in 2024, bringing career experience in local TV and as a Wealth  Management Advisor at Merrill Lynch. 

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After earning two degrees at UA, he rose to General Manager at KGUN9, and then on to stations in Colorado Springs and Palm Springs. Drawn back to Tucson, he became Director of Television Network Development for the Jerry Lewis Telethon, and more recently spent two years as Associate Director of Development with Arizona Public Media. Scott has also served on the Board of Directors for the Arizona Broadcasters Association, the National Broadcasters Association, the Tucson Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club of Tucson, and Arizona Alumni Wildcats for Life Leadership Council.

Regina Wills, Board Member

Regina Wills is a multi-talented individual with a rich background in theater, music, and public service. She is the second child born to William and Martha Wills. She developed a love for theater in high school and went on to major in Theater Administration at the University of Arizona....
Read More!Over the years, she has worked with numerous theater companies, including the Invisible Theater, Studio Connections, St. Francis in the Foothills Players, and The Community Players. Some of her notable performances include roles in "Let Freedom Sing", "The Wizard of Oz", "The Yellow Drum", "The Princess & The Pea", and "Ragtime", “No Admittance”, and Ellen Craft”. In 2006, she was invited to join the Desert Divas by Lisa Otey and has been singing with them ever since. In 2016, she released her debut single, "Where I Wanna Be", which she co-wrote with Gloria Macdonald and Kevin Hamilton. She released her full album in 2017. In addition to her work in theater and music, Regina has dedicated over three decades of her career to the State of Arizona's Department of Economics, serving as a Supervisor, Case Worker, and Change Agent. She retired from from the Department of Economics in December 2014. Her passion for creativity and dedication to public service make her a valuable asset to any team or organization. She was elected to board of the Arts Express Theater this past September 2024 and is extremely excited to be a part of this opulent theater community.