Advisory Board
Jeri Denniston, ABX Co-founder
Jeri is co-partner and Chief Marketing Strategist of Denner Group International sharing best practices in strategic planning, management, and marketing with her clients. Previously she held various executive marketing positions at a large multi-state bank, at National Decision Systems (now part of Claritas), and The San Diego Union-Tribune. As the chief marketing officer at Denner Group International, Jeri is passionate about sharing her knowledge and love of marketing and social media with her clients and students. With the explosion of social media marketing, Jeri has developed expertise in using LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Canva, and various email marketing platforms to support strategic marketing efforts. She has authored several articles and eBooks on social media planning and marketing and taught Social Media Marketing online through Yavapai College for 10 years.
Fluent in Spanish, Jeri holds a Master’s in International Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from Chapman University in California. Jeri holds a Gold Mastery Certification in Strategic Management from the Haines Centre for Strategic Management. An active community leader, Jeri is a member of the Prescott Valley Chamber of Commerce.
In her free time, she loves to paint, sail, garden, invent gourmet meals, experiment with gluten-free baking, and read uplifting novels about women succeeding in life.
Jeri contracts with ArtsBusXpress to support responsibilities as webmaster and newsletter production.
Judy Berman Silbert
After many satisfying years working in public health, Judy turned her efforts toward the arts – always a personal passion. She has worked with youth theatre groups, an international dance festival, and served on the boards of the San Diego Performing Arts League and Coronado School of the Arts.
In 2007, in response to budget cuts that devastated arts education in San Diego County, Judy co-founded ArtReach, a visual arts education program, and served as Executive Director until 2017. Under her stewardship, the program grew from one workshop serving 400 students in 2008, to an organization that linked artists from the community to thousands of students, each contact enabling young people to meet and work with a professional artist, create original work, learn art skills, and to gain creative confidence. Judy connected ArtReach to grants, individual donors, and community partnerships that continue today.
After ArtReach, Judy has worked in a consultant capacity in the arts education community. She helped bring the VAPA Foundation into being – an organization dedicated to enhancing visual and performing arts in the San Diego Unified School District, and has worked with other organizations to foster good governance and to raise funds with one goal in mind -- making deep connections between young people and the arts.
Judy has presented at workshops on arts education resource development at San Diego Unified and San Diego County Office of Education conferences. She currently serves on the board of ArtReach on the advisory boards of ArtsBusXpress and The Rosin Box Project.
Judy feels most effective when contributing to quality collaborations between artists, community partners, schools, and neighborhoods.
Dr. Irma Gigli
Dr. Gigli is a distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Texas and the University of California San Diego, where she served for many years as Chair of the Department of Dermatology. Previously, she was also a faculty member at Harvard University. Her contributions include ground-breaking work in dermatology and immunology. She has published over 160 original manuscripts and is the recipient of a number of important awards.
Ron Jessee
Ron Jessee is committed to powerful, standards-based arts learning across the spectrum of every academic subject. He teaches at California State University, San Marcos and is the Director of Professional Development for The Arts = Opportunity Initiative. Having spent 22 years as a high school arts teacher and another 16 years as a site and arts administrator, Mr. Jessee is well versed in the day-to-day needs of the K-12 educator. In his capacity as the former Coordinator of Visual and Performing Arts for the San Diego County Office of Education, he served the arts needs of the 42 school districts and represented California Region 9 for the CCSESA Arts Initiative. He was the Principal Facilitator of the Arts Assessment Resource Guide and Compendium of Arts Assessment Examples. He has received Administrator of the Year Awards from CMEA, CAEA , CETA and California State University, San Marcos Center Artes . In 2012 he received the PTA District 9 Honorary Service Award and the Educator of the Year Award from Young Audiences. In his spare time, Ron is the Music Director and Organist at Pacific Beach United Methodist Church and is studying painting and drawing at the Athenaeum in San Diego.
Patrica Frischer
Patricia Frischer has taken on the roles of gallerist, curator, writer, teacher, website coordinator, and artist. She was director of JPL Fine Arts in London a gallery specializing in modern and contemporary master drawing. Her main institution teaching experience is as assistant professorship at Humboldt State University and as head of the art department at Southbank International School in London which she created and where she taught the International Baccalaureate in Fine Art. She is the author of The Artist and the Art of Marketing and has lectured extensively on marketing for artists. Frischer is a founder and the coordinator of the non-profit San Diego Visual Arts Network, which funds the SD Art Prize, directory and events calendar, and SmART Collector features. She has curated large promotions including Movers and Shakers: Who’s Who in SD Visual Arts, Little & Large, Art Meets Fashion, and DNA of Creativity. SDVAN is currently listing over 2500 visual arts resources in SD County and gets over a million hits a year and has the first art event finder app. Frischer is a former board member of COVA (Combined Organization for the Visual Arts) and the San Diego Art Institute and is currently on the board of North County Arts Network and an advisor for Encinitas Friends of the Arts, SD Arts Community, and Synergy Arts Foundation. She is a trainer of artists’ agents, art dealers, consultants, and collectors (see ArtPro.) She has an extensive list of A+ Art Blogs commenting on the progress of the arts in our community. She also writes reports on the Visual Arts Exhibition for Picked RAW Peeled. Her own artwork has been shown internationally and includes painting and sculpture. Patricia Frischer's vision is to see the San Diego region recognized as a hub of excellence for the visual arts and to bring together the performing and visual arts in a county-wide arts council.
Kathleen Stoughton
As a director, curator, educator, and development specialist, Kathleen Stoughton has worked at renowned art institutions including the J. Paul Getty Museum, the National Gallery of Art, and the Smithsonian Institution. For nearly twelve years, Stoughton directed UC San Diego's University Art Gallery where she launched a number of new programs. She is the recipient of several awards including the coveted Smithsonian Outstanding Achievement Award, YMCA's Tribute to Women in Industry Award, and the San Diego Industry Education Council's Outstanding Educator Award. Kathleen is an accomplished musician having performed with symphony orchestras and has three record labels to her credit including the Musical Heritage Society.
Barbara Metz
Barbara Metz, founder of Metz Public Relations, is a respected public relations strategist and counselor who specializes in media relations and publicity for small to mid-size companies and nonprofits. Before establishing Metz PR in 1987, she managed the operations at two major San Diego public relations firms: Phillips-Ramsey, Inc. and Roni Hicks and Associates. Metz has won a number of public relations and writing awards and has played an active role in the community including a year as President of the San Diego Press Club. She holds a B.A. in Communications from California State University Fullerton.
Stephanie Bergsma
Stephanie Bergsma, a highly accomplished and respected local media executive, spent 26 years with KPBS as Associate General Manager. Stephanie Bergsma worked closely with General Manager Tom Karlo and Station Manager Deanna Mackey to lead the KPBS TV/FM organization to fulfill a vision of becoming the leading local source of news and information in San Diego. Her achievements included raising the funds to build the KPBS Copley Telecommunications Center including all of the equipment for the HDTV conversion pieces. Stephanie secured gifts totaling $6.8 million from Joan and Irwin Jacobs to launch a cutting-edge program to train reporters in the use of multi-media for public radio news coverage and to completely renovate the entire second floor of KPBS. The Joan and Irwin Jacobs KPBS News Center is a completely converged working environment for a staff of 60 reporters and producers. It has become a working model for public radio stations nationally. In addition to major gifts for annual operating funds, she was responsible for Joan Kroc’s bequest of $235 million to NPR and KPBS, the KPBS Planned Giving Program which averages over $1million in bequests annually, and creating The Producers Club which has over 800 members who contribute $1200 or more annually resulting in over $1 million in revenues each year. Bergsma holds a Bachelor's Degree in Art History from Sara Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. She is currently a Trustee of the Museum of Photographic Arts and Inewsource. She lives with husband Dwight in Del Mar and enjoys the opportunity to travel around the world.