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The Board of Directors of the Arts & Industry Council is comprised of 12 members, each appointed to a three-year term by the Nominating Committee and approved by the Board of Directors.
The Board is responsible for the oversight of the business, property and affairs of the Arts & Industry Council.
The Directors represent the public's general interest in arts and cultural activities in the Calhoun County Region. The Board represents diverse geographic, ethnic, business and non-profit interests and stakeholders.
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Tonya Arnett, Board Member
tarnett49224@yahoo.com
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Tonya Arnett is a native of Albion, Michigan. She received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Human Ecology and Family Life from Michigan State University and her Masters degree in Guidance and Counseling from Western Michigan University. Now retired, Tonya’s 30 plus years in education were spent as the educator/administrator for the Calhoun Intermediate Office in their county-wide program for School-aged Pregnant Girls and as a Guidance Counselor at Albion Senior High School. In addition to her focus on education, Tonya Arnett was Regional Minority Recruitment Consultant to State Farm Insurance Companies, assisting State Farm Executives with minority recruitment. She has also provided consultant services to other organizations including the Albion Public Safety Department in researching the socio-economic needs and attitudes of the African American community.
Along with being on the Board of the Arts & Industry Council, Tonya Arnett has been a volunteer in many community organizations including Greater Albion Habitat for Humanity, Albion Foundation Arts Advisory, NAACP, Domestic Violence committee, Greater Albion Alliance Diversity Action Team and Citizens to Beautify Albion, where she developed the idea of “The Men Who Cook” fundraiser. During the 1980’s, she founded the Albion Black Alumni Association which provided positive opportunities, including scholarships, for African American students in Albion. Currently, she is a member of the Friends of the Library, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Lewis Chapel A.M.E. church and serves as an Adjunct Professor for the Education Department at Albion College.
Tonya enjoys traveling, reading, stained glass, yoga and jazz and ballroom dancing. Tonya Arnett resides with her husband Jim. They are the proud parents of five very successful children and seven gorgeous grand children, three horses and one dog.
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Bill Birch, Board Member
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Bill Birch, a distinguished community leader in Western Michigan, has served numerous organizations including:
Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Food Bank, Junior Achievement, American Youth Soccer Organization, Family & Children Services, Red Cross, Cereal Festival, IFOL and served as a cabinet member for the 2008 United Way Campaign in Battle Creek to name a few.
Bill is President of Birch Consulting Group and serves as an affiliate consultant to the Non Profit Alliance Organization of Calhoun County. He enjoys working with community based programs and has an extensive background in working with organizations that are both large and small.
Battle Creek has had a long tradition of providing great programs that have become the fabric of this community. It is very important that these programs can be preserved for future generations. Bill feels art is an important part of every community. He is honored to be affiliated with AIC and its efforts to strengthen the world of art and economic development in Calhoun County.
Married to Tammy for 20 years, they are the proud parents of Bill, Brett, and Spencer.
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Greg Dunn, Board Member
gdunn@atlassalesinc.com
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Greg is a lifelong resident of Battle Creek and a graduate of Albion College majoring in Political Science and History. At Battle Creek Lakeview High School, he participated in band, orchestra, theater and forensics and developed a lifelong interest in arts and culture. As the President of Atlas Sales, Incorporated, he recognizes the importance of a thriving arts scene to the county’s quality of life and economic development. Greg has served on the Board of Directors for the Historical Society of Battle Creek.
Greg and his wife, the former Kathy-Sue Bush, also of Battle Creek, have two children. Their son Bud attends Tiffin University in Ohio and is majoring in Supply Chain Management. Their daughter Suzanne has been active in many local theater productions and is currently enrolled at the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. Greg and Kathy-Sue attempt to be active volunteers in the community participating in various Boards and leadership positions for the Junior League, Boy Scouts, Rotary, the United Way, Jaycees, and the Y-Center to name a few.
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Linda Gillespie, Board Secretary
linda.gillespie@comcast.net
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Linda Gillespie is a native of Battle Creek, Michigan who attended Lakeview Schools and then continued her education at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Linda obtained a BS degree in Physical Therapy.
Linda and her husband Robb moved to Texas in the 80s where they lived for 20 years moving back and forth from Dallas to Houston several times. During that time, Linda continued to work in the health care field as a Physical Therapist in both hospital and home health care settings. The last 12 years spent in Dallas, Linda worked for the Visiting Nurse Association of Texas as the Director of Operations. Responsibilities included overseeing the daily operations of patient care, budgeting, hiring/firing of patient care managers and serving on Board Committees. The VNA of Texas carried a patient census of 3,000 patients and was a community based non-profit organization that provides home health and hospice visits to the community.
Art in the form of textiles and fabric has been the expressive side of Linda’s life. Her grandmother, a seamstress in Battle Creek, and her mother inspired Linda and her sisters to be creative. Linda has tried many avenues of textile art including needle point, weaving, spinning and dyeing, but has found real passion for the last 20 years in quilting. Linda has won several national awards for her quilting and has been recognized at the International Quilt Festival in Houston and the American Quilting Society Show held in Paducah, Kentucky.
Linda and her husband made the decision and commitment to return home to Battle Creek in 2000. At that time Linda and her sisters, Cathy Zanoni of Kalamazoo, Mi and Rebecca Kelley of Chattanooga, TN decided the time was right to combine their talents and passion to start a fiber art manufacturing business now called Zanoni Designs with a product line called “Fabric Art in A Bag” www.fabricartinabagcrafts.com. It has been challenging trying to turn a passion into a profitable business. Each sister brought various skills to the enterprise. Cathy was a landscape architect and business owner. Becky has a background in health care but in the last 15 years has concentrated on her art interest in pattern design for clothing and art dolls. Linda brought operational skills and ability to combine colors. Combining these talents has been a good frame work for the business, but many challenges remain.
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Julyette Jacobs, Board Treasurer
julyette.jacobs@kellogg.com
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Julyette Jacobs joined the AIC Board in 2005 and is currently serving as the Treasurer. She is employed by Kellogg Company as Manager, Financial Benefits. Prior to returning to Kellogg Company in July of 2001, Julyette was Vice President of the Financial Literacy Center (FLC), a financial education company. While at FLC, she edited a book titled 401(k) Success Stories which was published in English and Japanese. During her career, Julyette has held various positions in employee benefits and financial services. She is a Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS) and has been a CEBS instructor at Kalamazoo College. She holds a Masters Degree in Nutrition from Cornell University and a Bachelors Degree in Nutrition from Drexel University.
Julyette owned an antique store, Pump Arnold’s Place, in downtown Battle Creek in the 1980s. It was operated by her partner, Bryant DeBolt. They currently own the Binder Block in downtown and have begun restoring the exterior of the building. Hobbies include studying and buying antique glass, gardening, boating, reading and traveling.
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Cindy Johnson, Board Member
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Cindy Johnson was born and raised in southern Indiana, graduating from Indiana University at South Bend in 1978 with a BA in Biology and minor in Education. Life changes led her to a career path change, and she enjoyed a 29 career in the banking industry, all in the state of Michigan. She has lived in the Battle Creek area for four years, and is currently employed as a radio advertising specialist for Battle Creek’s Cumulus Broadcasting cluster WBCK (95.3 FM) and Mix 104.9 (WBXX – FM).
She has been an active community volunteer throughout her career, serving as Treasurer of the Portland Michigan Board of Education for 12 years, Chamber of Commerce Member, Cass County United Way Campaign Chair, and City of Dowagiac Planning Commission member.
From the time she received her first box of Crayolas, and listened to her mother play piano at a very young age, Cindy has been hooked on the arts. She enjoys a number of hand-crafts and is a closet “dabbler” in drawing and painting. And with a niece who makes her living as a graphic artist/photographer/music promoter, she is passionate about seeing artistic entrepreneurs receive resources they need to be successful in their chosen careers.
She has been married for 32 years to Charlie Johnson, They live in Augusta, on Sherman Lake, and enjoy golf and fishing. They have two grown children, Erik and Kelsey, and share their home with the “grand dame” of the family, Zoey, their 14 year old Dalmation.
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Chris McCoy, Board Member
cjmccoy30@sbcglobal.net
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Christopher McCoy has been a resident of Battle Creek for 35 years. He attended Battle Creek Public Schools and thereafter earned a B.S. degree from Michigan State University in Public Affairs Management and Economics.
Christopher McCoy was an Insurance professional for 17 years and worked in the sales departments for Citizens Insurance and HMO West Health Company. In 1989 Christopher opened an Allstate Insurance agency and earned National Sales Awards and membership into the companies Honor Ring Sales Group. In 2001 Christopher sold his agency to pursue other business interests.
Currently he is the owner of Rhema Property Investments and Rhema Homes Adult Foster Care, managing a staff of five. Christopher is also the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of New Level Sports Youth Programs serving over 1,500 youth and managing a staff of 70 volunteers in four locations that include Michigan and Cleveland, Ohio. Christopher McCoy also serves as Co-Pastor and church Administrator for the Faith Assembly Christian Fellowship Ministries where he has served in the ministry for 20 years. In 2004, Christopher was recognized by the Battle Creek Enquirer News and awarded the George Award for exceptional Community service
Christopher McCoy has been married for 19 years to Denise Mitchell of Kalamazoo and together they have three children, Sidney, Christopher II and Taylor McCoy.
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Carol Petredean-DiSalvio, Board Chair
carol@cfa-cc.org
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Carol Petredean-Di Salvio is currently serving as the President of the Arts and Industry Council’s board of directors. Carol is the administrator of the Community Foundation Alliance of Calhoun County, an organization that administers funding for county based programming and scholarships, with an emphasis on youth.
Carol is the President of the Homer Area Community Foundation and an advisor of the Homer Youth Advisory Committee. She is the secretary of Calhoun County Company, Inc. board of directors, secretary of the Calhoun County Economic Development Corporation , and a member of the Calhoun County Agricultural and Industrial Society Advisory Council.
Carol resides in Homer, Michigan with her husband Ron and is the mother of five daughters.
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Peggy Sindt, Board Member
psindt@albionedc.org
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Peggy Sindt is President and CEO of the Albion Economic Development Corporation, which is responsible for retaining, recruiting, and growing business in Albion. Her background includes higher education administration, marketing management, and real estate. She has a Bachelor’s degree from Albion College and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Michigan.
In addition to serving on the Arts and Industry Council board, she is involved with many organizations including Albion College National Campaign Committee, Albion College Planned Giving Advisory Committee, Albion Community Foundation board, Albion Health Care Alliance board president, Albion Rotary Club (past president and past assistant district governor), Battle Creek Health System board, the Forks Initiative, Greater Albion Chamber of Commerce, Greater Albion Alliance Tri-Chair, Homestead Savings Bank board, and the Michigan Economic Developers Association (past vice president).
She has also served on the Albion Community Visioning Committee (vice chair), the Albion Health Care Task Force (Tri-Chair), Summit Pointe Board (chair), and on the Calhoun County Economic Development Board, the Calhoun County Land Use Planning Committee, and the I-94 International Trade Alliance board.
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