Robin Acker - President
Wendy Parkman - Vice President
Kelly Snow - Treasurer
Sarah Lipson - Secretary
Carol Campbell
Jeff Dubois
Courtney Nash
Doyle Ott
Tim Parkyn
Libby Smith

Caroline Orrick, Advisory Board
Ken Levinson, Advisory Board
Judy Finelli, Advisory Board

Biographies

Robin Acker - President
Robin Acker has provided direct service to individuals and families, and has designed and directed programs in the not-for-profit sector for over 20 years. She has held numerous positions at Edgewood Center for Children and Families, including Director of the Circle of Care Program, Assistant Director of School- Based Services, Interim Director of Development and finally Associate Clinical Director. As a licensed Marriage, Family and Child Therapist, she has experience ranging from hands-on work with severely emotionally disturbed children to the creation and supervision of programs to protect vulnerable populations. Other projects she has overseen include Youth Advocates, Inc. at Huckleberry House II in San Francisco and the Intensive Treatment Foster Care at Seneca Center in San Leandro. Robin has been involved with the Circus Center since 1998 when her son Colin began taking beginning acrobat classes. Colin now performs with San Francisco Circus and hopes to continue his career in the Circus Arts.

Wendy Parkman - Vice President
Wendy re-joined the Circus Center Board after a hiatus of almost 10 years. Her career as a performer and teacher of circus arts goes back to the beginning of the circus renaissance in San Francisco in the mid 1970's, when the Pickle Family Circus and Make-A-Circus began. She performed with the Pickle Family Circus as a juggler, acrobat and aerialist from 1979-1983, and as an aerialist with the Flying Karamozov's production of The Comedy of Errors, at the Goodman Theatre (1983), the Olympic Arts Festival in Los Angeles (1984), Lincoln Center (1987), and in Joanna Haigood's Zaccho Dance Theatre at Theater Artaud in 2002. With Judy Finelli she was one of the founding members of the Pickle Family Circus School in 1984. She was an integral part of the transition to the San Francisco School of Circus Arts teaching recreational classes and serving on the board from 1994-1998. She has been teaching circus arts and theatre at the Urban School of San Francisco since 1989, as well as being a guest teacher at various schools in the Bay Area, the Young Conservatory of ACT and Cal Shakes.

Kelly Snow - Treasurer
Kelly has worked in the high-tech industry for 15 years as a web programmer, producer and designer. She earned her undergraduate at Cornell University and later, a masters degree in Information Science. She currently works as an interaction designer at Cisco Systems. As an athlete, Kelly races her bicycle throughout Northern California. She has been a member of her team's Board of Directors for the past three years and is currently heading a program to develop women into competitive athletes.

Sarah Lipson - Secretary
Sarah has worked with children and youth in San Francisco for the past 10 years as a classroom teacher, instructional reform facilitator and administrator. In 2001 Sarah was elected to the Board of Education for the San Francisco Unified School District. Sarah served a four-year term as Commissioner and was Vice President of the School Board. She is currently Assistant Principal of Bessie Carmichael school in the South of Market. Sarah is the mother of two children, Elsie and Henry. Both children have taken and continue to take classes at Circus Center.

Carol Campbell
Carol comes to the Circus Center with varied experiences in the world of sports and athletic performance. Her career started out as the Co-Director of Cultural Affairs for the City of Philadelphia and moved into the area of sports, including being in charge of marketing efforts for Runner’s World magazine and being the Director of the Mayor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports for San Francisco. Carol had a 15-year stint as the head coach of the University of Indiana gymnastics team and also coached and taught gymnastics at Farmingdale University and several high schools. She was responsible for several sporting events, including five State Regional Gymnastics Championships, and running and tennis events. Carol has also been very involved in Community work with the Suicide Prevention Hotline, Marin Public Schools Curriculum Committee and the Women’s Sports Foundation. She has also served as President of the Division of Girls and Women’s Sports for the State of New Mexico and the Mill Valley Co-op Preschool.

Jeff DuBois
Jeff was recruited for the Board in order to help the Circus Center’s new transition to the future with his unique Strategic Planning and organizational skills. Jeff is currently the Organizational Development Director for Edgewood Center for Children and Families. While there, in collaboration with the executive management team and the Board of Directors, he was responsible for the development and implementation of the agency’s Strategic Plan. Trained in
Participatory Decision Making (PDM), Jeff has had extensive experience using the PDM model with a variety of not-for-profit organizations and groups. He also has a strong background in accreditation, having organized and managed the successful reaccreditation of the entire agency by the Council on Accreditation. Jeff’s volunteerism includes group facilitation for the Overseas Development Network and project coordination for AmeriCorps*VISTA.

Doyle Ott
Doyle is a long time circus performer, director, teacher, scholar and administrator. Currently, he is the Artistic Director of Children's Theatre at Children's Fairyland in Oakland, California and teaches theatre at Sonoma State University. A graduate of the Clown Conservatory, Doyle has performed in numerous theater productions and clown and circus shows including Make A Circus, the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival and Lunatique Fantastique. He has also taught classes for both children and adults, in a wide range of subjects including puppetry, clowning, acting, movement, creative drama, storytelling, improvisation, mask making, juggling, aerial arts and others. Doyle has presented his research on youth circus training internationally at academic conventions and youth circus festivals. His directorial experience includes children and adult theater and circus shows for such organizations as the New Conservatory Theater, the Crucible, and Splash Circus Theatre.

Tim Parkyn
Tim brings over 15 years of marketing experience from the medical device,
financial, and action sports industries. He holds an MBA from the University
of San Francisco.

Libby Smith
Libby Smith is a senior Consultant with Primitive Logic, specializing in process improvement and strategic planning. She is also a freelance Auctioneer, working with numerous local and national non-profit organizations and fundraising committees. She has been Director of Administration for both Butterfields Auctions and Greg Martin Auctions. She holds a Masters of Information Management and Systems degree from the University of California, Berkeley and a degree in Psychology from Mills College.