At its 2020 Annual Meeting of Members on December 15, the National Institute of Social Sciences elected six new members to the Board of Trustees.
Jane Barnes has more than 30 years of experience as Chief of Staff / Assistant to Fortune 500 CEO’s and politicians. Most recently she has worked with Bill Bradley, Former United States Senator, Presidential candidate and NY Knick. She manages his office day-to-day and works on his Sirius/XM radio show, American Voices. Prior to working with the Senator, she was the Chief of Staff to the CEO of HARMAN International, the sound-equipment company, for 10 years, where she managed all aspects of the CEO’s business operations. Ms. Barnes’ passion is the arts. An active singer and performer in her spare time, she has performed with the Blue Hill Troupe in New York City, Troupers Light Opera of Connecticut, Fairfield Center Stage, Mendelssohn Choir of Connecticut, and the Darien Summer Music Theatre. She has served on the Boards of BHT in a variety of positions including President and Treasurer, respectively. Currently she is a member of the Board of Fairfield Center Stage and Mendelssohn Choir of Connecticut.
Angel Blue-Mielke is a California native and graduate of UCLA. Known professionally as Angel Blue, she is an international opera singer who has in recent years established herself as one of her generation’s most important singers. Ms. Blue has performed in more than 35 countries including Australia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Bahrain, Oman, Israel, Turkey, Singapore, China, South Korea, and India. Last season she opened the Metropolitan Opera as Bess in Porgy and Bess to rave reviews from the New York Times. In 2019 she made her debut at the Festival D’Aix-en-Provence in Aix-en-Provence, France as Tosca, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, United Kingdom as Violetta in La Traviata, and made history as the first black soprano to sing Violetta at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy in 2019.
Suzanne Farrell is a graduate of Vassar College with a degree in Cognitive Science (an interdisciplinary study of the mind). Suzanne spent over 15 years in book publishing at Random House, Inc. and the Smithsonian Institution Press before devoting her time to raising her two boys. A native of Long Island, Suzanne currently lives in New York City with her husband, Bob.
Mary Harmon is a native of Arkansas and a graduate of the University of Arkansas, receiving a BSBA from the University of Arkansas College of Business. After working as as a legislative auditor for the State of Arkansas, Mary pursued a legal degree from the University of Arkansas and a subsequent advanced degree in tax law at New York University, where she taught in the NYU Tax Program for two years. She later worked as counsel for Clearly, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton; Special Counsel to the Chief Counsel of the IRS; partner at Hogan and Hartson; Banker’s Trust Company, and Goldman Sachs, where she ultimately became Head of the tax planning group.
Adam Mielke is an Indiana native who graduated from Indiana University in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Informatics. After graduating he moved to California to work with The Police Foundation on a research project called “Preventing Repeat Incidents of Family Violence.” Following the research project Mr. Mielke relocated to San Diego, California and began working with The Omega Group. There he developed crime and emergency response analysis and mapping tools for police departments across the nation. From 2007–2015 he worked with the United States Marine Corps GEOFidelis West Program. Adam currently serves as a Senior Java Script Developer for ASRC Federal (Arctic Slope Region Corporation).
Nina Rumbough built her career in fashion public relations and events, working at Lord and Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue, Peggy Jennings, and Holland & Holland, an almost 200-year-old British gunmaker and clothing retailer that offers handmade sporting rifles and shotguns. She was director of public relations at Holland & Holland in the US when she met her husband Jan Roosenburg there in 1994. Nina has served or is currently serving on the boards of The Women’s Sports Foundation, American Museum of Natural History Advisory Board, The National Forest Foundation, Wings World Quest, Hillwood Museum and Gardens, and VitalEdge Aid.
At the same meeting, the following trustees were reelected to two-year terms: Elizabeth Corman, Susan Gitelson, Michele Jeffery, Elbrun Kimmelman, Fred Larsen, Michelle Larsen, Gracey Stoddard, and Joe Flanagan.
Two trustees whose terms expired in 2020—Frank Repas and Barbara Tober—did not seek reelection to the Board.
We welcome our new and returning Trustees and thank all current and former Trustees for their service and support!
Fred Larsen
President