Elliott Forrest

Executive Artistic Director

Elliott is a Peabody Award-winning broadcaster and producer. He is currently heard on Classical 105.9FM WQXR and guest-hosts for Leonard Lopate and John Schaefer and on WNYC. He is the Executive Artistic Director of ArtsRock. He's produced at The Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center and scores of concerts, events and shows. He is the host and producer of the national radio concerts of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; and hosts and produces regular podcasts for the New York Philharmonic; has been the 'voice' of CNN and LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER on PBS. For more than 12 years he was with the A&E Television Network as host of Breakfast with the Arts and Biography.

Joe Morley

President

Joe has over 30 years of experience in the design, production and execution of all types of live events. Formally trained as a director and designer, Joe's theatrical credits include positions with The Baltimore and Annapolis Opera Companies, The Baltimore and Washington Ballet Companies, and the Broadway shows When Hell Freezes Over I'll Skate, On The 20th Century, Speed The Plow, and Sarafina.

Since leaving the Great White Way, Joe has brought this experience and expertise to his work as a producer for corporate events and videos. He has produced major events and installations for Marriott, Johnson & Johnson, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Kimberly Clark, to name just a few.

As a partner in the film production company Studio on Hudson, Joe has five feature length films on his resume. He was co-executive producer of the 2008 Sundance Award winning film Anywhere USA, and of Morgan Spurlock's critically-acclaimed and Academy Award nominated film, Super Size Me.

Joe has been a Rockland resident since 1997 and served as the very first president of ArtsRock before resuming the position this year.

Deirdre McLary

Vice President

Deirdre moved to Nyack from NYC in 2002. A native NYer, she attended Music & Art High School for flute and voice, and went on to study literature and writing at Queens College & Columbia University. Her love of music landed her a job as a publicity assistant for CBS Columbia Records in 1989, where she worked on campaigns for Mariah Carey, Leonard Cohen, Michael Bolton, Chris Whitley and Jamiroquai to name a few.

Upon moving to Nyack she shifted careers and moved into health care as a doula, childbirth educator and lactation consultant. She was a founding member of the Metropolitan Doula Group, one of the oldest collaborative doula advocacy groups. She served on their board for ten years and was influential in growing their numbers. Since 2010 Deirdre has been working for local Nyack pediatrician Dr. Kenneth Zatz as a lactation consultant and medical assistant.

Over the years she and her family have remained active and dedicated to supporting local arts and family programming. She led the local chapter of La Leche League for over a decade. She has held board positions with Children's Shakespeare Theater and Nursery School of the Nyacks. And at two different times she was acting President of DramaWorks, the Nyack High School parent-run fundraising and support group for theater arts in the Nyack school district.

Tim Domini

Treasurer

Tim has worked in financial management roles for over 25 years working in many industries until spending the last 15 years in the not-for-profit sector. Currently Tim is working at the New York Restoration Project.

Beyond Tim's work in accounting and finance he has held community leadership roles serving on the board for ten years of a co-op, nine years on the board for a community theater group, five years on the board of the Clarkstown theater festival and ten years as the co-chair of a chapter of a nationally-recognized networking group for Financial Professionals. Tim teaches one day a year at Julliard a presentation on how to look at not-for-profit financials.

Tim, a lifelong singer, is still actively singing with both Ridgewood Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company, the Woodcliff Lake Choraliers, and the Reform Temple of Rockland choir. Occasionally, you may find him at an open mic playing guitar and singing.

Married for more than 30 years to Barbara, Tim has one son who is a professional music theater performer.

Tim earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance and a Master in Business Administration from Babson College.

Simon Basner

Simon is an accomplished businessman and a patron of the creative arts. His passions include a healthy lifestyle, enjoying the Hudson River, and designing and refining unique buildings and homes. Community has always been a focus in his life. He served for 10 years as an active member of the Zoning Board of Appeals in his local village of Piermont, NY. Simon was the founder and original owner of Union Arts Center in Sparkill, NY. Simon's keen eye for detail and civic vision have greatly enhanced his ongoing input and guidance as an active member to the ArtsRock Board.

Jason Robert Brown

Jason is a Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist for the musical theater. His shows include Parade, The Last Five Years, The Bridges of Madison County, 13, Songs for a New World, Honeymoon in Vegas, Mr. Saturday Night, and his two new shows, The Connector and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. As a singer-songwriter, Jason tours the world performing with his band and orchestras, and he has released three widely acclaimed solo albums, Wearing Someone Else's Clothes, How We React and How We Recover, and Coming From Inside The House. Several of his songs, including "Stars and the Moon," "Still Hurting," and "Hope," have become concert and cabaret standards. He lives in Nyack with his wife, composer Georgia Stitt, and their two daughters.

Emily Feiner

Emily Feiner, LCSW is a longtime resident of Nyack. She is a lover of the arts and appreciates all the opportunities ArtsRock provides to enjoy live performance.

Lisa Green

As a former professional in the arts and longtime Nyack resident, Lisa Green has been a supporter of Arts Rock since its inception.

Lisa worked as a professional in theatre and television in Australia before moving to New York City where she studied with Uta Hagen. In NYC, she performed in leading roles in off-Broadway and off-off Broadway productions. Lisa currently sings with a local jazz band in Rockland County.

As a real estate professional in Rockland and Westchester counties, Lisa has been one of Wright Brothers top producers. Specializing in luxury properties, she has cultivated a large elite client base that continues to grow as she expands her business.

Lisa takes pride in the arts in Rockland County, and enjoys introducing new residents to the many events and performances that Arts Rock has to offer.

Heather Hurley

Heather is a native New Yorker and has lived in Pearl River for over 15 years. Born and raised on Long Island, she studied classical piano as a child, and received her B.A. in Drama Studies from SUNY Purchase. Heather's early professional career began in casting departments for television and film in New York City, before pivoting to floral and event design. Past casting credits include "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," "Life on Mars," "Royal Pains," "Amexicano," and Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner "Padre Nuestro". She served as the Floral Event Design Manager for Super Bowl XLVIII at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in 2014, and currently serves as the assistant to a school administrator in Bergen County. Heather's varied background and experience in community partnerships and the performing and creative arts has given her a broad perspective and understanding of the importance of arts education and the profound impact that the arts has on all communities. She is the proud mom of a college student, an avid musical theatre enthusiast, and community grassroots advocate in the Town of Orangetown. She is the Local State Legislative Lead with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, and serves as the Vice President of the Board of Directors for Cornell Cooperative Extension of Rockland County. Heather also sits on the Advisory Board for BridgeMusik and the Orangetown Environmental Committee, and is the 1st Vice Chair of the Orangetown Democratic Committee. She is excited and honored to be a member of the ArtsRock Board of Directors.

Tonya Love

Tonya is a NY CPA who actively practices in Rockland County NY. Her specialty is small to midsize business accounting, tax planning and tax preparation as well as not-for-profit tax preparation and consultations. Her expertise also covers tax resolution and IRS debt negotiations. She's actively practicing for well over 25 years and holds the CGMA designation as a member of AICPA.

Her professional memberships include, NATP, NYSSCPA, QuickBooks ProAdvisor, and BNI, where she has made many cohesive business connections with professionals in various industries.

Tonya has three sons, all products of the North Rockland School district in various stages of their careers. She's served as treasurer on PTA, ROTC, and Boy Scouts as her children moved through the various clubs. In addition, she enjoys volunteering at her church, and for local fundraising events.

She serves on the United Women of Rockland board, NYSSCPA, Rockland board, and assists in the Women of the Dream board located in Camden, NJ. Her husband is a diesel mechanic in Buchanan and loves cooking and entertaining.

Melanie Rock

Vice President

Melanie Rock is a musician and writer, a performer and film score collaborator, a Jill of many trades with twenty-five years' experience in the music industry. She has worked in studio management, booking, promotion and live show production, and spent ten years on the road as tour manager for Liz Phair, John Lurie and the Lounge Lizards, Luscious Jackson, and Wilco, among others. Melanie holds a Bachelor of Music from NYU and the Writing MFA from Columbia University. Her prose appears in Narratively, Creative Nonfiction, Bustle, Preservation Magazine and elsewhere.

Melanie is a native New Yorker and has lived in Nyack since 2001, currently inhabiting a lovingly restored Queen Anne Victorian with her family. She is also a NYS licensed real estate agent with Ellis Sotheby's International Realty, working in the greater Hudson Valley. Melanie joined the ArtsRock Board in 2018.

Karen Siff-Exkorn

Karen is a best-selling author, playwright, dancer, choreographer, consultant and internationally acclaimed motivational speaker. She is author of the global best-selling book The Autism Sourcebook: Everything You Need to Know About Diagnosis, Treatment, Coping and Healing-From a Mother Whose Child Recovered (HarperCollins) and Fifty Two Shades of Blue-ish (Orange Press), and is a contributing writer to Huffington Post and Thrive Global. As a playwright, Karen has received numerous awards, including the Solo New Works Series at the Los Angeles Women's Theater Festival, Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwright's Conference, and Screencraft Stageplay Writing Competition. Karen's multi-media performance piece Body & Soul and her solo play Who's They had their world premieres in NYC. Karen produced, directed and performed in Anna Halprin's site specific piece Planetary Dance in Central Park to promote worldwide peace. Her Eight Short Plays About Love had a staged reading at The Barrow Group in NYC and is in consideration for a podcast and TV series. Her play Do This, with a Tony-award winning Broadway producer, Tony-nominated actress and director, had a sold-out run at Gulfshore Playhouse in Naples and has been optioned for a Broadway run and film adaptation.

An internationally-acclaimed motivational speaker and founder/CEO of a global corporate training company, Karen works with Fortune 500 companies that include Sony, GE Capital, Louis Vuitton, PwC, Defy Media, Deloitte & Touche, Armani, Tommy Hilfiger and more. She has been featured on Good Morning America, Today Show, CNN, CBS, PBS, The View, NBC Nightly News, Nightline, and in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

Karen has her B.A. in Psychology from Brown University and M.A. in Performance Studies from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at NYU, where she serves as Chair of the Dean's Council. A certified NLP master practitioner and Mindfulness coach, she received her Mind/Body training at Harvard Medical School.

As a board member of NEXT for AUTISM, Karen has served as co-chair of HBO's Night of Too Many Stars, hosted by Jon Stewart and featuring top celebrities, where she has helped raise over $30 million for autism programs.

A proud resident of Rockland County for over 25 years, Karen has been involved in supporting community organizations including Soup Angels of Nyack and ArtsRock.

Glen Weinbaum

Glen has been a resident of Upper Nyack since 1997 and spent over 30 years in a variety of technology financial management roles, most recently for Deloitte and Touche prior to his retirement in 2019. In addition to his role on the ArtsRock Board, Glen has been involved with Soup Angels for over 10 years, and was a mentor with the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Rockland County. Glen has also been a volunteer with Peer Forward for 10 years, an organization that readies underserved youth for college, culminating in a four-day workshop on a college campus where Glen assists students in the preparation of their college application essays.

Glen earned his BS from The University of CT and his MS from Purdue University. He and his wife have two daughters, both graduates of Nyack High School.