Interlochen Center for the Arts Board of Trustees welcomes three new members

Community leader and arts advocate Molly Ferrante, Grammy Award-winning singer and actor Sydney Harcourt, and clinical psychologist Lisa Kearns join the Board of Trustees.

August 17, 2022

Three new members have been elected to join the Interlochen Center for the Arts Board of Trustees: community leader and arts advocate Molly Ferrante; Grammy Award-winning singer and actor Sydney Harcourt; and Licensed Marriage and Family Counselor Lisa Kearns.

“I’m thrilled to welcome Lisa, Molly, and Sydney to the Board of Trustees,” said Interlochen Center for the Arts President Trey Devey. “Their skills, experiences, and commitment will be invaluable assets as we prepare for our second century as one of the world’s leading voices in the arts and education.”

“Every new member of our Board of Trustees brings a unique combination of personal and professional experience to their role,” said Kurtis T. Wilder, chair of Interlochen’s Board of Trustees. “These varied perspectives enable us to think critically and make informed decisions about the future of Interlochen Center for the Arts. I’m excited to see how Lisa, Molly, and Sydney will shape the institution in the years to come.”

Two current board members depart this year: Barbara Kratchman is retiring after nine years, and Mohamed El-Erian is retiring after four years. Barbara was an active member on the Audit & Risk Management, Presidential Search, Nominating & Governance, and Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Task Force committees. Barbara served as vice chair of the Communications and Engagement committee during her tenure as well. Mohamed was an active member of the Advancement, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Task Force, Investment, COVID-19 Advisory Task Force, and Presidential Review committees. In addition, he served as vice-chair of the Investment Committee. Both Barbara and Mohamed are receiving the honored designation of emeritus trustee for their years of service to the organization.

“Over the course of their terms as board members, Barbara and Mohamed have supported our organization in innumerable ways,” Devey said. “I am so grateful for their dedicated service and remarkable generosity to Interlochen Center for the Arts.”

Former Michigan Supreme Court justice and current Butzel Long shareholder Kurtis T. Wilder will continue his role as the chair of Interlochen’s Board of Trustees. Saul Goldstein, founder and CIO of ActivumSG Capital Management, replaces Sarah Harding as first vice chair, while Nancy Hoagland will assume the role of second vice chair.

“I look forward to working closely with Saul and Nancy as we guide the Board of Trustees, and through it, Interlochen,” Wilder said. “I’d also like to thank Sarah Harding for three years of exceptional leadership as first vice chair.”

Kurtis Wilder

Kurtis T. Wilder is a Shareholder at Butzel Long and practices in Butzel Long’s Detroit Office. He originally joined Butzel in 1989 as a litigation attorney, and left in 1992 to begin a nearly 27-year career as a judge, culminating with his service as the 112th Justice to serve on the Michigan Supreme Court. Justice Wilder concentrates his practice in litigation, appeals, and mediation, arbitration, and facilitation.

Kurt has two children, Alycia and Klif. Alycia attended Camp from 2002-­2004 and entered the Academy in 2004, from which she graduated in 2006. Kurt’s admiration and interest in the success of Interlochen grew as a result of watching Alycia develop into an excellent musician and a mature, young adult. Klif, who studied double bass with Interlochen double bass instructor Derek Weller, is retiring as an auto mechanic with an Ann Arbor auto dealership to embark upon a career in law enforcement. Kurt enjoys orchestral as well as small jazz ensemble and classical chamber ensemble performances. Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday rank as among his favorite solo performers, and Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Kansas, Chicago, and Earth, Wind and Fire are among the groups he is fond of. In addition to his service on Interlochen’s Board of Trustees, Kurt also serves on the boards of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Alumni Association of the University of Michigan, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, The Children’s Foundation, and Detroit Regional Dollars for Scholars. “The arts inspire, teach discipline, creativity, teamwork and pursuit of individual excellence. Through the arts, we learn another way to appreciate the spiritual and begin to recognize our common bond with all of humanity. Every student should have the opportunity to experience the lifetime enrichment that results from receiving a quality arts education.”

Saul Goldstein

Saul Goldstein is the founder and CIO of ActivumSG Capital Management which is a European-focused real estate private equity fund manager with more than €2 billion of equity under management. ActivumSG focuses on asset and corporate turn-around strategies in targeted real estate sectors combining a private equity mentality with deep expertise in local asset management and a strong on-the-ground presence.

Before establishing ActivumSG, Saul headed the European real estate investment team advising Cerberus Capital Management companies on German and European investment opportunities. During nine-and-a-half years at Cerberus, he helped open and run offices in Japan, Korea, Germany, and the UK. He advised on investments in real estate, real estate debt, NPLs, and operating businesses in the U.S., Canada, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Mexico, France, Belgium, and Germany. Prior to this, he worked at Cargill Financial Services in Minneapolis and Tokyo.

Saul graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University focusing on Asian Studies and Japanese and received an MBA from the Wharton School and an Master of Arts in International Studies from the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. He was named an Academic All-American, All-Ivy Athlete for rowing.

In addition to playing the trumpet through high school in various symphonic, jazz, pit, and marching bands, he has watched how the arts nurtured the soul of his children. He has a deep respect for the creativity and teamwork that participating in the performing arts fosters. His daughters play the flute and clarinet and his eldest daughter spent several high school summers at Interlochen in the musical theatre program.

The Goldsteins and their two dogs live in London which is a short-drive to some great chalk-stream fly-fishing.

Nancy Hoagland

Nancy Hoagland has over 35 years of experience in professional and community theater, both onstage and backstage and has a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Mount Holyoke College. Growing up in East Lansing, she learned by example the importance giving back to the community by watching her father, a life-long Rotarian and a professor at Michigan State University mentor future educators and her mother, visual artist Carolyn Talbot Hoagland, serve on the boards of such organizations as the Arts Council of Greater Lansing, the Michigan Council for the Arts, and Arts Midwest, all while continuing to pursue her own art. Carolyn’s name now graces the drawing studio in the Dow Visual Arts building in recognition of her generous support of Interlochen. Nancy’s one summer at Interlochen in 1974 as a drama and voice high school student expanded her artistic horizons. Being surrounded by peers who were passionate about excelling in their craft fueled her desire to reach for higher goals and planted the seeds of a deep appreciation of the importance of the arts and education. Her passion for the arts continued to develop at Mount Holyoke College and Michigan State University.

A world traveler, she eventually found a home at Foothill Theatre Company in Nevada City, California, where she performed, crewed shows, managed the box office, served as education director, and as a board member. Semi-retired today, she splits her time between Glen Lake and the San Francisco Bay area. Over a decade ago, she returned to the Interlochen campus, volunteering for the IPR fund drive, painting sets for the high school musical, and helping in the Advancement office. Next, she was tapped to be co-chair of the Create Amazing Campaign Cabinet, and joined the board in 2017, serving on a variety of committees and task forces. For more than four decades, Nancy and her extended family have been generous supporters of Interlochen both personally and through the Mariel Foundation, of which she is president. Most recently, her generous lead donation provided the seed money that launched the much-needed expansion and renovation of the dance facilities. She is consistently inspired by the students, faculty, entire staff, and fellow board members of Interlochen Center for the Arts and continues to be motivated by their creativity, vision, and commitment to citizen artistry.

Molly Ferrante

Born and raised in suburban Detroit, Molly Ferrante received her Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Michigan State University in 1988. Through her interest in real estate, she began her career with the MassMutual Life Insurance Company that same year as part of its real estate analyst program in Springfield, Massachusetts. After one year, Ferrante was promoted to a real estate mortgage analyst for the Chicago region. She continued to work in this capacity in positions of increasing responsibility for Chicago-based companies such as LaSalle National Bank and the advisory firm of Julian, Toft and Downey. Ferrante joined Mesirow Financial, in Chicago, as a mortgage broker, eventually becoming company vice president. She held a similar role with Prudential Mortgage Capital Company overseeing transactions for loans exceeding $20 million.

Over the years, Ferrante’s finance career has shifted to a focus on collaborations with universities and nonprofits. She dedicates her time to philanthropic initiatives within their Florida-based family office. She enjoys working with Naples’ youth in her role on the board of the American Red Cross Florida Gulf Coast to Heartland Chapter. She also serves as a member of the Boston College Board of Trustees and on the advisory board for The Pivotal Network at Georgetown University and for Emergency Medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Ferrante enjoys sharing in the responsibilities of overseeing the family's donor-advised fund dedicated to charitable initiatives that are designed to alleviate societal problems such as poverty and lack of access to education. Additionally, proceeds from the fund are used to support organizations focused on having a positive environmental impact and that are on the leading edge of humanitarian relief.

Ferrante and her husband of 22 years, Domenic, are always on the move. They have four children living and studying across the country. Their youngest is studying musical theatre at Interlochen Arts Academy as a rising junior. Prior to the family moving to Naples, Florida over 10 years ago, they lived in the Boston area. Ferrante and Domenic also enjoy spending time in the summer with their family in New London, New Hampshire.

Sydney Harcourt

Sydney James Harcourt is a native Michigander and studied at Interlochen Arts Academy as a double major in dance and voice performance from 1994-1997. He then studied at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, & Dance, majoring in musical theatre before landing a featured role in the 2000 Broadway revival of Bells are Ringing and relocating to New York.

A sought-after vocalist and Grammy Award winner, Harcourt has since performed on the world’s finest concert stages including Radio City Music Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Arthur Ashe Stadium at the U.S. Open Finals. He has appeared on and off-Broadway starring in productions of the cultural phenomenon HAMILTON (original Broadway company), Disney's THE LION KING, Green Day's American Idiot, and the U.S. premiere of Bob Dylan’s Girl from the North Country, where he originated the role of Joe Scott, receiving critical raves and nominations for the Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, and Audelco Awards. On television and in film, Harcourt has appeared in Tell Me A Story, Blue Bloods, FBI, NCIS, Elementary, Younger, The Good Wife, Disney’s Hamilton, Law & Order, and Disney’s Enchanted.

Harcourt is a guest artist in residence at Interlochen Arts Academy, giving masterclasses, instruction, and coaching in the Theatre, Interdisciplinary Arts, Singer-Songwriter, Dance, and Music divisions, as well as devising and producing original interdisciplinary shows on campus and around the country.

Harcourt has long been a northern Michigan enthusiast, having spent his summers camping at the Interlochen State Park since the age of 5. His family hails from the Upper Peninsula, and he recently moved to Interlochen in Diamond Park with his husband of ten years. “I steadfastly believe that my education at Interlochen Arts Academy is the reason behind my success,” Harcourt said. “Being immersed in the multidisciplinary and multicultural experience that is Interlochen Arts Academy gave me the tools to carve out a diverse career in the entertainment industry and to stay relevant and adaptable in its ever-changing landscape.”

Lisa Kearns

Lisa Kearns is a social worker, clinical psychologist, and Licensed Marriage Family Therapist specializing in adolescent mental health and well-being. Trained in Mindfulness-Based Substance Abuse Treatment and Applied Suicide Intervention, she has worked with students and staff in high schools as a School Safety Advocate, conducting mental health and safety assessments. She also has a private practice and is working towards her Ph.D. in Psychology at the Claremont Colleges, where she works in the Adolescent Moral Development Lab studying adolescent purpose. She believes the arts have the power to provide adolescents with lives of purpose, contributing to their psychological health and serving as a protective factor against common adolescent health risk behaviors.

Kearns earned her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Davis, and her masters degrees from Columbia University and Notre Dame de Namur University. She lives with her husband, Andrew, in Hillsborough, California, and has four children. Her third, Charlotte, is a 2022 Interlochen Arts Academy graduate. During her four years as an Academy parent, Kearns witnessed the completion of the Sasaki Associates Campus Master Plan. Charlotte received a world-class arts and academic education during her four years at Interlochen Arts Academy and will attend Stanford University for college.

In addition to serving on the Interlochen Board, Kearns serves on the board of Peninsula Family Services in San Mateo, California, the National Charity League, and previously served as a trustee of Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco.