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

The Perkins Fund Managing Director Sonja Hoel Perkins, Kaufman Music Center Chief Development Officer Jonathan Slawson, and pulmonologist Dr. David Wu join the Board as four previous members depart.

August 31, 2023

Three new members have been elected to the Interlochen Center for the Arts Board of Trustees: The Perkins Fund Managing Director Sonja Hoel Perkins; Kaufman Music Center Chief Development Officer Jonathan Slawson (IAC 03); and pulmonologist Dr. David Wu (IAC/NMC 76-79). Perkins, Slawson, and Wu were officially installed as trustees during the recent July 2023 board meeting.

“Sonja, Jonathan, and David have decades of experience as professionals in the investment, philanthropy, and medical sectors—as well as deep personal connections to the arts and to Interlochen—providing unique and diverse perspectives that will greatly enrich our institution,” said Interlochen Center for the Arts President Trey Devey. “I am delighted to welcome them to the Board of Trustees, and I look forward to working alongside them as we prepare for our second century as a global leader in arts education.”

The July meeting also saw four current trustees conclude their terms after a combined 24 years of service: Casey Cowell, Chairman of Boomerang-Catapult, LLC; Susan Kettering, Vice President of the Kettering Family Foundation; Charles “Chuck” Tyler, Managing Member of AZCAT Associates, LLC; and Bill Zheng (IAC 91, IAA 92-96), Chief Designer and Head of China and IAP Design for Stellantis. All four departing trustees received the title of Trustee Emeritus/a in recognition of their dedication.

“During their tenures on the Board of Trustees, Casey, Susan, Chuck, and Bill have advanced our Interlochen community in significant ways—from raising issues that need to be addressed and advocating for Interlochen in their communities to shaping key policies and participating in interviews with potential Interlochen leaders,” Devey said. “They have not only fulfilled their roles as fiduciaries in exemplary fashion, but have also helped spread the word about Interlochen and supported our people and programs. I am deeply grateful for their dedicated service, remarkable generosity, and deep commitment to the young artists of tomorrow.”

Former Michigan Supreme Court justice and current Butzel Long shareholder Kurtis T. Wilder was re-elected as the chair of Interlochen’s Board of Trustees; Sarah Harding, Dean and Weldon Professor of Law at Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University, Canada, was elected as chair-elect and first vice chair. Saul Goldstein, founder and CIO of ActivumSG Capital Management, and Nancy Hoagland (IAC/NMC 74), President of the Mariel Foundation, will serve as second vice chair and third vice chair, respectively.

“I am deeply honored to have been elected chair for a third consecutive term, and I am delighted to collaborate with Sarah, Saul, and Nancy as we lead this distinguished class of trustees,” Wilder said. “Together, we have the privilege of charting the future of one of our nation’s greatest cultural institutions, ensuring that gifted young artists will have the opportunity to experience exceptional programs at Interlochen for decades to come.”

Sonja Hoel Perkins

“Investing in a way that everyone wins” inspires the life and career of Sonja Hoel Perkins. After almost three decades of venture capital investing at Menlo Ventures and TA Associates, Perkins manages The Perkins Fund, investing in “people and companies that matter.”

Perkins is the founder of both Broadway Angels—a group of world-class investors and CEOs who all happen to be women—and Project Glimmer. Project Glimmer inspires every girl to envision and realize their full potential.

Perkins serves on the boards of Mercy BioAnalytics, Unagi Scooters, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Project Glimmer, and The Pristine Mind Foundation. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia and Harvard Business School. She is a member of the C200, Women Moving Millions, and The Maverick Collective. Her story is featured in Julian Guthrie’s bestselling book Alpha Girls. Perkins and her family have been spending summers at their log cabin on Walloon Lake, Michigan for almost a decade.

Jonathan Slawson

Jonathan Slawson (IAC 03) was a voice major at Interlochen Arts Camp. He serves as President of the Engagement Council, a member of the Annual Fund Committee, and a Regional Ambassador in New York City.

Slawson has spent the last 15 years raising money for nonprofit arts and education organizations. He currently serves as Chief Development Officer for Kaufman Music Center. He previously served as the Director of Individual Giving for Lincoln Center; the Manager of Young Patron Programs for Carnegie Hall; a Major Gifts Officer for Blair Academy; and the Annual Fund Manager for the League of American Orchestras.

Slawson received a Bachelor of Music in Music Education and Arts Administration from Westminster Choir College, where he received the President’s Award, and a Master of Science in Nonprofit Management and Cultural Policy from The New School.

Slawson has previously served on Blair Academy's Board of Governors and Westminster Choir College's Alumni Council. He has also served as the USA Representative for the International Federation of Choral Music.

Slawson owes a debt of gratitude to several key people in his life who saw in him the potential that, at the time, he did not see in himself. He considers it a privilege to join Interlochen’s Board of Trustees and help bridge the opportunity gap so others may experience the same.

Dr. David Wu

Dr. David Wu is a native Michigander and grew up in suburban Detroit. He attended the National Music Camp (now Interlochen Arts Camp) from 1976-79 as a violin major. A proud Wolverine, he attended the University of Michigan in the Inteflex Premedical Medical Program and graduated in 1990 with his Bachelor of Arts and Doctor of Medicine.

He served his internal medicine residency at University of Michigan Hospitals and completed his fellowship in pulmonary and critical care at Boston University and the Pulmonary Center. He stayed on as a post-doctoral research fellow in immunology and instructor at Boston University Medical Center.

While in Boston, Wu continued to maintain his passion for music and played in the Longwood Symphony.

Wu has been practicing pulmonary and critical care at Beaumont Hospitals, now Corewell Health Beaumont Royal Oak University Hospital, for over 25 years. In addition, he is involved in the teaching of medical students at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine. He is a fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians and member of the American Thoracic Society.

Beyond medicine, he has devoted his career to education and promoting the arts. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and chairs the Education Steering Committee. He also served as a trustee and co-chair of the Strategic Planning Committee at University Liggett School.

He and his wife, Dr. Bernadine Wu, have two children—both of whom attended Interlochen Arts Camp. When he is not practicing medicine, teaching, or attending concerts, he is an avid runner and Peloton rider and loves downhill skiing and travel.

Kurtis T. Wilder

Kurtis T. Wilder is Shareholder at Butzel Long and practices in Butzel’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.

Wilder was appointed by Governor John Engler as judge of the Washtenaw County Circuit Court in March 1992. In December 1998, Governor Engler elevated Kurt to the Michigan Court of Appeals, where he served four terms from 1998-2017. In May 2017, Governor Rick Snyder appointed Wilder to the Michigan Supreme Court, where he served until Jan. 1, 2019.

Wilder has two children, Alycia and Klif. Alycia attended Interlochen Arts Camp from 2002-­2004 and entered the Arts Academy in 2004, from which she graduated in 2006. Alycia is now a violist with the Flint Symphony and the chamber ensemble Six Mile Strings. Wilder’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 an auto mechanic with an Ann Arbor auto dealership. He is currently pursuing a degree in Criminal Justice, after which he will begin a career in law enforcement.

Wilder enjoys orchestral as well as small jazz ensemble and classical chamber ensemble performances. Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday rank among his favorite solo performers, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Kansas, Chicago, and Earth, Wind and Fire are among the groups of which he is fond. In addition to his service on Interlochen’s Board of Trustees, Wilder also serves on the boards of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and the Alumni Association of the University of Michigan. “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.”

Sarah Harding

Sarah Harding is currently serving as Dean and Professor at Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University in Canada. Sarah Harding was a tenured member of the faculty at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law for 25 years. She was a widely recognized teacher and scholar with a focus on the law of cultural heritage, art, and antiquities. She was Associate Dean for Faculty Development from 2008-2014 and oversaw many school-wide projects, including strategic planning, accreditation, and curricular reform. Professor Harding has degrees from McGill University, Dalhousie University, Oxford University (Rhodes Scholar), and Yale Law School.

She has been very active in various community arts and education organizations. She was the founding board chair for Beacon Academy, an innovative Montessori-based high school that opened in 2014, and the first board chair for Haymarket Opera Company, a highly successful new opera company in Chicago.

All three of her children attended the Interlochen Arts Camp in the music, theatre, and creative writing programs, and one of her sons attended Interlochen Arts Academy as a theatre major. She believes firmly in the power of an arts education to introduce children to new ways of thinking and to bring passion and empathy into their lives.

For fun, she spends a lot of time running, cycling, hiking, nordic skiing, gardening, and tending to her bees.

Saul Goldstein

Saul Goldstein is the founder and CIO of ActivumSG Capital Management, 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, Goldstein headed the European real estate investment team advising Cerberus Capital Management companies on German and European investment opportunities. During his nine-and-a-half years at Cerberus, he helped open and run offices in Japan, Korea, Germany, and the U.K. 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.

Goldstein graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University focusing on Asian Studies and Japanese and received a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School and a 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 souls 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 theatre, 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 of supporting the arts as she watched 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 Center for Visual Arts in recognition of her generous support of Interlochen.

Hoagland’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 found a home at Foothill Theatre Company in Nevada City, California, where she performed, worked backstage, managed the box office, served as education director, and as a board member. Today, she splits her time between Glen Lake and the San Francisco Bay area. With more time available a few years ago, she chose to return to the Interlochen campus and become more involved by volunteering for the IPR fund drive, painting sets for the high school musical, and helping in the Philanthropy Office.

Before joining the board, Hoagland served as co-chair of the Campaign Cabinet for the recent CREATE AMAZING capital campaign. Hoagland and her family have been generous supporters of Interlochen both personally and through the Mariel Foundation for three generations and over the past four decades. Her generous lead donation provided the seed money for the much-needed expansion and renovation of the Dance Center. Honored to be chosen to serve on the board, she is grateful for the opportunity to provide even more support to Interochen and all of its activities.