Team

The Folks Behind the Scenes

MEET THE INGENUITY TEAM

Emily Appelbaum
Executive Artistic Director

emily appelbaum

Emily joined Ingenuity in 2015, after returning to Cleveland from the Bay Area where she helped make places awesome through collaborative design, large-scale public art, earthshaking events, and outreach to underserved communities.

She has a degree in Architecture and Urban Studies from Yale, and she has a passion for creative place-making through artist involvement. She serves as Art Director for Brite Cleveland, and worked previously with LAND studio, City Architecture and Westlake Reed Leskosky (Cleveland); and (in San Francisco) American Steel Studios, the Box Shop and the late, great San Francisco Bay Guardian. She has been instrumental in visioning and bringing the Hamilton Collaborative to life.

Operations Manager

Mariah Becker

Hailing from the TRUE mistake on the lake known as Toledo, Mariah relocated to Cleveland in 2015 to pursue a career in Cleveland's film production industry. Falling in love with the city, and out of love in the film industry, she stumbled upon live events which lead to a bustling career as an event manager and the Festival Coordinator of Brite Winter since 2016. Working directly with Ingenuity Cleveland through Brite Winter ultimately opened the path for her current position as the Operations Manager at Ingenuity Cleveland.

When she's not wrangling artists at Ingenuity, Mariah is wrangling cats and dogs with her wonderfully chaotic zoo of family in Old Brooklyn, please politely ignore any animal hair on her clothes.

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Headshot Emma Morris
Marketing & Development Manager

EMMA MORRIS

Emma is a Chicago-area native turned Clevelander after graduating from Baldwin Wallace University in May 2022 with a B.A. in Arts Management and Entrepreneurship. She joined Ingenuity in June 2022 with experience in marketing, social media strategy, and arts administration.

In her free time, she enjoys reading, traveling, Zumba, and spending time with her cats, Lemon, Larry, and Lady.

Programming & Sustainability Manager

russa wenzel

Russa is a Cleveland native who has spent the last decade overseeing all kinds of events within our city! With a strong passion for inclusive spaces and community engagement Russa first came to Ingenuity in 2018 as a Volunteer Coordinator, her role has since grown to Programming and Sustainability Manager- helping to grow Ingenuity's programming, Ingeneers and annual festival.

In her free time she enjoys kayaking and exploring the outdoors.

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Bringing Time, Talent, & Treasure

MEET THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Executive Committee

lisa c
President

LISA CURLL

Dominion Energy

kristen h
Vice President

kristen hoover

McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal, & Liffman Co., LPA

john p
Secretary

john paximadis

Blackwing Holdings

Icon Headshot Coming Soon
Treasurer

melissa jogan

CBIZ

Directors

Brett Altier
Ulmer & Berne

Robert Elmore
Key Bank

Hui Feng
Progressive Insurance

Cena Hilliard
Case Western Reserve University

Jen Holland
Reaching Heights

Holly Little
Attorney

Dalindyebo Shabalala
University of Dayton

Nigamanth Sridar
Cleveland State University

Lisa Vinciquerra
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Emeritus Board

James DeRosa
Commissioner of Real Estate, City of Cleveland

Doug Hoffman
Principal, Weber Murphy Fox

Joe Marinucci
President & CEO, Downtown Cleveland Alliance

Grafton Nunes
President, Cleveland Institute of Art

Tony Sias
President & CEO, Karamu House

David Tabor
Director of Gas Operations, Dominion Energy

Deborah Wilcox
Partner, BakerHostetler, LLC