The Folks Behind the Scenes
MEET THE INGENUITY TEAM
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.
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.
Bringing Time, Talent, & Treasure
MEET THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Executive Committee
President
kristen hoover
McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal, & Liffman Co., LPA
Treasurer
Rob Elmore
Key Bank
Co-Secretary
Brett Altier
Ulmer & Berne
Co-Secretary
Radhika Balasubramaniam
Cardinal Commerce/ Visa
Directors
Cena Hilliard
Case Western Reserve University
Dalindyebo Shabalala
University of Dayton
George Smith
Dominion Energy
Dave Thomas
Thompson Hine
Jennifer Hairston
Avery Dennison
Laura DeMarco Petkovic
Greater Cleveland Partnership
Michael Bruder
Gilbane
Emeritus Board
James DeRosa
Commissioner of Real Estate, City of Cleveland
Doug Hoffman
Principal, Weber Murphy Fox
Joe Marinucci
Former President & CEO, Downtown Cleveland Alliance
Grafton Nunes
President, Cleveland Institute of Art
Tony Sias
President & CEO, Karamu House
Nigamanth Sridar
National Science Foundation/Cleveland State University
David Tabor
Director of Gas Operations, Dominion Energy
Deborah Wilcox
Partner, BakerHostetler, LLC