Jill A. McGuire, Executive Director

Jill McGuire is founder and executive director of the Regional Arts Commission (RAC), the largest arts agency in the St. Louis region since it was created in 1985. Under her leadership, RAC has awarded more than 5,000 grants, totaling $65 million.

She has been recognized nationally, regionally and locally for her arts advocacy and creative approaches to grant making. In 2005, McGuire received the Selina Roberts Ottum Award, the most prestigious recognition in the arts administration field. McGuire also received the 2005 Missouri Arts Award in the category for Leadership in the Arts and the Grand Center Visionary Award for Outstanding Arts Professional. Also, she has been named often as one of the "Influentials" by the St. Louis Business Journal.

Prior to the Regional Arts Commission, McGuire served as Executive Assistant to Mayor Vince Schoemehl, with whom she worked to create the Commission.

Daniel P. Tierney, Deputy Director

A 20-year veteran of the RAC team, Dan was born in St. Louis and grew up one-and-a-half miles from the hospital where he was born, went to college three miles from the same hospital, and now lives only 2 miles from his place of birth. Dan hopes someday to leave the state of Missouri, but feels great comfort in this large geographic world he has experienced.

While Dan performs many different tasks in his office, the one he enjoys most is renting large equipment to assist him in his construction duties at work. Often the equipment is not necessary but it makes him feel cool. Dan is very well-liked by the constituents and staff, he thinks it is because of his personality but all will say it is because he writes the checks.

Dan's hobbies include going to warm weather destinations, cold beverage consumption and relating to people who support his hobbies. His office is known for its corner fireplace, and the door remains open for everybody to enjoy. The fireplace is not real but the smell it produces when plugged in does have an odor of burned plastic. He is also looking for a Jackalope to add to his office furniture. "It will look great above the fireplace." Most of Dan's downtime is spent with his family and supporting his hobbies.

Carol Anthony, Executive Assistant

A native St. Louisan, Carol has been with RAC 21 years. She relies on her strong  administrative and organizational skills as she serves as assistant to the executive director, supports the RAC staff and oversees the RAC office. Over the years she developed a reputation in the arts community as being the go-to girl -- if you need to find out something...go to Carol!

She loves to take care of all the plants in the office and is told she has a green thumb, [but she thinks it's the love and conversation she gives them]. Carol has two daughters and a son and seven grandchildren ranging in ages from one to eighteen. She spends her time away from the office with family and friends and loves taking in the cultural scene, of which she says, St. Louis is top ranking. She loves spending as much time as possible with her grandchildren and can be seen yelling her lungs out at her grandson's football games or applauding vigorously at the theater or opera. She also says being a hip granny beats the heck out of being a square mommy any day of the week!

Lisette Dennis, Grants and Volunteer Manager

Lisette Dennis graduated from the same private high school in Chicago as the teenage criminals Leopold and Loeb. (Remember the Hitchcock movie Rope?) She attended Washington University for three years before jetting off to France-oh la la. While attending fashion school in Paris for two years and she laughed with Jean Paul Gaultier, insulted Thierry Muggler, and drank with Karl Lagerfeld.

Lisette moved to New York and across from the Chelsea Hotel (take a walk on the wild side) and worked for eight years in fashion, but ran off again to Paris in 1990. Then she worked in film and television with Europeans, Americans, and Africans. With the closing of the 20th century, she returned to St. Louis and school, earning her degree (finally!) at Saint Louis University. In 1999 she worked as a teacher in the English as a Second Language department of the St. Louis Public Schools for three years and learned about thirty words in Bosnian. Lisette was a starving freelance journalist (published in Sauce) for three years before joining the Regional Arts Commission as Grants and Volunteer Manager.

Diane Kline, Director of Marketing

For Diane, working at RAC is the ultimate intersection of her two passions: marketing and the arts. As director of marketing, she is "required" to attend symphony, theatre, opera, dance, art exhibits, festivals, etc. "It's a tough job," she laughs, "but somebody has to do it."

During her marketing career, Diane has experienced the diverse sides of the profession, from the media, agency and corporate worlds. In her first position for a nonprofit, she loves the fact that promoting RAC and the arts in St. Louis is helping hundreds of cultural organizations.

Her pet project at RAC is www.ArtsZipper.com, the fun and colorful calendar of cool events happening throughout the region. Be sure to take a Zip drive and check out events presented by more than 700 groups.

Next time you're at RAC, stop by and say "hi." You can't miss her - just find the person who's laughing or singing. That's Diane!

Lynn Maupin, Director of Constituent Relations

For more than 10 years, Lynn has been with the Regional Arts Commission, overseeing the annual grants process, managing other grant programs and organizing technical assistance workshops. She also coordinates the work of the Commission's Cultural Initiatives and Grants Committees.

The aspects of her work that she likes most are engaging with the varied people who approach RAC, developing plans for programs, and she particularly enjoys getting out to events and performances. She readily admits, however, that the paperwork associated with the annual grants round is a challenge to her inner peace, harmony and overall good humor. One of her goals is to further streamline the RAC grants process, a goal shared by the entire grants staff.

Lynn holds an undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of Colorado, Boulder and a Master of Arts degree in Community Arts Management from the University of Illinois, Springfield. Selected to be a fellow at the National Endowment for the Arts, Lynn worked in the Office of Public Partnership. She administered the Community Arts Program and Arts Education Program for the Missouri Arts Council for a number of years and her professional background also includes work in graphic arts, direction of a contemporary craft and print gallery, and serving as a consultant for artwork placement in area businesses.

She practices a form of energy healing known as Pranic Healing for which she is a licensed instructor and has also studied and practiced other healing modalities including CranioSacral Therapy. Activities she enjoys include yoga, drawing and painting, and spending time with her friends and family.

Roseann Weiss, Director of Community Art Programs & Public Art Initiatives

Roseann is contending for the world's longest title as the Director of Community Art Programs & Public Art Initiatives at the St. Louis Regional Arts Commission.

In her position, she serves as director of the Community Arts Training (CAT) Institute, an innovative program that centers on the belief that art can be an agent of social change. The CAT Institute is a five- month curriculum fostering successful partnerships among artists, social workers, educators and community activists with the goal of creating relevant arts programs in community settings such as neighborhood organizations, social service agencies and after-school programs.

In addition to directing the Institute, she oversees about 55 organizations' grants and fosters public art programs.

She hates admitting it - but Roseann has 25 years of experience in arts administration, from both nonprofit institutions and gallery settings - which means she started working when she was 12. Before joining the RAC staff, she was Director of Education and Programming for the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis. In her ten year post at the Museum, she instituted programs such as New Art in the Neighborhood for teens, the critics and curators studio visit and lecture series, and a docent program designed to connect high school students with contemporary art, along with many community collaborations.

Roseann has curated contemporary art exhibitions in both commercial and non-profit galleries, served on arts panels, juries, committees and boards and has lectured about contemporary art and community. She is a founding member of The AIDS Foundation of St. Louis (now part of Doorways) and Critical Mass for the Visual Arts. Sometimes she just can't say "no." In honor of her active involvement in the arts community, Roseann received a Visionary Award in 2009. The award is given to those who have demonstrated a unique vision to further the arts in new and innovative ways.

Roseann lives in the West End with her spouse Harper Barnes, a writer, in a condo overrun by too many books and not enough walls left for art.

If you want to make her really happy, serve her some good champagne and some dark chocolate almond bark from Bissinger's. Better yet - do it in Paris.