Six additional creative business leaders bring a wide range of knowledge and experience to ABC
The Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville (ABC) is pleased to welcome six new members to its board of directors. The board member appointees are Libby Callaway, Yuri Cunza, Chuck Harmony, Devon Holbrook, Kirsten Jacobson, and Claude Kelly.
The Arts & Business Council also hosts a Young Leaders Council intern each year. This year, attorney Kara Johnson of the Tennessee Attorney General’s office will serve in that role for a one-year term.
“Having a board comprised of diverse and talented creatives and business professionals that is also representative of the audiences we serve is important to the Arts & Business Council’s continued success,” said ABC Executive Director Jill McMillan Palm. “We are excited to welcome new board members and look forward to working with them, and the entire board, to fulfill our mission to create a thriving, sustainable creative culture in Nashville.”
In addition to electing new board members, the Arts & Business Council welcomed new officers for the 2019-2020 term:
- Chan Dillon, WC Dillon Insight and Risk Management – Board Chair
- Kelly Frey, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough – Vice Chair
- Mike Koupal, Elliott Davis PLLC – Treasurer
The Arts & Business Council fills an important and unique niche in Nashville’s cultural community as the first and only private sector organization of its kind in the city dedicated to providing resources and support to help creatives of all genres and stages in Nashville’s creative community thrive.
The new board members began their three-year terms on November 1, 2019. The full list of the Arts & Business Council board of directors can be found at www.abcnashville.org/our-board.
FY2020 First-Term Board Members
LIBBY CALLAWAY
As a fashion editor and journalist, Libby has contributed to some of the country’s most widely regarded magazines and newspapers, including the New York Post, where she was employed as a writer and editor from 1997 to 2004. As a freelance fashion and style writer, she has penned stories for publications and websites including Elle, T, Travel + Leisure and Glamour, where she had her own fashion advice column. Libby is the former New York City-based marketing director for the Alabama fashion house Billy Reid and media director for Nashville denim company Imogene + Willie. Today, she’s sharing the stories of standout brands and promoting them through her company, The Callaway. She holds a BA in English literature from The University of Tennessee – Knoxville, and an MA in Cultural Reporting & Criticism from New York University. A native of Cleveland, Tennessee, Libby lives in East Nashville.
YURI CUNZA
Yuri Cunza is a Hispanic-American media professional, filmmaker, journalist, visual artist, and business and Hispanic community advocate. Cunza serves as President and CEO of the Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Spanish language newspaper La Noticia and owner of Y&K Entertainment, a film production and media consulting company based in Nashville. Cunza trained in acting at the International Theater Institute and Peruvian Theater Center in Lima, Peru. He continued his studies and involvement in theater, film and television in Peru and later as a Producer/Director in Argentina while attending medical school at the Universidad del Nordeste in Argentina. He later continued his studies in the U.S. earning a B.F.A in Film Directing from Watkins College of Art & Design in 2003. In September 2018, he was selected to serve on the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.
CHUCK HARMONY
Charles T. Harmon, better known as Chuck Harmony, is a music producer, musician, songwriter and entrepreneur, based in Nashville, TN. At age 4, he learned to play the drums, which quickly led to Harmon playing the trombone, tuba, piano, in addition to singing in the church choir. He studied music at Alabama State University, where he took piano lessons with the goal of becoming a jazz pianist. He is a three-time Grammy Award nominee, and won a 2011 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Song for Fantasia’s “Bittersweet”. He has earned production, composition, songwriting ,and instrumentation credits on songs by artists including Ne-Yo, Toni Braxton, Mary J. Blige, Jennifer Hudson, Janet Jackson, John Legend, Rihanna, Bono and more. In 2015, Harmony and producing partner Claude Kelly formed the progressive band Louis York, the first act on their artist collective and record label Weirdo Workshop.
DEVON HOLBROOK
Devon Holbrook is an associate in Bass Berry & Sims’ Intellectual Property & Technology Practice Group and counsels clients from diverse industries, such as retail, healthcare, fashion, banking, manufacturing, media and technology on matters affecting intellectual property ownership, development, commercialization and protection. He assists clients with the selection, adoption and registration of their trademarks, both in the U.S. and internationally and represents clients in a wide variety of transactions, including licensing and service agreements, mergers and acquisitions and a variety of web-related matters, including terms of use, data collection and processing and issues arising out of user-generated content. Devon completed law school at the University of Tennessee. He earned his Masters of Accountancy, with a Tax Concentration, and a B.S. in accounting from the University of Tennessee.
KIRSTEN JACOBSON
Kirsten Jacobson joined the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services as an Equal Justice Works Fellow and Staff Attorney in September 2016. During her two year fellowship, Kirsten will focus on developing new technology platforms for TALS, including a legal wellness checkup and training TALS’ stakeholders on leveraging technology to increase access to justice. Kirsten received her J.D. from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 2016 and B.A. from Vanderbilt University in 2013. While in law school, Kirsten served as the student director of UT Pro Bono. Kirsten received the UT Law William M. Leech, Jr. Public Service Prize and the Pierce-Black Award for commitment to access to justice. Kirsten was recognized as the Tennessee Bar Association’s Law Student Volunteer of the Year at the 2017 Public Service Luncheon. She also served as the YLC Intern for the Arts & Business Council from 2018-2019.
CLAUDE KELLY
Claude Kelly is a singer, songwriter, and music producer. He is a four-time Grammy Award nominee, and has written or co-written songs for Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Britney Spears, Ariana Grande, Bruno Mars, Kelly Clarkson, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Lopez, Kesha, Brandy, and One Direction. He and Chuck Harmony make up the R&B duo Louis York, and founded the music collective Weirdo Workshop. Kelly was born and raised in New York City. Growing up, he studied piano and flute at the Third Street Music School Settlement and sung with the New York Boys Choir. Kelly attended Grace Church School, Riverdale Country School, and then Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, graduating with a degree in music business/management in 2002. Kelly served as a vocal producer for the US version of The X Factor in 2011 and 2012, and is one-half of the duo Louis York with fellow songwriter and producer Chuck Harmony.
KATHERINE REDDING (YLC INTERN)
Kara Redding Johnson is a Maryland native and a five-year resident of Nashville. A graduate of Wake Forest University and Washington and Lee University School of Law, Kara serves as an Assistant Attorney General in the Criminal Appeals Division of the Office of Tennessee Attorney General. She previously served as an investigator at the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C., and as a judicial law clerk in the Rutherford County Criminal Court. Kara is Co-President of Wake Forest’s Nashville alumni chapter; Secretary of the Next Chapter Society, the Nashville Public Library Foundation’s organization for young professionals; and an active member of the Junior League of Nashville. She lives in East Nashville with her husband, Hank, and their dog, Arlo.