Board of Directors

Doug Affinito is a business leader, Information Technology Specialist, and artist.  Graduating from Brandeis University with a concentration in Theatre Arts and Dartmouth College with a masters in Management Information Systems, he enjoyed a 30-year career as a Corporate Information Technology leader.  

Upon retirement in 2013 he began a ‘second career’ in artistic pursuits including theatrical directing and set design, photography and videography, furniture and musical instrument building, and vocal and instrument musical performance.  He has also served on numerous boards of directors including the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Cantus, Minnetonka Choral Society, Magnum Chorum, Mount Calvary Academy of Music, Brandeis University Alumni Board and Alewerks Brewery.

Margaret Blackstone Artz, PhD, RPh. As a high school senior, Margaret’s thoughts for the future included a major in piano performance. Her career choice took a different path, but she still appreciates all types of music and the fine arts. Margaret is a consultant with expertise in clinical informatics, formulary governance, and development of healthcare claims-based cost-of-care and quality-of-care analytic software and is an appointed member of the Minnesota Medicaid Fee-For-Service Drug Formulary Committee. 

Prior to consulting, Margaret was a Director at Optum, leading teams providing research content with Opum-licensed healthcare analytics, managed a multi-disciplinary clinical consulting team and collaborated with teams engaged in innovation, outcomes, research, data science and risk prediction. Prior to Optum, Margaret was employed by the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy, working in health outcomes research and pharmacoeconomics.

Angeline Carlson, PhD, RPh, has been a healthcare business executive in the Twin Cities for over 30 years. She is a founding principal of Data Intelligence Consultants, LLC, a health economics and outcomes research consulting group located in Eden Prairie, MN, where she leads multidisciplinary research teams studying care delivery and patient experiences. She is also an Adjunct Professor in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Minnesota. 

Prior to her work at Data IQ, Dr. Carlson served as a senior research scientist at the former Diversified Pharmaceutical Services and at United Health Group working with large administrative databases to provide data support for disease management, formulary decisions and health plan policy initiatives. She is a pharmacist with over 40 years of experience in community pharmacy, managed care and pharmacy benefit management and an active member of the public health community in Minnesota and has been recognized for her efforts with the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Public Health Achievement Award in 2013 and the Albert Justus Chesley Award in 2020 from the Minnesota Public Health Association.

Penny Gottier Fena is a seasoned nonprofit executive. She held senior leadership positions for the American Lung Association for over thirty years. At the American Lung Association, Penny was involved in landmark legislative campaigns in the fight against big tobacco, developed nationwide children’s asthma programs and provided oversight to a dynamic team of professional leading lung health, clean indoor and outdoor air in the Upper Midwest and Nation. She is now lending her expertise to Skylark in nonprofit management and fundraising development. Penny Fena has always been passionate about the performing arts and is thrilled to be involved with such a dynamic organization.

Chamika Hawkins-Taylor, PhD, is a social scientist and assistant professor at Xavier University of Louisiana.  She is an alumnus of the University of Minnesota (PhD), the University of Southern California (Master) and the University of California-Davis (Bachelor). She is a passionate leader in the health equity space to improve the health and wellness of people who are disenfranchised and underserved. 

She has loved opera and the theater since she was a child and remembers, fondly, attending the popular “Nutcracker” production for the first time with her mother in her hometown of Shreveport, LA. Dr. Hawkins-Taylor was raised in a musical household where her family played instruments and sang in choirs. Music and theater are in her blood; piano and singing lessons were a constant for many years. She focused on piano and continued performing in college with the UC Davis Gospel Choir. Even as a post-graduate student, she found herself on a study abroad experience in Ghana, West Africa focused on music and art education as a center-piece for the country’s emerging economy.

Jill Heins-Nesvold loves anything to do with music.  Jill sings soprano in a 40-person choir and occasionally sits down at her piano to let her fingers remember 15 years of piano lessons.  Jill serves as the National Director of Lung Health for the American Lung Association and develops curriculum and teaches at the St. Mary’s University Master of Public Health program.  She holds a master’s degree in health management, a mini-master’s in business administration, and a half-completed doctorate in evaluation studies.  Every fall, Jill is the varsity girls swim coach for Lakes International Language Academy in Forest Lake, Minnesota. 

Jack Neveaux, JD. After studying theatre as an undergraduate Jack worked professionally as a designer and technician in the Twin Cities with Children’s Theatre Company, Minnesota Opera and Chanhassen Dinner Theatres. He then moved to the west coast to study for a master’s degree and served on the theatre staff at Cabrillo College and University of California, Santa Cruz. Jack left theatrical pursuits for a time to attend law school and has practiced law in the Twin Cities since 1984 and taught business law at local colleges. Since his return to theatre in 2005, he has acted, directed and designed sets and lights for several Twin Cities producing groups, most recently, Delano Dramatic Company, Buffalo Community Theatre, Theatre in the Round, Theatre 301, Eden Prairie Players, Theatre 55, 4 Community Theatre and Morris Park Players; and has served on the advisory boards for Delano Dramatic Company, Theatre in the Round, Skylark Opera Theatre, 4 Community Theatre, and Chain Reaction Theatre Project. He also directs and designs for the Drama program at Delano High School.

Ann Morelli Spencer fell in love with opera when a college friend gave her Madame Butterfly excerpts for Christmas and has never looked back! A graduate of Oberlin College and Harvard Law School, she recently retired after a varied career that ranged from Indian law to commercial real estate. In addition to her service on the Skylark Board, she is a past member of the Minnesota Citizens for the Arts (MCA) and Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Boards (MRAC), for both of which she served as Chair.