Staff / Board
Arts Enterprise Staff
Nathaniel Zeisler—Co-Founder, Executive Director—is passionate about supporting and developing the careers of artistically minded entrepreneurs. Serving as both the assistant professor of bassoon and as a professor in the entrepreneurship program at Bowling Green State University, Zeisler helps students find sustainable careers in the arts and business worlds. In 2004, Nathaniel founded the Envision Chamber Consort; an organization dedicated to presenting music as a form of contemporary communication. Continuing to pursue connections between the business and the arts communities, Zeisler co-founded Arts Enterprise on the campus of the University of Michigan in the fall of 2006. Currently, Nate serves as the executive director of Arts Enterprise and is working to launch chapters at institutions across the county. Nathaniel earned his doctorate of musical arts and master’s degree from the University of Michigan and bachelor’s degree in choral and instrumental education from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Professionally, Dr. Zeisler serves as the principal bassoonist of the Ann Arbor Symphony and has performed as second bassoonist with the Michigan Opera Theatre in Detroit.
Kristen Hoverman—AEIdeas—recently started her career at Google where she works on the Advertising Operations team. She is a recent graduate at Bowling Green State University and holds a Bachelor's degree in Music Performance with a minor in Business Entrepreneurship. Through Arts Enterprise, she enjoys exploring the connection between music and the arts, and has a passion for empowering artists to find their voice in the world of business. Currently, she is working on the AEIdeas project, which works to provide support and resources for young, aspiring entrepreneurs. In her spare time, she continues to play flute with various ensembles around south eastern Michigan. She currently resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Emily Weingarten—Chapter Development Specialist—holds Bachelor's of Music degrees from the University of Michigan in Bassoon Performance and Musicology. In her position with AE as Chapter Development Specialist, she enjoys the opportunities to help chapters develop to their full potential and facilitate communication between chapter members and the AE Executive Board.
Rebecca Dragonetti—Administrative Advisor to the Executive Director—is currently the administrative assistant to the education department at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Rebecca is passionate about bringing people and innovative art and ideas together. She began working with AE in 2007 as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan. As part of the AE @ Michigan chapter, Rebecca served as a board member and director of programming in her senior year. During this period she created the Mentorship Through Music program, a weekly mentorship program in collaboration with middle schools in Detroit. Rebecca has worked for the University Musical Society, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and IMG Artists. Rebecca resides happily in Brooklyn.
Jonathan Kuuskoski—Chapter Development Specialist – is building a diverse career as a pianist, pedagogue, scholar, and arts entrepreneur. As a founding member of the UW-Madison AE Chapter, his main goal is to foster action-based learning and career visioning through socially-conscious arts ventures. An advocate of contemporary music, he has performed as a soloist and chamber musician across North America and abroad and is the co-founder of New Music Everywhere (NEW MUSE), a 2010 recipient of CMS’ Yamaha In-Service Fellowship and Wisconsin’s only professional music ensemble specializing in location-specific and interdisciplinary performances of contemporary works. He has presented research on arts entrepreneurship at the national conferences of MTNA, NCKP, USASBE, and at the inaugural CMS Summit on Music Entrepreneurship (January 2010). His latest essay is included in Disciplining the Arts: Teaching Entrepreneurship in Context, and he recently contributed to the New Grove Dictionary of American Music, Second Edition. Jonathan earned an MM in Piano Performance & Pedagogy from UW-Madison (2009) and an MBA from the Bryan School of Business at UNC-Greensboro (2007). He currently serves on the piano faculty of Edgewood College.
Arts Enterprise Board of Directors
Christopher Genteel—Co-Founder, Board Chair—fosters growth and achievement in businesses, organizations and individual careers. At Google in Ann Arbor he manages and coaches a team of media sales professionals on working in teams, and taking and managing risk in business and career decisions. Chris flexes his right brain writing, recording and performing his own brand of rock and soul music. Chris’ experience leading people and ideas in both business and artistic contexts led to his founding Arts Enterprise during his MBA at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Chris received his BA in Humanities from Yale University, where he also managed and toured the globe with the Yale Whiffenpoofs singing ensemble.
Kelly Dylla—Co-Founder—director of audience engagement at the Pacific Symphony, has developed new audience engagement practices at the Pacific Symphony based on data stemming from their recent audience segmentation research. An MBA graduate from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, her experience includes consulting work for the Sphinx Organization, Nonprofit Enterprise at Work, and research for arts consultant Alan Brown. Kelly is also a violist, with degrees from Rice University and The Juilliard School. She was the violist of the Hofstra String Quartet from 2000- 2003, and was a teaching artist for many cultural institutions, including the Lincoln Center Institute, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the New York Philharmonic.
Mark Clague—Co-Founder—is an Associate Professor of Musicology in the School of Music, Theatre and Dance at the University of Michigan, where he also holds appointments in American Culture and African-American Studies and serves as Associate Director of the American Music Institute. His first book The Memoirs of Alton Augustus Adams, First Bandmaster of the United States Navy will appear this coming March with the University of California Press and a second book, a revision of his award-winning dissertation, “Chicago Counterpoint: The Auditorium Theatre Building and the Civic Imagination,” is forthcoming. Mark’s publications appear in the journals American Music, Opera Quarterly, and Black Music Research as well as several encyclopedias and he has presented papers at the national and regional meetings of NASM, CMS, AMS, SEM, the American Studies Association, and the Society for American Music on topics ranging from Instructional Technology and Philip Glass to American musical institutions and Jimi Hendrix’s performances of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” He has been an invited speaker at the Peabody Institute, Bowling Green State University, Kennesaw State University, and the University of Southern California. He also serves as Project Editor for the Second Edition of the New Grove Dictionary of American Music and, most proudly, as faculty advisor to the Arts Enterprise University of Michigan Chapter.
Andrew Charnik—AEIdeas—is Managing partner of Symphony Bros. and an independent consultant specializing in business strategy for early-stage entertainment and technology companies. He helps entrepreneurs—including producers, singer/songwriters, and artist managers—plan and build their businesses Andrew has extensive experience working for major corporations, including JPMorgan Chase and The Walt Disney Co., and he is a board member of the nonprofit organization Arts Enterprise, where he creates mentorship programs for aspiring entrepreneurs. Currently based in Nashville, TN, Andrew earned a BA from the University of Deleware and an MBA from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.
Michael Mauskapf—is a PhD candidate in musicology at the University of Michigan, where his work explores the intersections between musical and organizational practices in America, with a particular emphasis on the symphony orchestra. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Michael has presented his research at the national meetings of the American Musicological Society, the Society for American Music, and the Academy of Management, and his work has been published in various journals and books, including 20Under40: Re-Inventing the Arts and Arts Education for the 21st Century, a compendium of essays on the future of arts education from twenty arts leaders under the age of forty. In addition to these academic endeavors, Michael has worked with and for various performing arts organizations around the country, including the new music ensemble Relâche, the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, and the University Musical Society. He has previously served as Executive Director of Arts Enterprise@UM, and now sits on the national organization's board of directors. He is currently co-founder and managing partner of Symphony Bros., LLC, a consultancy that helps artists and arts organizations tackle the unique challenges they face.
