UNC alumnus Tom Kearns of New York, N.Y., and Jane Roughton Ellison of Greensboro recently were appointed chair and vice chair, respectively, of the Carolina Performing Arts National Advisory Board at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The duo replaces Jim Heavner of Chapel Hill, president of VilCom Inc., and special events marketer and documentary filmmaker Barbara Lee of Aspen, Colo.
“Jim Heavner and Barb Lee would be a hard act for anyone to follow,” said Emil Kang, UNC’s executive director for the arts. “However, we are thrilled to welcome Tom and Jane as our new chair and vice chair. Their commitment and talents are already taking Carolina Performing Arts to the next level of national and international influence.”
Kearns, a self-employed investment banking consultant, is a retired partner of The Bear Stearns Companies Inc. and director of FibroGen Inc., a private San Francisco-based biotechnology company. He graduated from UNC in 1958 and was the starting point guard on the 1957 men’s basketball national championship team.
Ellison graduated from Salem College in Winston-Salem and the Inchbald School of Design in London. After working with Conde Nast design publications in New York, she joined The Design Collection, an interior design firm in Greensboro. She is active in organizations including Greensboro Music Academy and the Weatherspoon Museum of UNC-Greensboro.
Carolina Performing Arts Web site: www.carolinaperformingarts.org
Carolina Performing Arts contact: Kara Larson, (919) 966-3834