- Dedicated to the continuity and preservation of the Belle Isle Aquarium -

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FOBIA Board Members


 

 

Jennifer Boardman
(Secretary)

Secretary and on the Executive Board.
 Jennifer Boardman was born in Detroit and grew up in the metro area. Her mother’s diagnosis of muscular sclerosis became a catalyst for volunteerism. Ms. Boardman helped organize and participated in the MS Foundation 20k Walk for Life, raising significant donations for research, prosthetics and wheelchairs for local MS sufferers.

Ms. Boardman attended Michigan State University where she studied language including German and Chinese, as well as music. She graduated with dual degrees in English and Humanities, with cognates in Geography, History and Political Science. She served on the student judiciary, played flute and piccolo, and was a member of Chi Omega Sorority. At Chi Omega she successfully lobbied for adoption of the MS Foundation as her fraternity’s philanthropy. Ms. Boardman became President of the College of Arts and Letters and gave the graduation salutation urging graduates to give back to their communities.

Following graduation, Ms. Boardman worked for the Detroit law firm of Morbach and Associates, P.C., a personal injury defense firm located in the Ford Building. After several years there, she recognized her sensibilities were better suited to help fight on the side of the injured. She moved to the firm of Schreier & Schreier, P.C. where she continues to work on behalf of injury victims.

Ms. Boardman continued her volunteerism working with and donating to soup kitchens in Pontiac, Habitat for Humanity, The Humane Society, Green Peace and finally, the Friends of the Belle Isle Aquarium.

Ms. Boardman joined the FOBIA cause as a passionate proponent of its continued operation. She and other core members spent every weekend at the Aquarium from mid January, through the last day of operation, April 3, 2005, fundraising, passing out flyers, educating the public, collecting BIA data, exhibit statistics, and attendance and revenue figures; all of which became germane to presentations to the Detroit City Council and other officials.

When not at the Belle Isle Aquarium, Ms. Boardman networked with other preservation groups and presented speeches highlighting the impact the loss of the century old Belle Isle Aquarium would have on her sister building - the Belle Isle Conservatory, the island as a whole, and the City of Detroit.

 

Charlie Bristrol
(Treasurer)

Board member and Treasurer of Friends of the Detroit River. He would
have come to our meeting tonight but he has another meeting and would
have needed more notice. He would like to attend our next one. He was
very involved in the Humbug Island fight and remember, they won that one.
I got his name form Barb Hayes, president of Detroit Garden Center.

Stephen Goodfellow

FOBIA Co-founder, previous Vice-President/Interim President.
Born in Southampton, England, Goodfellow has lived in Nigeria, England, Denmark and Mexico before settling in Detroit, U.S.A.
 

Education:East Ham Technical College in London, England, BFA at Hull Regional College of Art, England in 1974.
Wayne State University, Detroit - Post graduate degree,1977 - M.F.A.

Artist , lecturer and instructor at College for Creative Studies.
Active in community involvement:
Previous member of the Governors Committee for the Rejuvenation of Highland Park. Helped develop the City of Highland Park website and runs the Highland park Block Clubs Online, HPFolks.com.
Maintains a website for the Tribes of the Cass Coirridor, CorridorTribe.com.

Became involved with the Aquarium in 2003, upon discovering that the establishment had no web presence. Creating the website BelleIsleAquarium.com with the initial idea of creating content about the architecture, history and aquatic animals, the site became mobilized to save the Aquarium when Detroit Zoo Director  Dr. Kagan advised  Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to close it.

 

Murray Gula

Talk show host and successful business owner. He has been a
strong advocate for the Aquarium and demonstrated this by offering his
services to FOBIA’s members.

Regina Kuper

Biography pending.

Sandy Novacek
(Vice President)

Biography pending.

 

Harriet Saperstein

Involved in city politics since 1962, Harriet Saperstein has overseen the completion of several of her projects, including Shaene Park, down by the River Front. Her ability to motivate seemingly intransigent obstacles is well known, and her Know-who rolodex reflects her years of service to the community. Harriet presently runs DEVCO, a project development organization located in Highland Park.

 
 
Diane Sawyer
Detroit resident, Diane has distinguished herself in various organizations 
the Friends of Belle Isle amongst others where she has served as a 
board member for many years.

 

Vance Patrick

Joining FOBIA early on, Vance launched into tireless work to obtain money for the organization. Skillfully overseeing the DYC benefit, he was responsible for a large donation, and has since networked to line up skilled workers to repair the Aquarium. His versatility, congeniality and tireless efforts for FOBIA make him a very eligible member to the board.

 

Glenn Wash

Glenn is a Real Estate Developer and was a childhood entrepreneur building birdhouses and shining shoes. Graduated Cass Technical High School in architecture. Graduated University of Detroit in Architectural Engineering.
Wash, is owner of Glenn E. Wash and Associates Inc

 

Ebony Wilkerson

Organized and directed FOBIA's strategic plan. Admitted to the board 03/28/06

Ebony D. Wilkerson is an associate in Foley's Detroit office and a member of the firm's Labor & Employment Practice Group.

Prior to joining Foley, Ms. Wilkerson was an associate with Dykema Gossett, PLLC where she determined and implemented legal defense strategies for complex commercial and tort litigation.

Ms. Wilkerson graduated from the University of Michigan Law School (J.D., 2004) where she served as executive editor of the Journal of Law Reform. She also earned a Master of Management in Nonprofit Organizations from Case Western Reserve University, Weatherhead School of Management (1999) and a Bachelor of Arts Education, from the University of Michigan, School of Education (1997).

She is admitted to law practice in the State of Michigan.

Click for previous Board members