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
Vice-President/Executive Committee/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.
