Meet our Board of Directors

Rudy Nickens, President

Rudy is an executive coach, facilitator, educator, entrepreneur and thought leader with expertise in cultural diversity, business management and community development. For over two decades, Nickens has consulted, educated and trained hundreds of local, national and international organizations in workforce diversity, leadership development, cultural competence and conflict resolution. He specializes in efforts to eliminate the effects of internalized racism and sexism and violence against women.

In addition to his extensive experience as a thought leader and consultant, Rudy served as chief diversity officer for the Missouri Department of Transportation. He wanted to know what it took to drive the agency’s inclusion efforts, after the consultants had gone. During his tenure with the state he was asked to serve as a loaned executive to the governor appointed Ferguson Commission, in which he acted as the director of racial equity through a wide-ranging and unflinching study of the social and economic conditions that impede progress, equality and safety in the St. Louis region.

Rudy has been privileged to facilitate at the NGO sessions of the United Nations conferences of Women (China); Racism, Xenophobia and other Related Intolerances (South Africa); and Climate Change (Morocco).

Rudy earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. A Rockefeller Foundation Next Generation Leadership Fellow, he received the Ethics Project’s Inaugural Ambassador Andrew Young Award for outstanding leadership and the Robert Bradley Award for distinguished service.

Solunis Nicole Bay

Solunis is an Executive Coach, DEIB Activator, Speaker, Conversation Starter & Somatic Pleasure Practitioner. She supports people in weaving together pleasure, power, and purpose into sustainable options & strategies and actions for a juicy life and career that turns them on. 

She leverages her business, spiritual and transformational skills & experiences into pleasure-centered practices. Solunis supports her clients' expansion of healthy self-image, embodied freedom, consent & negotiation abilities, creativity, abundance (yes, money, love & connections, y'all), joy, and to live fearlessly. She is passionate about expanding the societal definition of pleasure to help people make decisions that eradicate shame and live fully.

She has an extensive history with leaders reshaping their leadership, impacting teams and processes, and improving their relationships with themselves and others.

She is a graduate of Adelphi University, a Strozzi Institute-trained Somatic Coach, and a Graham-trained dancer. In Solunis' creative background, she published a piece in “Charting Your Course: A Lifelong Guide to Health and Compassion” along with cultural icons such as Jane Anderson and Deepak Chopra and danced with Ron Brown and Winifred Harris and was a senior director of Career Transition for Dancers. She is working on my first book, "A Recipe for Pleasure," while supporting people's growth, impact, and joy and indulging in new pleasure practices worldwide. She found joy in transformation and helping others find their path to pleasure as her ultimate passion.

David Dorfman, Artistic Director and Founder

David, Artistic Director and Founder of David Dorfman Dance (1987), has been Professor of Dance at Connecticut College since 2004. Dorfman received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005 to continue his research and choreography in the topics of power and powerlessness, including activism, dissidence, and underground movements. DD has been honored with four fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, three New York Foundation for the Arts fellowships, an American Choreographer's Award, the first Paul Taylor Fellowship from The Yard, and a New York Dance & Performance “Bessie” Award. David was a 2019 United States Artists Fellow in Dance. His work has been commissioned widely in the U.S. and in Europe, by Dancing Wheels (Cleveland), AXIS Dance Company (Oakland), and Bedlam Dance Company (London). 

His forays into theater include choreography for the Tony Award-winning play, Indecent, by Paula Vogel and Rebecca Taichman, for which DD received a Lucille Lortel Award and Chita Rivera Nomination for best choreography for the play’s Off-Broadway run. David traveled to London in March 2020 to set choreography for Indecent’s UK premiere at the Menier Chocolate Factory. In addition, David has contributed his choreography for the upcoming Whisper House, a new musical by Duncan Sheik and Kyle Jarrow, Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People at Yale Rep; Our Town, a co-production of Deaf West and Pasadena Playhouse; Assassins at Yale Rep; and the original musical Green Violin at the Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia, for which he won a 2003 Barrymore Award for best choreography. 

Dorfman tours an evening of solos and duets, Live Sax Acts, with dear friend and collaborator Dan Froot, most recently in New York City and at the Harare International Festival of the Arts in Zimbabwe.  As a performer, he toured internationally with Kei Takei's Moving Earth and Susan Marshall & Co. DD hails from Chicago and holds a BS in Business Administration from Washington University in St. Louis (1977). He appeared on several episodes of A Chance to Dance, a reality show on OvationTV starring Dorfman’s pals, the BalletBoyz who invited David Dorfman Dance to make a three minute video for RandomAct/Channel 4UK. We Don’t Own a Dog came out of that invitation—click here to watch it.

DD continually thanks Martha Myers and the late Daniel Nagrin, for being his dance mom and dad; his late parents, Oscar and Jeanette, for inspiring him to dance to heal and instilling the importance of a good joke; and his in-house “family project”, Lisa and Samson, for sharing with him the practice of unconditional love.

Mitchell Karp

Mitchell is a co-founding partner of VallotKarp Consulting, LLC, a management consulting firm that assists corporations, law firms, private equity and financial institutions, and cultural organizations in designing and implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) initiatives. VallotKarp helps organizations utilize DEI to create work environments where people feel valued and engaged and can do their best work. 

He is a former human rights attorney who focused on HIV/AIDS discrimination matters and brings over two decades of pioneering work to human rights issues and communications skill-building.  During the last twenty-five years, Mitchell has been a part of consulting teams providing diversity-related consulting services to financial institutions, law firms, and other organizations in the U.S. and around the globe. He helps them to identify potential problem areas and to develop appropriate strategies to improve workplace dynamics.

Mitchell holds a B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University, a J.D. from Rutgers Law School, and a Masters of Organization Development from American University.  For over 25 years he was an adjunct instructor in the Management Development and Human Resources Programs at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations in New York City. He is also a Certified Professional Diversity Coach.

Mitchell has served as a Board member of the LGBT Community Center in New York City, Co-Chair of Men of All Colors Together/New York, Convention Co-Chair of the National Association of Black and White Men Together (NABWMT), and an international mentor for South African young people from families with HIV as part of Infinite Families’ program.

David Kyuman Kim

David Kyuman Kim is Founding Director of the GTU’s Center for Values, Ethics, and Culture and Distinguished Visiting Professor. Dr. Kim is a philosopher of religion and scholar of radical love and multiracial democracy. From 2019, he was a Senior Advisor and Fellow at the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University. Dr. Kim spent nearly two decades at Connecticut College as Professor of Religious Studies and American Studies. His honors include fellowships as the Inaugural Visiting Professor of the Humanities at Brown University and Visiting Scholar at the Annenberg School for Communications at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Kim has taught at Harvard, Brown, and Union Theological Seminary (NYC). 

Published widely in religious studies, theology, political theory, and race and ethnic studies, Dr. Kim is the author of Melancholic Freedom: Agency and the Spirit of Politics(Oxford, 2008) and co-editor of The Post-Secular in Question (NYU, 2012) and Race, Religion, and Late Democracy (Sage, 2011). He is also Co-Editor of the Stanford University Press series RaceReligion. From 2009-2012, he was Senior Advisor to the Social Science Research Council’s Program on Religion and the Public Sphere, and was also Editor-at-Large of The Immanent Frame. He is cofounder of the Love-Driven Politics Collective, a group of scholars, artists, and social justice activists dedicated to responding to the political evil, acrimony, anger, and cynicism of our times by cultivating a common politics animated by compassion, generosity, and mercy. His current book project is The Public Life of Love.

A highly-regarded consultant and entrepreneur, Dr. Kim has advised efforts at major companies, such as Vanguard Investments, IBM, and Parliament, Inc. He is Founder and Principal of Radical Love Productions, LLC. and President of the Horn Hospitality Group, Inc., a Bay Area restaurant venture that includes Oakland’s Horn Barbecue and Kowbird Chicken. With the Center for Values, Ethics, and Culture, Dr. Kim is leading the GTU’s collaborations with corporate and institutional partners in the Bay Area and nationally, CVEC will create an innovative curriculum for companies, organizations, and professionals poised to undertake equitable and justice-focused cultural transformation.

Kellie Ann Lynch

Kellie Ann Lynch (Artistic Director, ECDC) is a New Haven-based dancer who co-founded ECDC and has been choreographing, teaching and developing a vision for the company since it's inception. Kellie also joyfully dances with Adele Myers and Dancers, Kate Weare Company and David Dorfman Dance.  Kellie has had the great privilege of working with many choreographers in the Northeast including Doug Elkins on national/international touring projects such as Fraulein Maria and Scott, Queen of Marys. As an independent choreographer, Kellie has received artist fellowships in choreography from the Massachusetts Cultural Council  and the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism; and her work has been commissioned, produced and performed throughout the Northeast. In 2014, she was one of four recipients of the "Arts Award", distributed by the Arts Council of Greater New Haven, for her artistic impact on the community. In 2015, Kellie attended Bates Dance Festival as an Emerging Choreographer where her work was produced and she was awarded a choreographic residency. Kellie has been a Guest Artist teaching throughout NYC and at various colleges and universities in the Northeast. When she isn't dancing she can be found teaching at Aldrich Pilates, a beautiful movement oasis in the heart of downtown New Haven. Kellie holds a BA in Dance from Rhode Island College and a MFA in Dance from Smith College.

Matt Oldani, Treasurer

Matt serves as Vice President of Operations for Deaconess Foundation, overseeing internal operations  including the Deaconess Center for Child Well-Being. He manages the relationships of the Foundation’s outsourced consultants for accounting, investments, information technology, and human resources.  He also administers the Foundation’s mission investments and led the team that developed the award-winning Deaconess Center for Child Well-Being.

A native St. Louisan, Matt has worked in nonprofit management for more than 25 years, the last 12 in philanthropy.  He is a former Board Chair of the Gateway Center for Giving, a regional association of grant makers, and serves on the local advisory committee of IFF.  He participated in Focus-St. Louis’ Leadership St. Louis program in 2015-2016.  During his career, his focus has predominantly been centered on helping children and youth and advancing educational opportunities.

Matt holds a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Arts in American Studies from Saint Louis University.  Matt, his wife, and his son reside in St. Louis County.

Mark Utterback

Mark Utterback is a partner at EMD Consulting Group, a team of real-world consultants and changemakers for nonprofit organizations.  EMD uses its partners’ and consultants' expertise in strategy, leadership development and fundraising to help nonprofits build organizational strength and resilience.

Prior to joining EMD, Mark has been a nonprofit executive for more than 25 years, including as President & CEO of Mental Health America of Eastern Missouri and Executive Director of Food Outreach, St. Louis’ HIV nutrition program.

He has served on a number of boards, including the St. Louis Art Museum and the Missouri Historical Society boards of trustees.  He served as Board Co-Chair for PROMO, Missouri’s LGBTQ advocacy organization.  He is alum of Leadership St. Louis.

Mark holds a Master of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from DePauw University.

Karen Waltuck, Secretary

Karen is the Director of the Consortium for Customized Employment, a Job Path initiative comprised of fourteen non-profits focused on employment for individuals with developmental disabilities. She is proud to help foster inclusive workplaces, build robust partnerships with the NYC business community, and help improve the lives of New Yorkers with disabilities.

In her previous life, Karen was David Dorfman’s first benevolent “boss” as she and her husband, chef David Waltuck, founded and ran the NYC restaurant Chanterelle. Chanterelle served innovative, refined French cuisine in downtown New York for 30 years, was the recipient of a Best Restaurant in America James Beard award and received 4 stars from The New York Times as well as a multitude of other accolades. It was a pleasure for Karen to mentor David for those 8 years, as he was an important part of the reason Chanterelle became a success.

Karen has always been passionate about the arts, and is honored to be a DDD board member.

Chloe Carlson, Emeritus

Chloe Carlson loves to help implement DDD’s visionary mission to “get the whole world dancing” through her teaching, choreographing, performing, and serving for many years on the DDD Board, including as past President. While dance has been the through line of Chloe’s life, it wasn’t until after she earned her law degree (UCONN School of Law ’84), worked as an attorney for years, and turned 40 that she dove headlong into dance as a career. Since then, she co-founded, co-directed, directed and performed with Dance Connect, through which her work was presented in a number of venues in the northeast. Currently, she directs her project-based vehicle, GUSTO Dance, to share her passion for the transformative, empowering, community-building, and joyful magic of dance with as many people as possible. She has had the great fortune of training with many brilliant, generous teachers, most notably David Dorfman and Lisa Race, to whom she will be forever grateful. Chloe believes dance should be everywhere and for everyone, and has performed or taught in highway rest areas, ocean sand bars, sculpture gardens, the town green and sidewalks. In addition, Chloe has been on many Boards of community organizations, especially those focusing on children and teens. Most recently, she has been actively engaged with the Aurora Foundation, a catalyst for positive change in the lives of women and girls in Greater Hartford. Chloe continues to be honored and thrilled to support DDD as it helps make the world a more inclusive, generous, and joyful place. Let’s dance!

Paul O’Neil, Emeritus

David Dorfman Dance’s first Director Emeritus, Paul is DDD’s longest standing member of our board of directors having served three decades of service with significant time as our Treasurer. His non-DDD career includes dedicated work through Human Rights China in addition to his post as faculty at CUNY law’s clinical program.