GIA Staff

Jan Bailie has over 15 years of experience in the nonprofit arena serving as director of finance and operations for agencies with budgets up to $10 million. Additionally, she has significant private sector financial management experience including serving as a CFO. Actively involved in planning and implementing the merger of Chicken Soup Brigade and Northwest AIDS Foundation, she was responsible for merging all financial records, consolidating client and donor information, and providing oversight of the renovation effort of two buildings to accommodate over 100 newly integrated staff members. Experienced in developing information and technology infrastructure and facility maintenance, she served for two years as the Deputy Director of the Lifelong Aids Alliance. Jan has a degree in Information Systems Management, and prior experience in graphic art development.

Janet Brown is a nationally known consultant, speaker and teacher and an adjunct faculty member at Goucher College, Baltimore, MD. Prior to GIA, she was Chair of the Performing and Visual Arts at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, SD and Executive Director of South Dakotans for the Arts and the SD Alliance for Arts Education. She began her arts management career in theatre where her work included Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival and the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. Janet has received numerous awards for arts advocacy including the Selena Roberts Ottum Award from Americans for the Arts, Washington, DC, and the Robert Gard Award from the University of Massachusetts Arts Extension Service (AES), Amherst. She’s served on many local and national boards of directors including Americans for the Arts and the American Folklife Center and has been a panelist and site evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts and several state arts agencies.

Since moving to Seattle in 2000 to pursue opportunities in digital publishing, Steve has served as Web and Print Publications Editor for Earshot Jazz, a non-profit arts presenter. More recently he worked as a Premedia Coordinator for R.R. Donnelley. Steve has a B.A. in Music Performance from Wichita State University. Currently, he is working toward a M.S. in Information Management at University of Washington Information School with a focus on Information Architecture.

Martine Meredith Collier brings a background in development, marketing and non-profit management to her work at GIA. She has provided services for performing and visual arts groups, educational institutions, municipalities, and professional consulting firms, serving in a variety of positions that have included Executive Director of the Sarasota Arts Council, Community Arts Development Director for the Georgia Council for the Arts, and Events Promotion Director for Emory University. She received a BFA in theatre from the University of Memphis, an MA in arts administration from Goucher College, and advanced leadership training at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. A member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the American Association of Grant Professionals, she completed the credentialing requirements to become a Certified Fundraising Professional in 2009.

From 2002-06, Abigail Guay was Project Manager at the Jenny Holzer Studio, NY, where she coordinated gallery, museum, and public art installations at venues across the United States, Europe, and Asia. In 2007, Abigail became the first Exhibitions Director of Open Satellite, an artist residency and exhibition program in Bellevue, WA. She is a member of the ARCADE journal editorial committee and has been dancing with the Seattle-based comedy cabaret troupe the Freedom Dancers since 2006. Abigail holds an MA in Art History from Williams College.

Before joining Grantmakers in the Arts in 2010, Heidi worked for Seattle's leading computer gaming company, Big Fish Games, and volunteered her time with local arts organizations including the Richard Hugo House, the Burke Museum, and Artist Trust. Heidi's experience in the professional arts field began in 2005 at Western Washington University's VU Gallery where she coordinated art exhibitions for three years, including an annual international juried art competition, Beyond Borders. Heidi graduated from Western Washington University with a B.A. in Creative Writing and Art History with a focus on creative nonfiction and postmodern art and culture.

Tommer Peterson has been on the GIA staff since 2000. Peterson’s background is in communications. He was part of the founding team for ArtsWire at the New York Foundation for the Arts, and was managing partner Wilkins & Peterson and Co., a design and marketing firm that specialized in nonprofit organizations for over twenty years. He was also a founding member of Artist Trust of Washington, two-term chair of Seattle’s Bumbershoot Arts Festival, commissioner on the City of Seattle Arts Commission, and the first curator of the City of Seattle’s 1% for Art Program. He regularly serves as a panelist for the NEA, state and local public agencies, and private funders. He is also an artist and studied classical calligraphy in Japan on a NEA fellowship in 1989, a discipline which he continues to practice. He exhibits his work regularly in the U.S. and in Japan.

Kitsy spent her childhood in Minnesota, Turkey, and Germany. She graduated magna cum laude, from the University of Washington, with a degree in International Studies – Comparative Religion. Post graduation, Kitsy’s focus has been volunteering and working primarily in the human services nonprofit sector. As the Development and Membership Associate, kitsy hopes to learn, grow, and be an asset to GIA. Whilst not on the job, kitsy spends time with the ones she loves, writes poetry and dances in the streets.