Martin Harkless, Board Chair
Martin was born in Queens, NY with a love for books and the arts that opened his imagination to the wonders of the world. He holds a BA in Marketing from the American Military University/American Public University System. Martin’s career saw 23 years of honorable service for the United States Marines including three combat tours to the Middle East (Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1991 and Operation Endure Freedom/Iraqi Freedom in 2003/2004). He was the Recruiting Officer for the Marines in 1999 and in charge of recruiting for both Charlottesville and Lynchburg. Martin has served in numerous positions for the Marines including Equal Opportunity Officer, Staff Noncommissioned Officer in Charge, and the Substance Abuse Control Officer for Marine Corps Combat Service Support Schools. He returned to the Charlottesville area in 2009 and is married with 3 children and 4 grandchildren. He is an avid supporter of National Parks and the Arts, and Martin began serving on the Charlottesville Ballet board of directors after being a CB supporter since 2017.
Charron Montgomery, Treasurer
Charron Hodges Montgomery is originally from Harrisonburg, Virginia, where she began taking tap and jazz at the age of 8. Over the years, she also studied ballet, pointe, modern, contemporary ballet, ballet technique, Broadway theater and tap, clogging, ballroom, flamenco, and Irish hard shoe, soft shoe, Sean Nos, and Cape Breton. In college, she was a performer and co-captain of the dance team, as well as a choreographer, teacher, and co-leader for the dance company. Charron and her husband, Andy relocated to the Charlottesville area in 2006 when she joined the law firm of McCallum & Kudravetz, P.C. Charron is an attorney and CPA who practices in the areas of estate planning and administration and taxation. She is a shareholder in the firm and Chair of the firm’s Management Committee. Charron loves her role as dance mom to her son and daughter in the First Steps Division at Charlottesville Ballet and looks forward to serving on the Board of Directors and Finance Committee for the Charlottesville Ballet.
Sonya Hairston, Secretary
Sonya Hairston brings to Charlottesville a wealth of experience working with both non-profit and for-profit companies. She is an experienced executive with demonstrated success in financial management, staff and board development, production, sales, marketing, strategic planning, and negotiation. Her management background includes reorganizing and integrating new operations, team building, budget creation and management, and establishing strategic alliances and joint ventures. Sonya is an expert at building high-impact approaches and teams, identifying pivot points, managing numerous priorities simultaneously, creating innovative outcomes, and establishing strategic alliances and joint ventures. She is the former Founder and CEO of her own companies, Classic Affairs, Inc. and Noteably Nashville, LLC.
Dr. Heather Snyder, Board Chair Emeritus and Medical Director for Charlottesville Ballet
Dr. Heather Snyder, originally from New Bedford, Massachusetts, moved to Charlottesville in 1999 with her husband, Dr. Bryan Snyder, to establish their own podiatric medical practice – Albemarle Family Foot & Ankle (a CB Diamond Sponsor). Heather graduated summa cum laude with a BS in Biology from Stonehill College and received her doctorate in podiatric medicine from the Temple University School of Podiatric Medicine. She completed a two-year podiatric medical residency at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Snyder is Board Certified in Podiatric Medicine and a Fellow of the American College of Foot & Ankle Orthopedics and Medicine. She is an active member of the International Association for Dance Medicine & Science (IADMS) as well as the American Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine. Since 2007, Dr. Snyder has served on the board of directors and as the Medical Director for Charlottesville Ballet, working with dancers in the professional company and students at Charlottesville Ballet Academy to promote the organization’s mission of health and wellness.
Brittany Clark
Bio coming soon!
Julia Gest
Julia Masterson Gest discovered Charlottesville Ballet after relocating from Pennsylvania in 2018. Julia’s love of dance began as a preschooler peeking through the window of the dance studio in her New England hometown and eventually led her to train pre-professionally at Walnut Hill School for the Arts. She received her BS from Boston University and an M.Ed. from UNC Chapel Hill. After 15 years as a classroom teacher of young children, Julia has spent the past 20 years working at Penn State University to coach and support educators in their work with children through evidence-based, equitable practice. Julia currently volunteers on the Early Learning Steering Committee of the Charlottesville YMCA and with an educational equity workgroup in Pennsylvania. She champions Charlottesville Ballet’s mission, vision, and values that elevate wellness, inclusion, and community outreach and collaboration.
Valerie Gregory
Valerie Gregory is a retired Associate Dean of Admission and the Director of the Outreach Office at The University of Virginia. She received a BS in Early Childhood Education from Hampton (Institute) University and M.Ed in Administration and Supervision from the University of Virginia. Prior to her time at UVA she was also a teacher and principal in both Charlottesville City Schools and Fluvanna County Schools. Presently she works part time at the Ron Brown Scholars Program as a College Transition Coordinator assisting scholars during their time of transition to the college setting and life. She has received many awards such as the John T. Casteen, III Diversity-Equity-Inclusion Leadership Award (2019) and recently the naming of the auditorium in Peabody Hall for her work with diversity, recruitment, and inclusion at the University of Virginia (2022). Valerie is a life-long educator and advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion.
Aqura Nicholson
Aqura Nicholson, a Lynchburg, VA native, began her dance journey under Keith Lee where she studied and performed locally with the Dance Theatre of Lynchburg’s Repertory Ensemble. She later earned her BS in Chemical Engineering at UVA with a minor in Dance under Kim Brooks Mata. After spending 6 years in the nuclear industry as an engineer, she and her husband relocated to Charlottesville in 2021. Aqura is the founder of All The Plans, LLC where she is a financial coach for small business owners. She remains active in the local dance scene, both as a student and an advocate for diversity in dance for young students.
Liz Sumpter
Liz grew up in Lynchburg, VA and was fortunate that a native of her hometown, Helen McGehee, began the Visiting Artists Program at her own alma mater, Randolph-Macon Woman’s College. As a world renowned member of the Martha Graham Company, Helen chose RMWC to be the home of this program of select, top-class visiting professionals. The program was open to area high school students where Liz studied intensely under Helen’s mentorship and continued at RMWC to earn her BA in dance with special honors, summa cum laude. She continued to study and pursue dance in New York City and Los Angeles, performing in smaller modern dance companies, learning dance studio administration, working in membership departments of the Metropolitan Opera House and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and going on the road as a showgirl and aerialist with Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus. After returning to Lynchburg to raise her daughter, Liz became director of the nonprofit Adult Care Center of Central Virginia, a day program for health-impaired adults. Liz also was a teacher at Forest Dance Academy and was Keith Lee’s first teacher when he began Dance Theatre of Lynchburg. Liz changed careers to own Carolina Connection, a dancewear store in Lynchburg, where she served the local dance community for a decade. After moving to Charlottesville in 2017, Liz became an adult student at Charlottesville Ballet, served on the Development Committee, and is now proud to be on the Board, advocating for the wonderful work of CB!
Emily Hartka
Emily Hartka, Charlottesville Ballet Director/Co-Founder, grew up in Roanoke, VA and fell in love with ballet at the age of five. She began dance classes at Roanoke Ballet Theatre and performed in collaborative shows with Opera Roanoke, the Mill Mountain Theatre, and Radford University. Emily spent her senior year of high school at the Virginia School of the Arts in Lynchburg, VA under the late Petrus Bosman. Upon graduation, she joined the Richmond Ballet and also enjoyed working with school children in Richmond Ballet’s Minds In Motion program. In 2007, Emily relocated to Charlottesville to co-found the Charlottesville Ballet and to attend the University of Virginia, where she completed a Bachelor of Arts in Nonprofit Management & Arts Administration. She retired from the stage in 2018 to focus on the growth and development of the organization. Emily is thankful to all who have made the growth of Charlottesville Ballet possible and she looks forward to the season ahead.
Sara Clayborne
Sara Jansen Clayborne, Charlottesville Ballet Director/Co-Founder, trained at the Ballet School of New York under the direction of Diana Byer and Sallie Wilson. In 2001, she graduated from the Professional Children’s School in New York City and began to dance professionally with New York Theatre Ballet. Sara moved to Virginia in 2004 and has performed with the Richmond Ballet and with Starr Foster Dance Project. In 2007, Sara co-founded the Charlottesville Ballet, putting her myriad of experiences to work while keeping her love of performance alive in her dual role as dancer and director. She retired from the stage in 2013 to devote her time to the growth of Charlottesville Ballet and Charlottesville Ballet Academy. She is an American Ballet Theatre Certified Teacher in Primary through Level 7 of the ABT National Training Curriculum and is excited to put the ABT Curriculum into practice, both at CBA and within the professional company. Sara looks forward to continuing to nurture the growth and appreciation for dance among peers and in the community.
Advisory Board
Wendy Brown (Founder, Center for Nonprofit Excellence and Co-Founder, Community Investment Collaborative)
Kiyomi Chandra (Wells Fargo)
Corey Clayborne (American Institute of Architects)
Loni Conley (Woods & Waters Financial Group)
William Hines (UVA Community Credit Union)
Geoffrey Kershner (Academy Center of the Arts, Lynchburg)
Brent Kitchens (UVA McIntire School of Commerce)
Christina Kyriakides (Oliver Wyman)
Megan Lively, PT, DPT, PCS (Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital)
Julie Montross (The Paramount Theater, Charlottesville)
Lisa Molinaro (Former Woodbrook Elementary Principal)
Elsie Thompson (Attorney)
IDEA Committee Members (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access)
Carol Krohn, Keith Lee (Director of Diversity & Inclusion), Jane Amend, Charlie Boyd, Julie Caprio, Maria Chee, Ty Cooper Grace, Martin Harkless, Jaime-Duke Hawkins, Megan Hillary, Julie Gest, Jessica Johnson, Kahtra Kayton, Sharon McCurdy, Aqura Nicholson, Claudia Strawderman, Amy Wielar, Connor Wilson, Sara Clayborne, Emily Hartka
Development Committee Members
Tiffany Alexander, Sonya Hairston, Jacqui Lazo, Annie Sartori, Liz Sumpter, Sherry Whaley, Emily Hartka, Claudia Strawderman
Finance Committee Members
Charron Montgomery, Geoffrey Close, Martin Harkless, Jennifer King, Steve Krohn, Chris Scharnbeck, Ali Brent, Sara Clayborne
Governance Committee Members
Heather Snyder (Chair), Valerie Gregory, Sonya Hairston, Martin Harkless, Sara Clayborne