Matt Rader

President, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

Matt Rader is the 37th President of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. He is focused on deepening and expanding PHS’s efforts to use horticulture to advance the greater good in the Greater Philadelphia Region and beyond. Gardens and landscapes have shaped Matt’s life. He has lived and worked in magnificent landscapes from the mountains of South Central Pennsylvania to Stowe Landscape Garden, the University of Virginia, Monticello, and Fairmount Park. He combines a passion for horticulture with a deep love for historic preservation and cities. Matt grew up in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. He received his Bachelor’s in Architectural History from the University of Virginia and Master’s of Business Administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He lives in Center City Philadelphia with his partner Michael Smith, a conductor and organist.

Weight: 
-107
Vice Chair

Kim E. Fraites-Dow

President & CEO, Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania

Kim E. Fraites-Dow is CEO of Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania (GSEP), having joined the organization in 2011 as the Chief Development and Marketing Officer and later serving as Chief Operating Officer. An executive nonprofit leader with 20 years of professional experience, Kim has expertise in managing operations, facilities, product sales, partnerships, marketing and brand management, board relations, and fundraising for nonprofit institutions. 

Integral to Kim’s success has been her leadership in recruiting key personnel, building collaboration across diverse teams of people, leading organizational change management, and developing relationships across GSEP’s nine-county footprint. Together with the Board, staff, and volunteers, GSEP earned top 10 status nationally for girl and adult membership, serving close to 40,000 girls with the help of more than 15,000 adult volunteers. 

Prior to joining GSEP, Kim served as director of institutional giving and government relations at The Franklin Institute, where she increased revenue during the 2008-2011 economic downturn. Prior to The Franklin Institute, Kim progressed in leadership roles within the development department at The Philadelphia Orchestra. A trained classical clarinetist, she earned her Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music while jointly earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the University of Rochester. She also holds a certificate in arts administration from New York University. Kim lives in Newtown Square, PA, with her husband, Kevin, son Elijah, and daughter Ella—a Daisy Girl Scout.

Weight: 
3
Treasurer

Stanford Thompson

Executive Director, Equity Arc

Stanford Thompson is a musician and educator who serves as the Executive Director of Equity Arc. He was also Founder and Executive Director of Play On, Philly! and Founding Board Chairman of El Sistema USA, bringing music education to students in underserved areas throughout Philadelphia and beyond. Recognized as a TED Fellow, Stanford believes that music education is a powerful tool for positive personal and community change. Mr. Thompson serves on the faculties of the Global Leaders Program, SAAVY Arts Venture, and Dean of the Sphinx LEAD program while regularly lecturing at major Universities and Conservatories about leadership, entrepreneurship and social justice. As a consultant, he has guided the development of dozens of music programs across the United States and collaborated with major orchestras and arts organizations to develop new strategies and initiatives that helps provide equitable access to the arts. As a professional trumpeter, Stanford has performed as soloist and section member with major orchestras around the world and continues to perform chamber music and jazz. Stanford is a native of Atlanta, GA and hold degrees from The Curtis Institute of Music and the New England Conservatory’s Sistema Fellows Program.

Weight: 
-107
Vice Chair

Priscilla M. Luce

President, The Albert M. Greenfield Foundation

Since 2003 Priscilla M. Luce has advised arts, cultural and other non-profit organizations facing times of challenge and transition in developing high-leverage strategic plans designed for growth. This work has included mission evaluation and goals identification, operational planning, capacity building, fund-raising analysis and planning, constituency development, organizational positioning, communications strategy and interim in-place operations management. Priscilla served as Interim President & CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance from July 2020 - December 2021.

Her broad background covers virtually all aspects of arts and non-profit management, philanthropy and volunteerism. In January 2017 she ended a nearly four-year assignment as full-time executive managing director of Philadelphia Theatre Company (PTC) where she managed administrative functions and staff reporting directly to the board of directors.  PTC produces and presents an annual season of plays, musicals and other performances in its own 365-seat venue, the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, as well as a broad range of youth education and patron programming.

She served as vice president of a national non-profit fund-raising consulting firm guiding the boards of directors and staff of more than 50 cultural and other organizations in raising annual, capital, endowment and deferred gifts for their institutions. Previously she held public relations positions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Mount Holyoke College.

Priscilla’s long career in corporate communications with TRW Inc., a Fortune 100 global aerospace, automotive and information systems company headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, involved working with more than 200 locations around the world. As vice president corporate communications, she directed the company’s corporate media relations, employee communications, crisis management, marketing communications and issue communications activities.

She left TRW in 2003 following the company’s acquisition by Northrop Grumman Corporation and returned to Philadelphia in 2006 where she continued her consulting work. Priscilla joined the board of directors of Philadelphia Theatre Company in 2007, subsequently spearheading the creation of a new strategic plan for the company.  She served as president of the theatre company from 2010 to 2013.  In 2013 the board asked her to assume a full-time staff role as executive managing director to help the company navigate an increasingly challenging financial environment.

Priscilla has been volunteer president and executive director of The Albert M. Greenfield Foundation in Philadelphia since 2000. Under her leadership this family foundation has developed a leading-edge grant-making style that emphasizes collaboration with arts and other non-profit partners to implement innovative programs that address Philadelphia’s evolving cultural and community needs.

While in Cleveland, Priscilla served in numerous board leadership roles (including president) for organizations such as the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, New Organization for the Visual Arts, WCPN/90.3 FM (later merged with WVIZ/PBS to form Ideastream) and Business Volunteers Unlimited which she helped found. She also served as chair of the Cleveland State University Foundation, a 501(c)3 volunteer-led organization that raises private funds and manages the University’s endowment which during her tenure doubled to $40 million.

Priscilla is currently a member of the Board of Visitors of the Division of General, Thoracic and Fetal Surgery of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in English and attended executive marketing programs at the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University; the London Business School and the J.L. Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. She is an Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement honoree in Who’s Who in America.

Weight: 
-107
Chair

Patricia Wilson Aden

President & CEO, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance

Patricia Wilson Aden is President & CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, which leads, strengthens and amplifies the voices of 400+ member organizations that make up the region’s cultural community. Aden is an unwavering advocate for the arts and culture sector with more than 40 years of experience leading non-profit and cultural institutions, most recently as President of The Blues Foundation in Memphis, Tennessee and as President & CEO of the African American Museum in Philadelphia.

During her tenure at AAMP, Aden preserved a strong financial future for the museum by establishing strategic partnerships, delivering nationally acclaimed programming, and creating deeper donor engagement. At the Blues Foundation, she led the adoption of the Foundation's Statement Against Racism and its accompanying Action Plan, furthered the Blues Foundation's Blues in the Schools program, and helped develop the museum’s Blues Guide, while shepherding the organization through the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. Aden has also served in executive roles for the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia.

Aden currently serves on the board of PA Humanities and is Vice Chair of the Friends of Cooch’s Bridge in Newark, Delaware. She was selected to serve as a member of the National Museum of African American Music’s Music Industry Relations Council. She has also served on the Smithsonian Affiliate Advisory Council and is a member of the Links, Inc. (Philadelphia Chapter). She has served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and other national and state level granting agencies.

Aden holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Spelman College and a master’s in historic preservation from Cornell University. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from Davis & Elkins College.

Weight: 
-107
Ex Officio

Jamie J. Brunson

Executive Director, First Person Arts

Jamie J. Brunson is the executive director of First Person Arts and producer, host and co-writer of the monthly radio hour on WHYY, Commonspace.  She is also member of the strategic planning committee for the City of Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disABILITY Services’ Engaging Males of Color Initiative.  Over the past 25 years, she has fused a business acumen that combines not-for-profit leadership experience with the insights of a practicing artist within different spheres of the arts and cultural community.  Her administrative resume includes senior management positions at not-for-profits including: New Freedom Theatre, the Providence Black Repertory Company and the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.  She is also a performing storyteller, memoirist, published poet whose work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies; four-time NEA grantee for playwriting and an award-winning playwright who was named a “New Voice in American Theatre” by the Edward Albee Theatre Conference. Her plays have been produced across the country from New York to Alaska.  Her community service includes a Mayoral appointment to the Philadelphia Cultural Fund Board of Directors where she was vice-chair; board memberships on the Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance’s Groundswell, First Person Arts, Inc, (Board Member Ex Officio), Rhode Island Citizens for the Arts, Philadelphia Avenue of the Arts and Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia. She has also served as a peer panelist for:  Delaware Division of the Arts, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and Connecticut Council on Arts & Tourism.  Ms. Brunson holds a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Theatre from Sarah Lawrence College and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Radio-Television-Film from Temple University. She thanks God for the ability to serve the community.

Weight: 
-107
Secretary