The Dance Data Project®
Board of Directors
Lia Cirio
Photo by Brooke Trisolini
Courtesy of Boston Ballet
Elizabeth Yntema
President & Founder
Elizabeth Yntema is the President & Founder of the Dance Data Project®. She is a member of the Board of Trustees for WTTW/WFMT and the Board of Directors of the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. Liza was graduated from the University of Virginia in 1980 and is 1984 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, where she was awarded the Jane L. Mixer Memorial Award for Outstanding Contribution to Social Justice. Ms. Yntema is a past member of numerous organizations in the Chicagoland area, including the Joffrey Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Company, Women’s Bar Association, Trust for Public Land in Illinois, Winnetka Board of the Northwestern Settlement House, the Children’s Home and Aid Society, and the Junior League of Chicago, where she was named as Volunteer of the Year for her work advocating for homeless women and children. Ms. Yntema was recently selected for the first national cohort of Chief, a global network of women founders and C-Suite executives.
PATRICK CROCKER
Board President
Patrick is a Director and Corporate Counsel with U.S. Anesthesia Partners in Dallas, Texas, where he focuses on payor contracting and dispute resolution. Prior to his current role, Patrick worked as a healthcare strategy consultant for PwC, and spent over a decade in the U.S. Army as a Judge Advocate. As an Army JAG, he served as a prosecutor, appellate counsel, and command legal advisor, gaining extensive experience developing robust, effective organizational processes and training programs to improve sexual assault and harassment response, reporting, and prevention in the military community. Patrick has also been involved with dance throughout his life, including working as an accompanist, composer, and performer for the dance departments at Texas Christian University and the University of Richmond. He is thrilled to be able to contribute to the amazing work DDP is doing to support equity initiatives in classical ballet.
Patrick holds a B.S., magna cum laude, in Psychology from Texas Christian University, a J.D., cum laude, from the University of Richmond School of Law, and an M.B.A., with honors, from the University of California, Berkeley.
Erica Edwards
Vice President
Erica Lynette Edwards is an accomplished consultant and public speaker who champions change to advance the art of dance. With diversity, equity, and inclusion as the core foundation of her work, she transforms visions into reality. After a rewarding 15-year career as a ballerina at The Joffrey Ballet and five years as the Director of Community Engagement, she founded Cultivating Better Tomorrows. Through this consulting company Erica reshapes the dynamics of dance communities to produce environments where all students can thrive. Highly skilled in delivering consistent success and effective change, she is passionate about facilitating results driven conversations and workshops focused on reflection and knowledge building. Her visionary leadership has earned her many honors and opportunities, including speaking on national panels, giving a TEDx talk, and being selected as a member of Crain’s Chicago Business “40 Under 40.” Visit Erica’s personal website here. Visit the website for Cultivating Better Tomorrows here.
Allison Grover
Secretary
Allison Grover is a medical student at Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. She received a B.A. in English Literature from McGill University, and a M.S. in Reproductive Medicine from Northwestern University. She is a voracious reader, and her eagerness to find the narrative that someone is not always able to articulate united her love of literature and medicine.
Allison had an abbreviated dance career, starting and ending with ballet at age six. Nonetheless, she is an avid appreciator of the arts. Her passion for capturing the stories within science is what led to her work with DDP.
Margaret “Lisa” Shanahan
Treasurer
Margaret (“Lisa”) Shanahan represents District E of the City of Norwalk on the Norwalk Common Council, chairs the Council’s Ordinance and its Ad Hoc Sustainability and Resilience Committees, and sits on the Council’s Planning and Health and Safety Committees. In addition, Lisa is a board member of the Norwalk Land Trust, serving as Vice President and a member of the Executive Committee, on the Steering Committee of the Hudson to the Housatonic Regional Conservation Partnership, and on the Rowayton Gardeners board chairing the Conservation Committee.
Lisa was a member of the fourth class of women admitted to Dartmouth College and subsequently graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, starting her career in Chicago at McDermott Will & Emery and the Northern Trust Company. Upon her professional retirement to raise her two daughters, Lisa launched her “volunteer” career, involving herself in a wide variety of organizations, many of which are now focused on bringing green initiatives to all sectors and neighborhoods across Norwalk.
A long devotee of the arts, Lisa is looking forward to supporting the Dance Data Project®’s mission to raise awareness related to gender equality, primarily in areas of leadership and choreographic opportunities in the ballet world.
TY WOODFOLK
Ty Woodfolk is an Executive leader with thirty-plus years of driving full systems HR processes in all HR facets, including management, analysis, and diversity leadership within high profile non-profit arts organizations and for-profit corporations. Currently, as the Director of Human Resources, Diversity, and Inclusion at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Ty is involved in championing the organization’s core values and strategic commitment to attract, retain, advance, and support a broadly diverse workforce. Ty previously was the Director of Human Resources for the Houston Ballet Foundation. He graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University with a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Human Resources Management, and is a current member of the Society for Human Resources Management.
SUSAN WEST
Susan West is an active supporter of the arts and an advocate of diversity in the workplace. She joined the Dance Data Project® in 2016 as Lead Researcher, now serving as a member of the Board. Susan has spent her career working for and with higher education institutions. She is a Director in the Higher Education Strategy & Operations practice at Huron Consulting Group where she leads numerous efforts to support, promote, and recruit women in higher education consulting. Prior to joining Huron, Susan was Associate Director, Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO), at Yale University. While at Yale Susan served as Co-Chair of Yale’s LGBTQ Affinity Group from 2013-2015 and co-founded the organization Women in IT (WIT) @ Yale in 2013.
Susan holds an M.A. in Higher Education and Student Affairs from The Ohio State University and a B.A. in Communication Studies from Furman University.
