The Dance Data Project®
Board of Directors
Manassas Ballet Theatre presenting new work called Love
Photo by Cecile Wolfe Photography
Elizabeth Yntema
President & Founder
Elizabeth Yntema is the President & Founder of the Dance Data Project® (DDP), a global leader in promoting gender equity in ballet through data-driven research and advocacy. Under her leadership, DDP has developed comprehensive metrics and resources now utilized by institutions worldwide to advance equitable leadership and creative opportunities. Ms. Yntema serves on the Board of Trustees for WTTW/WFMT and is a former member of the Board of Directors for Chicago Shakespeare Theater. She is a current Member of the Corporation for the Winsor School. She earned her B.A. with High Honors and Magna Cum Laude distinction in International Relations from the University of Virginia in 1980, followed by a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1984. During law school, she received the Jane L. Mixer Memorial Award for Outstanding Contribution to Social Justice and the Book Award for Corporate Law. A dedicated philanthropic leader, Ms. Yntema has held key roles in several prominent arts organizations. She served on the Joffrey Ballet’s Academy Committee (2013–2020), co-chairing the 2015 Gala, which raised $1.5 million, and was a long-time supporter and gala co-chair for Hubbard Street Dance Company, helping raise $1.3 million in 2013 and sponsoring works by leading choreographers. She is a past member of the Junior League of Chicago, where she was recognized as Volunteer of the Year for her advocacy on behalf of homeless women and children. In recognition of her impact, Ms. Yntema has been honored as a Top Tier Feminist Giver by Philanthropy Women (2021) and named a Lifetime Honorary Member of Corps de Ballet (2022). She is also a member of Chief, a national network for women founders and C-Suite executives. Her work has been featured in leading media outlets such as The New York Times, Forbes, Fortune, NPR, and Inside Philanthropy, and she is a sought-after voice on gender equity in the arts, frequently appearing on prominent podcasts and panels.
Erica Edwards
Board President
Erica Lynette Edwards is an accomplished change leader with demonstrated success as a facilitator, consultant, and public speaker. She is currently the Executive Director Giordano Dance Chicago. As a ballerina with The Joffrey Ballet, she performed lead roles throughout a rewarding 15-year career, dancing in hundreds of performances in the United States and abroad. During that time Ebony Magazine declared her a “Young Leader in the Future of the Arts” and the Chicago Tribune gave her the title "Black History Maker." When she retired from the stage, she became an artistic and administrative senior leader as Joffrey’s Director of Community Engagement. Under her visionary leadership, the department grew to support the city of Chicago through a focus on community partnerships rooted in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Erica independently expanded her DEI services and now captivates a wide variety of clients with authentic and innovative programming.
Erica is a certified mediator and has a bachelor’s in human resource management which supports her ability to help people feel welcome while unpacking challenging issues. Her career promoting engaging conversations and inclusive environments has earned her many honors, including multiple features in Dance Magazine, giving a TEDx talk, speaking on national panels, and being selected as a member of the prestigious Crain’s Chicago Business “40 Under 40.” She is passionate about creating workplaces where everyone can flourish.
Jason Yeung
Vice President
A Texas native, Jason is currently a combined MD/PhD student at the University of Texas Medical Branch. His prior education includes a BS in Biomedical Sciences from Texas A&M University and an MS in Infectious Disease and Microbiology from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.
Before pursuing a career as a physician scientist, Jason was a ballet dancer. Having trained at the Harid Conservatory, Jason went on to dance with Tulsa Ballet II and won awards at the 2015 Valentina Kozlova International Ballet Competition Finals and Semi-finals. In 2018, Jason started an independent blog analyzing publicly available ballet data (datapointes.com), leading him to join DDP. He is excited to apply his data science and ballet experience to further the advocacy goals of DDP.
Dr. Allison Grover
Secretary
Dr. Allison Grover is a Pediatric Resident at Maine Medical Center. She received an M.D. from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 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.
Terran Hill
Treasurer
Terran Hill is a law clerk to the Honorable Judge Julie A. Robinson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. He received his law degree from Cornell Law School and a B.S. in economics from University of Missouri—St.Louis. Before transferring to University of Missouri—St. Louis, Terran attended Robert Morris University in Chicago, where he played football. After graduating law school, Terran spent one year in private practice, representing clients in commercial litigation and criminal matters. After his current clerkship, Terran will clerk for the Honorable Judge Lavenski R. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Terran is new to the dance community, but appreciates the passion and attention to detail that goes into live performance. He is looking forward to working with Dance Data Project® to help them promote gender equality in dance.
David Farber
David Farber is a partner in the law firm of King & Spalding, working out of the Washington, D.C. office. David is passionate about non-profit work, having served on several community and national non-profit Boards. He also has a deep interest in advancing equity in the ballet world, having learned about the profession and its history through his family’s journey with his eldest daughter, who is the principal dancer of a major US ballet company. Having been raised by a fierce "feminist," David has always worked to advance gender equity, and the ability to combine that interest with his interest in ballet has led him to DDP. David lives in Bethesda with his wife, Eve, and they have three daughters spread across the country.
Vanessa Barboni Hallik
Vanessa Barboni Hallik is the founder and CEO of Another Tomorrow, a B Corp Certified end-to-end sustainable design company with a mission to model a new future for fashion with a fully digitized product eco-system delivering technology-enabled transparency and authenticated recommerce. She is also an investor in early-stage companies positioned to catalyze or enable systemic change.
Vanessa serves on the Board of the Accountability Counsel and on the Advisory Board for Harvard’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, where current work focuses on the ethics of AI.
Vanessa is an active speaker on innovation, digitalization and new business models built for resilience. She has been featured in The New York Times, Fast Company, Bloomberg, Forbes and Vogue for her work, and is one of Wallpaper* Magazine’s USA300 and Worth Magazine’s Worthy100.
Prior to founding Another Tomorrow, Vanessa was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, where she held several leadership roles in the emerging markets institutional securities business. Throughout her career she has worked across global markets and managed culturally diverse and cross-border teams.
While at Morgan Stanley, she served as a Trustee on the Board of the Morgan Stanley Foundation and represented the firm at the Council on Foreign Relations. She likewise chaired the Fixed Income Philanthropy Committee, during which she initiated and subsequently led the firm’s mentoring program with East Side Community High School, in partnership with PENCIL.org.
Vanessa grew up in small college towns in the Midwest and the Rust Belt with a passion for nature, the arts, technology and creative problem-solving at the intersections of disciplines. She lives in NYC with her husband, three step-children and two dogs.
David Mallette*
David Mallette, a seasoned performing arts administrator with over two decades of experience, has worked extensively in theater and dance. Since joining MCA in 2005, he has led numerous executive searches for prestigious institutions, including the American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco Ballet, and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. His expertise in organizational leadership, creative innovation, and business acumen will be instrumental in helping DDP advance its mission of promoting gender equity across the dance industry.
*Non-Voting
Alyssa Rapp
Alyssa Rapp is the Chief Executive Officer Empower Aesthetics, a portfolio company of Shore Capital Partners, a platform for which she has served on the board of directors since inception. Previously, Ms. Rapp served as the Chief
Executive Officer and Director of Healthwell Acquisition Corp. I, a $250MM special purpose acquisition corporation that IPO’d on the NASDAQ in August 2021. Prior to Healthwell, Ms. Rapp served as Chief Executive Officer of Surgical Solutions from 2018-2021, a B2B healthcare services business providing non-clinical surgical services to hospitals, owned by Chicago-based private equity firm,Sterling Partners. There, Ms. Rapp led a successful turnaround of the enterprise, driving 21% sales growth with 90% customer retention. Ms. Rapp has also served
as an independent director of Together Women’s Health, a portfolio company of Shore Capital Partners, since October 2020, and Health Data Movers, a healthcare technology company. From 2005-2015, Ms. Rapp served as the founder & CEO of Bottlenotes, Inc., a leading interactive media company. From 2015-2017, Ms. Rapp served as the Managing Partner of A JR Ventures, a strategic advisory firm for family offices and private equity firms on digital, e-commerce and go to market strategies. Ms. Rapp served as a lecturer-in-management at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business from 2014-2022 and has served as an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago’s Booth Business School since 2019. Ms. Rapp earned a B.A. in Political Science and the History of Art from Yale University in 2000 and an M.B.A. from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business in 2005. She is the author of Amazon Bestseller, Leadership and Life Hacks: Insights from a Mom, Wife, Entrepreneur & Executive (ForbesBooks, October 2019).
Margaret “Lisa” Shanahan
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.
Israel Tannenbaum
Israel has more than 20 years of experience serving as a trusted advisor and providing value-add compliance and tax consulting services to exempt organizations of all sizes, including Public Charities, Private Foundations, Membership Associations, Arts and Cultural Organizations, and all other subsectors of the Not-for-Profit industry. He is an expert in Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT) and foreign filing requirements for tax-exempt entities and has experience in providing Employee Benefits Tax compliance and consulting services to a diverse group of clients including Fortune 100 companies and some of the largest pension trusts in the world. Israel is also an expert in assisting clients with the implementation of the requirements of various new legislation and regulations at both the Federal and State levels. Israel is a frequent author for Newsweek, wealthmanagement.com, New York State Society of CPAs TaxStringer, Bloomberg BNA, AICPA Journal of Accountancy, AICPA Insights and plansponsor.com. He also has presented at numerous regional and national conferences including New York Council of Nonprofits (NYCON), AICPA National Not-For-Profit and Employee Benefits Industry Conferences, New York State Society of CPA’s annual exempt organizations conference, NFT.NYC, and the New York Nonprofit Media Nonprofit OpCon.
"Dance Data Project® is transforming the landscape of dance by championing transparency, accountability, and innovation. Their commitment to data-driven advocacy and support for female leadership in dance is making a significant impact on the industry. I am proud to support their mission, as it empowers artists and fosters a more inclusive and dynamic future for the dance community. By providing crucial data and resources, Dance Data Project® is helping to break down barriers and create opportunities for underrepresented voices. Their work not only enriches the art form but also ensures that the dance world reflects the diversity and creativity of our society."
- Israel Tannenbaum
