Genevieve Allotey-Pappoe is an Assistant Professor of Music at Brown University. She completed her PhD in the Department of Music at Princeton University in May 2024. While at Princeton, Genevieve was a graduate fellow at the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS) and a GradFutures Social Impact fellow at various non-profit organizations including the Newark Symphony Hall. Between 2021 and 2022, she was a visiting graduate fellow at the Humanities Branch of the Spanish National Research Council in Barcelona (IMF-CSIC).

Genevieve is the founder and host of the Black Music Nomad podcast. She is also a composer, and her compositions have been performed in Ghana, Greece, USA, and Nigeria. Genevieve has an MPhil in Ethnomusicology and Composition as well as a BA in Music and Sociology from the University of Ghana.

Pilar founded Princeton Arts Alumni (PA2) in 2013, driven to strengthen resilience, access, and experiences in the arts. A non-profit organization that engages Princeton University alums, students, faculty, staff and industry partners to build a network of mentorship and resources that illuminate pathways to careers and participation in the arts, PA2 is fortifying local arts ecologies for positive outcomes in society.

Pilar Castro-Kiltz is also the Founder of More Canvas Consulting. Launched in 2014, the firm offers services in strategic planning, operations improvement, and communications management to a portfolio of clients across industries, including healthcare, higher education, social impact, and the arts.

Pilar’s approach, which connects strategy with storytelling, draws both from her professional experience and her training at The Wharton School at The University of Pennsylvania and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she earned an MBA and MFA, respectively. She holds a BA in Music from Princeton University. Pilar also serves on the board at the United Way of Greater Mercer County.

Learn more at www.morecanvas.com and www.pilarck.com.

Originally from San Bernardino, California, Lou Chen is a social entrepreneur and arts educator. He currently serves as CEO of INTEMPO, a Stamford, CT-based nonprofit that provides music education and youth development services for children from immigrant backgrounds. Before that, Lou was at Princeton University for ten years: four as undergraduate student, six as staff. As a sophomore, he started a youth orchestra composed of Trenton high school students and Princeton student volunteers. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in music (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa), Lou was hired by Princeton to grow the orchestra into a larger arts outreach initiative connecting the Trenton and Princeton communities, now known as Trenton Arts at Princeton. 

For his work championing arts education, Lou has received the Tiger Entrepreneur Award, Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts, and A. James Fisher, Jr. Memorial Award, among other distinctions. In 2023, he was selected as one of three faces of Princeton’s “Making Audacious Bets” advancement campaign, alongside Nobel Prize winner David MacMillan and artist/researcher Mimi Onuaha. Lou is a frequently invited speaker and lecturer, having spoken on panels alongside thought leaders such as conductor Gustavo Dudamel and Teach for America founder Wendy Kopp. He serves on the Princeton University Concerts Committee, Board of Trustees for Young Audiences NJ & Eastern PA, Board of Advisors for Princeton Arts Alumni, and Stamford Arts and Culture Commission.

Kahina Haynes, Executive Director (2016-Present), is a passionate arts activist and the visionary architect behind DIW’s strategic revitalization following the significant loss of its Founder/Artistic Director, Fabian Barnes.

Prior to her appointment to the Executive Director role by the DIW Board of Directors, Ms.Haynes served as DIW’s School Director. Before that, she worked in program and process evaluation for a number of philanthropic and non-profit organizations including the United Nations (Bureau for Development Policy at UNDP), the Annie E. Casey Foundation, SafeKids Worldwide, and the World Bank Group. Ms. Haynes holds a B.A. from Princeton University with a Minor in African American Studies and a concentration in Dance; as well as, a MSC from Oxford University in Evidence-based Social Intervention. She was recently recognized by the Black Voices for Black Justice Fund as a 2022 National Awardee and is also the recipient of the David Bradt Non-profit Leadership award (2021). 

Ms. Haynes serves on many volunteer committees and Boards including Princeton Arts Alumni Board of Directors, the School of American Ballet Alumni Committee, the DC Arts Education Alliance, the interview panel for Princeton’s Alumni Schools committee.

Lovell Holder has produced the feature films Peak Season, Midday Black Midnight Blue, The End of Us, Working Man, Some Freaks, and Loserville (which he also directed and co-wrote).  He recently completed production on the feature film adaptation of Roger Q. Mason’s play Lavender Men, which he directed, co-wrote, and produced.  His films have screened at more than 100 film festivals both domestically and internationally, including SXSW, Santa Barbara, Fantasia, BFI, Outfest, Shanghai, SCAD Savannah, and the American Film Festival in Poland.

In theater, he has directed and developed new work by acclaimed writers Roger Q. Mason, Amy Berryman, Daniel Talbott, Jessica Dickey, Helen Shang, Steve Yockey, and Sofya Levitszky-Weitz at such institutions as Broadway’s Circle in the Square and in Los Angeles at Skylight Theater, Celebration Theater, Echo Theater Company, and Rising Phoenix Rep.  He has also partnered repeatedly as both a writer and a director with the charitable organization 24 Hour Plays to raise funds within the entertainment community.

His debut novel, The Book of Luke, which follows a gay reality television star who must return to the show that made him famous after a humiliating public divorce, will be published by Grand Central Publishing (an imprint of Hachette) in hardcover and audiobook in Fall 2025.  

Originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, he graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University with a degree in English and a certificate in Theater, before then completing his MFA at Brown University.

Eric Jordan is an attorney, investigator, and educator with a passion for the arts.

Eric earned a B.A. in Architecture from Princeton University in 2009 and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2014. Following law school, Eric worked as an attorney at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP in New York, where he represented clients ranging from multinational corporations to individuals seeking asylum, guardianship, and clemency. He next investigated and adjudicated allegations of harassment and discrimination at Harvard University. Earlier in his career, Eric worked as a middle school teacher in California through the Teach For America program. Currently, Eric is an education law attorney at Krokidas & Bluestein LLP in Boston, where he advises K-12 schools and universities on a variety of topics, including regulatory compliance, special education, and civil rights matters.

Since his days dancing in the Berlind Theater with diSiac Dance Company, Eric has maintained a commitment to the arts. As a dancer and choreographer, Eric has shared his artistry on stages across the country, including most recently as a performer with the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus and Boston-based dance groups QWAM, Phunk Phenomenon, and Haus of Snap. Eric also supports various arts organizations, including by sitting on the boards of the Dance Institute of Washington and Harvard Law School's Parody and Drama Society Alumni Network.

Dexter Palmer received a Ph.D. in English Literature from Princeton University in 2001. He is the author of three novels: The Dream of Perpetual Motion, which was named one of the best debuts of 2010 by Kirkus Reviews; Version Control, which was named as one of the best books of 2016 by GQ, The San Francisco Chronicle, and other publications; and Mary Toft, or, The Rabbit Queen, whose French edition (translated by Anne-Sylvie Homassel) received the Grand Prix de traduction de la Ville d'Arles in 2022. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

Don is a limited partner and senior advisor to two venture funds and an active early-stage technology investor with Princeton Alumni Angels and HBS Alumni Angels. In these capacities, he advises many founders across various industry sectors.

Additionally, as the Associate Director of Alumni Engagement for Princeton’s Office of Innovation, Don interacts with thousands of alumni entrepreneurs – founders, investors, and those who care deeply about Princeton’s entrepreneurial community. He also engages frequently with both faculty and student entrepreneurs on campus, supporting their startup journeys and making connections with venture capital and industry colleagues.

Don has led a successful entrepreneurial career, as founder and executive of several startup companies in the SaaS and media sectors. He started his career with IBM in product management and senior executive roles.

He holds a BA from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

James M. Van Wyck is an Assistant Dean for Professional Development in the Graduate School at Princeton University. He co-edited The Reimagined PhD: Navigating 21st Century Humanities Education (2021, Rutgers University Press), and has published articles in venues including the New England Quarterly, the Chronicle of Higher

Education and Inside Higher Ed. He earned his Ph.D. from Fordham University, specializing in 19th Century American Literary History. He serves on a range of boards, advisory councils, and mentorship programs, including: member of the board of directors of the United Way of Greater Mercer County; Alumni Executive Council

Member at William Paterson University; Regional Network Leader and Dean’s Advisory Council board member for the College of Arts and Sciences at the University at Buffalo. His current book project is “Leadership and the Imagination.”

Evie Whiting is a partner in Sidley Austin LLP’s Entertainment, Sports and Media practice. She is a trusted adviser to motion picture studios, television studios, production companies, investment funds, team owners and acquirers of professional sports teams, owners and acquirers of music catalogs, and financial institutions, blending complex, highly technical deal work with a deep entertainment, sports, and media knowledge base. She regularly counsels clients in a variety of matters related to film slate financing, single picture financing, television financing, production and distribution of motion pictures, television, and digital content, buying and selling of entertainment and media assets, as well as a variety of financing-related issues in the sports and music businesses. She also produced an independent film, Loserville, which was directed and co-written by fellow board member (and Princeton classmate) Lovell Holder.

She graduated from Princeton University with a degree in History and completed her J.D. at Vanderbilt Law School.