ArtsWave Elects P&G Executive Lisa Sauer as New Board Chairperson
Tara Townsend promoted to Chief Impact Strategy Officer

CINCINNATI (October 17, 2014) -- ArtsWave, the first and largest united arts fund in the country, announced today at its annual meeting that Lisa Sauer was elected as the new chair of the ArtsWave Board of Directors, effective today.

Sauer is Vice President Product Supply, Global Home Products & External Supply Solutions at The Procter & Gamble Company. She has been serving as vice chair of the Board of Directors as well as chair of the Governance Committee, and chair of the Grants Advisory Panel which makes funding recommendations for organizations from the ArtsWave Community Campaign each year.

Sauer succeeds Karen Bowman, chair since 2012, who helped steer the organization through a time of immense change and repositioning for the future with a new impact-based grantmaking model. “Karen’s passion for the arts and this community helped shape our arts impact agenda, and her advocacy ensured that ArtsWave and the arts are vital partners in our region’s development and growth,” said Alecia Kintner, ArtsWave President & CEO. “Now, we look forward to advancing the next phase of arts impact with our tremendous Board under Lisa Sauer’s guidance.”

ArtsWave also announced that Tara Townsend, PhD, will assume the newly-created position of Chief Impact Strategy Officer, overseeing a workplan to drive and measure the impact of arts in creating a vibrant regional economy and a more connected community. Townsend joined the ArtsWave staff in 2012. 

For nearly 20 years, Tara Townsend’s focus has been on using data and information to improve the implementation and programmatic outcomes of government and nonprofit programs. Her work has spanned many fields including substance abuse treatment, juvenile delinquency prevention, public health, early childhood education, community development, mental health, and now arts and culture. During her career, Dr. Townsend has spearheaded the creation of units dedicated to results-oriented and evidence-based program design and impact assessment for three different organizations. While working for the City of New Orleans, she compiled and developed the only comprehensive information source on post-Katrina recovery projects, representing more than $1B in public and private investments.

“Creating this first-of-its-kind position of Chief Impact Strategy Officer reaffirms ArtsWave’s commitment to amplifying the impact of the arts in our community,” said Kintner. “I am confident that with Tara leading these efforts, ArtsWave will continue to be a trailblazer in demonstrating the broad, public value of the arts.”