Our Board

Founder & Artistic Director

Liza Politi is a producer, director, teacher, performer and photographer. As a freelance producer, her documentary and narrative full-length feature films have won a prestigious HUGO award, toured the festival circuits, and have been broadcast nationwide on PBS. Liza has produced “Impact On The Gulf,” a multimedia, action-oriented human rights festival that debuted in NYC for the world-renowned Culture Project; and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, her USO-style Gulf Coast tour, “Broadway on the Bayou”received national attention and was featured on MSNBC. For more than a decade, Liza worked with National Geographic and their legendary photographers, producing more than 125 expeditions and photography workshops in more than 50 countries around the world.

She founded Statement Arts (2003), a New York City based non-profit that brings arts education and mentoring programs to marginalized urban youth. Designed to help them build the self-confidence and resiliency needed to realize their fullest potential, Statement Arts has received grants from Morgan Stanley, The Disney Corporation, The NY Department of Cultural Affairs, The Manhattan Borough President’s Office, The Rudin Foundation and has been featured on MSNBC, ABC News, and Fox 5. On January 2, 2025, the New York Stock Exchange honored Statement Arts and invited Liza, as Founder, to ring the first Closing Bell of the new year.

With a strong background in crisis management, Liza spent nine months at Ground Zero as a volunteer rescue and relief worker with the American Red Cross and The Salvation Army. And in 2000, The Screen Actors Guild presented her with the Joseph P. Reilly Award in recognition for her efforts in resolving a national strike.

Comfortable on both sides of the camera, she is also an award-winning actor and photographer. Liza graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA, winning the Lee Strasberg Award for acting in her final year. She spent 15 years working as an actress in New York City and was a spokesperson for Sensodyne, Volvo, Gerber’s, Olive Garden, and has appeared in Martha Stewart Living, O!The Oprah Magazine, Better Homes & Gardens, and Good Housekeeping.

Board President for Statement Arts, Ashley Garrett Photography

Ashley Garrett is an American photographer based in New York. She specializes in production photos for theater, music and dance, and portraits for individuals and groups. Her work has been exhibited in New York, Boston, Berlin, London and Rome. Previously, Ashley marketed credit cards at MasterCard and for close to 20 years managed the All Souls Soup Kitchen, a privately funded organization that serves more than 25,000 hot sit-down meals each year. Ashley is on the boards of the NYC Autism Charter Schools, the Harvard Business School Fund, Pipeline Theatre, Parity Productions and Statement Arts. Ashley has an AB in theater from Smith College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

StART Associate Director & Board Secretary

Aidan Davis is an educator, performer, and speaker. He earned a triple B.A. at Indiana Wesleyan in Voice Performance/Music Theory & Composition/Church Music, then his M.M. in Voice Performance/Pedagogy at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Penn State (WE ARE!).

As an actor and singer, Aidan has appeared off-Broadway in numerous operatic and musical theater productions including Rent, Footloose, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Pirates of Penzance, Les ars florrisons, The Marriage of Figaro, and The Magic Flute. Aidan has also appeared in commercials for major brands like Axe and shows like Smash and Royal Pains.

Aidan has been teaching private voice for over ten years and enjoys working with students of all ages across multiple singing styles from pop to musical theater to opera. Aidan maintains a set of private students who sing on and off-Broadway, facilitates regular masterclasses, leads workshops on "Using Your Voice as a Differentiator" and "Emotional Intelligence," and serves as musical director for various musical theater non-profit programs, soloists, and theater companies throughout NYC. He is a founding member of Rooftop Musical Society, an immersive theater company that specializes in pop-up performances in non-traditional settings whose work has been featured in NYT, Broadway World, and the What Is New York TikTok/Instagram.

Aidan is thrilled to bring his diverse skill set to the team of Statement Arts as we prepare the next generation to change the world through arts education.

Tener Petrus Associates, PLLC

Alexis Tener is a lawyer and member of Tener Petrus Associates, PLLC where she advises landlords on matters related to real property taxation. Prior to Tener Petrus Associates, Alexis spent four years at Jones Lang LaSalle on the agency team where she was recognized by Sokol Media (“TOP Women in Real Estate”) Crain’s and The Commercial Observer (“30 Under 30”). She also received the “Associate of the Year” and “Agency Deal of the Year” awards. Alexis graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a major in music performance and the W&L University School of Law, where she was a member of the Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse, providing trial level support on death penalty defense cases. She is passionate about the benefits of arts education and is a proud board member of Statement Arts.

Lead Technical Consultant, Perficient, Inc.

Pallavi currently works as a Lead Technical Consultant at Perficient Inc. In her role at Perficient, she interfaces with multiple clients and formulates business and technical solutions for varied business problems. Some success qualities that serve her in her role at Perficient are ownership, creativity, team management, people dynamics, analytical thinking, and a curious mindset.

Prior to joining Perficient, Pallavi worked at Monster Worldwide Inc. and Beyond Meat in the capacity of Data Engineer for 4 years combined. Pallavi has worked in India at Infosys for 3 years prior to starting her stint in the US in the technology domain.

Pallavi has her Masters’ in Information Systems from Stevens Institute of Technology at Hoboken, NJ and Bachelor of Engineering in Information Technology from Pune University, India. Pallavi has also been a member of the Toastmasters International - Talk of the Town Club and served an officer role of a Secretary during her time from 2020 through 2022.

In her free time, Pallavi loves to travel, read, doodle, solve puzzles, and do Postcrossing. She had a one time opportunity to be a part of an interactive session with 300 high school students from her high school back in India motivating and presenting various career options and how to make decisions that inspire them and are practical choices at the same time. Her passion for interacting with young minds and continuously learning from them along with giving back to the community in some form and shaping the next generation is what brought her to Statement Arts.

Director, National Accounts at Aristotle Capital Management, LLC

Kristie Leslie as Director based in New York City with a focus on enhancing the relationships with wirehouse firms, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and UBS.

Ms. Leslie joined Smith Barney in 1993 and has served in various capacities since that time

including Regional Director from 2010 to 2015, and Head of Sales and Distribution, UMA

Program from 2005 - 2010. From 1997 through 2007, Kristie served as Sales Director for the

TRAK and Consulting Group. In this role, she assisted Financial Advisors and their individual and

institutional clients in portfolio construction, asset allocation, and analyzing money managers.

She was also involved in Financial Consultant training, and client education seminars. In

September 2005 Kristie became the CG Regional Sales Director for the Northeast.

Kristie Leslie is a member of the Association of Professional Investment Consultants (APIC). She

has achieved the designation of Certified Investment Management Analyst from the Investment

Management Consultants Association (IMCA), and the Wharton School of Business

Administration at the University of Pennsylvania. Kristie received a BA in Communications from

the University of Delaware.

Vice President & Chief Compliance Officer - Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

Marcia Gonzales currently works the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center as its Vice President & Chief Compliance Officer. Prior to that, she served as a Senior Associate General Counsel for Indiana University (IU) .She also served as the IU Chief Compliance Officer, the IU Assistant Vice President for Research Compliance and as the Compliance and Privacy Officer for the IU School of Medicine. Before joining the University in 2001, she specialized in health law representing health care providers, a managed care organization and insurance companies. Marcia holds a B.A. from IU with a double major in English and Political Science. She received her JD from the IU’s Robert H. McKinney School of Law in 1993 where she holds an Adjunct Professorship teaching Corporate Compliance. She also completed a Certificate in Non Profit Management from Duke University in 2019.

Cheryl currently is the Vice President of Global Corporate Strategy at Visa, inc. In her role at Visa, she helps to set the corporate and strategic agenda in partnership with the executive committee and executive leadership teams. She leads a portfolio of projects that anticipate and answer the most pressing business problems with executable strategies to advance Visa's business. She serves as a key member of the Corporate Strategy leadership team, taking ownership of the project pipeline, team management, development, and culture.

Prior to joining Visa, Cheryl worked at ADP for 5 years. Starting in Strategy for its Mid-Market business unit and most recently was the Vice President of Product Management and Strategy for ADP's Next Generation Global Payroll Engine. Leading the development and pilot go-to-market for a global payroll solution that allows for a compliant, transparent, and structured way to pay employees across the globe. Before ADP, she worked for 5 years as a Management consultant at Deloitte in Austin, TX then at BCG in NYC. Cheryl currently serves on the BCG Alumni board for the last 3 years.

Cheryl has her MBA from the University of Texas at Austin and B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. In her personal time, she loves to travel, SCUBA dive, and cycle. She also has a passion for cooking and baking for friends and family.