Meet Our Staff & Board
We are proud to have an incredible group of passionate and creative staff and board members making our governance decisions and achieving our mission day-to-day at HOBT. If you’d like to join us, consider volunteering, joining the board, applying for a job, or joining us as an artist collaborator.
Our Staff
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Community Partnerships/Site Director
He/Him/His
Steve Ackerman is a playwright and puppet artist who focuses on quick, crude, high-energy art making. He has his BFA in Acting from East Carolina University and MFA in Playwriting from Southern Illinois University.
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Executive Director
She/Her/Hers
Elina joined the HOBT Team in 2017. She has served in a variety of part time roles and has happily joined the team full time this January (2024) as the Director of Education. Elina is an educator, a therapist, a stage manager and an arts collaborator. She can not wait to bring more joyous puppet play and learning to this community. Elina is an immigrant and loves to travel, explore and people watch. Her happy place is the water and the trees and you can often find her kayaking, hiking and digging in the garden. Her cats rule her life.
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Bookkeeper and Office Coordinator
She/ Her/ Hers
I have been working as an Accounting for 26 years, I am also a Job Financial Coach, Accountant and Finance Director for Deaf Equity Organization. I am a Certified Domestic Violence advocate and Certified Community Health worker. During my free time I like to volunteer in my community, read books and spend time with friends. I am an animal lover and I also have 2 little chihuahuas and 1 white Maltese poodle dogs.
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Puppet Librarian & Storyteller/Bookkeeper
she/they
Chelly is a puppeteer and storyteller from the northern metro with over a decade of storytelling experience and a huge love for children's literature. You can normally find Chelly at HOBT's Puppet and Mask Library the first and third Saturday of each month accompanied by her puppet companion Turnip the Dog. Stop by and join her for a storytime or workshop!
Our Board
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She/Her/Hers
Start Date: 2023
Ellen is new to the Twin Cities and is thrilled to be supporting the work of HOBT. She is a Certified Public Accountant who loves to uplift art as an incredible component of social justice and education. She was moved to serve on the Board after visits to the Puppet Library with her child and learning about the values and guiding principles of the organization.
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He/Him/His
Start Date:
Chris likes to joke that he spent 30 years doing "a boring post office job" before discovering the colorful life he was meant to live. After retiring he made a decision that changed everything: instead of asking, "What now?" he asked, "How can I have more fun?
What followed was an enthusiastic dive into Minneapolis' arts community. Along the way, he discovered something powerful about live performance: “great theater doesn't just entertain, it reaches the heart.” After experiencing Heart of the Beast for the first time, he remembers thinking, "Why have I been denying myself this?"
Today, Chris serves on Heart of the Beast's board because he believes artists deserve more than applause—they deserve support. Whether he's introducing new audiences to the theater, helping artists access rehearsal space, or championing fair pay for creative work, Chris is passionate about making sure artists can keep making great art. As he puts it, "Good art is real work."
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Anita Newhouse
She/Her/Hers Start
Date: 2025
Anita came to MN for college and didn't leave.
After setting up home and family, she dove into the robust nonprofit realm she sampled while in college. An early experience with MN Citizens for the Arts exposed her to the wide range of arts and culture we are privileged to enjoy across the state as well as the workings of the State Capitol.
Since then, she's been a volunteer, an adviser and board leadership in numerous organizations from Clean Water Action to League of Women Voters and Land Stewardship Project to HOBT.
As a systems thinker with a background in education and occupational therapy, she brings governance, administration, strategy and organizing skills to HOBT. Passion for the HOBT mission brought her back after serving a previous board term.
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She/Her/Hers
Start Date: 2024
Terri is very excited to be a part of HOBT. She holds an accounting degree and currently works for Armanino, a top 20 accounting firm, in Boise, Idaho. As a proud single parent, she is the mother of an amazing and talented adult son with autism. Terri has eight years of experience serving on the board of directors for the Autism Society Treasure Valley and has been the Chair of the Grants Committee at Armanino for the past four years. Her greatest passions are her love, dedication, and commitment to her family, friends, community, and charitable organizations.
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She/They/Them
Start date: 2026
Lys Akerman-Frank is a multidisciplinary artist, designer, and educator based in St. Paul, Minnesota. She holds a B.A. in Graphic Design from St. Catherine University, a degree in Industrial Design from Faculdade de Belas Artes in São Paulo, a Certified Occupational Therapist Assistant degree from Mount Ida College, and a Master’s Degree in Instructional Design and Technology from Full Sail University.
After more than a decade working as a creative and marketing coordinator in the corporate sector, Lys founded Art & Frames in 2010, a custom frame shop and gallery that supports local and international artists. Her multimedia practice spans photography, videography, textiles, and puppet design, and her work has been exhibited throughout the Twin Cities, including at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
Lys currently serves as Lifelong Learning Coordinator of Programs at the Walker Art Center, developing inclusive, intergenerational programming. She is a recipient of the 2026 Creative Individuals award from the Minnesota State Arts Board.