Americans for the Arts is pleased to announce George Barrett, Paul Kinley, David Minnigan, and Toni Sikes will be joining the Business Committee for the Arts.

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Americans for the Arts is pleased to announce George Barrett, Paul Kinley, David Minnigan, and Toni Sikes will be joining the Business Committee for the Arts.

The BCA is comprised of business leaders who provide expertise and guidance on key initiatives including messaging, advocacy, and strategic alliances within the private-sector committee.

George Barrett, Former CEO and Chairman, Cardinal Health

George S. Barrett is executive chairman of Cardinal Health, a global integrated healthcare services and products company offering customized solutions for hospitals, health systems, pharmacies, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical laboratories and physician offices worldwide.

Barrett joined Cardinal Health in 2008 as Vice Chairman and CEO of Healthcare Supply Chain Services and served as chairman and CEO from 2009 until 2018. Under Barrett’s leadership, Cardinal Health grew to rank 15 on the Fortune 500 and now has more than 50,000 employees in nearly 60 countries. During his tenure as CEO, Cardinal Health was recognized by Working Mother as one of the Best Places to Work; by the National Association for Female Executive’s as a Top 60 Company for Executive Women; by the Human Rights Campaign as one of the Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality; and by Americans for the Arts for exceptional partnerships with the arts.

He serves as chairman of Healthcare Leadership Council and on various boards, including Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Conference Board, Business Council, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Brown University and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Barrett co-chaired the City of Columbus Mayor’s Education Commission. He is co-chair of FutureReady Columbus.  He serves on the board of Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus Partnership, the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation. He initiated the Columbus Performing Arts Prize which is designed to celebrate and support the exceptional artistic directors of leading performing arts organizations in Columbus and their aspirations for creative growth. He has been honored for his leadership numerous times, including the Peter G. Peterson Business Statesmanship Award from the Committee for Economic Development, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Alumnus Award by the New York University Alumni Association.

Barrett earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University and a Master of Business Administration from New York University. He also holds an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Long Island University’s Arnold & Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and in 2017 was awarded an Honorary Degree of Fine Arts from the Columbus College of Art and Design.

“Having grown up as a musician, in a family of musicians, the arts have always been a part of my life.  This exposure nurtured a belief that a commitment to the arts inspires and strengthens the bonds of any community.”

Paul Kinley, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Opsis Architecture

As a Principal at Opsis Architecture, Paul has more than 30 years of experience, having been with Opsis for 14 years serving as a senior project manager and architect on numerous projects of varying scale and degrees of complexity. He led the award-winning Reed College Performing Arts Building as well as the John J. Hemmingson Student Center at Gonzaga University and Washburne Hall University Center at Pacific University. Paul actively participates in a variety of civic, cultural, and professional organizations to remain connected to the community in which he lives and serves. In addition to his unparalleled leadership skills and design abilities, Paul has a proven track record for integrating client needs and program requirements with carefully crafted, detail oriented responses. Paul’s excellent communication skills, combined with strategic thinking, make him an invaluable member of every project team and a deeply experienced resource for the entire firm. He holds a Master of Architecture degree from UCLA and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Arts from The College of William and Mary.

“My life long connection to the arts began when I was a child, fascinated by drawing with a mother who understood the value of the arts and encouraged me to keep the arts in my life. My childhood love of the arts led to an Fine Arts major and graduate school and career in Architecture.

The value of the arts in my life is what keeps me involved as a supporter of the arts and motivated to support the arts as a critically relevant component of life; especially during these uncertain times when human connection is more important than ever.”

David Minnigan, AIA, IIDA, LEED® AP, ESa Architecture

David Minnigan is a principal with ESa (Earl Swensson Associates) with 36 years of experience. He holds a B.S. Degree in Architecture from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

David has always had a passion for the arts. As an architect, he is able to express his love for the arts through the design of arts facilities--both performing arts and fine arts centers for municipalities and for education institutions. He has been involved in Americans for the Arts since 2013, when ESa was honored with a BCA 10 award for its commitment to the arts. David  has been tireless in advancing the arts throughout the Nashville, TN community, in which ESa is located. He is a member of Board of Directors of the Arts and Business Council of Greater Nashville (local chapter of Americans for the Arts) from 2011 to the present and was a founding Advisory Board member of the Council.

He was on the Facilities Committee of the Nashville Ballet from 2013 to 2015 to renovate space for the Ballet troupe. He was the Executive Architect for the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, and he was on the Long Range Planning Committee 2015 to 2016 for the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. He continues to work with numerous community arts organizations to help them create sustainable models for operations at a time when every disposable dollar within communities and municipalities is being fought over.

“I have spent much of the last 30 years learning how transformative the arts can be. My work as an architect has led me to realize that architecture is just one means for this expression. I am excited about opportunities that I will have within the Business Committee to help promote the amazing power of the arts to change lives.”

Toni Sikes, Founder and CEO, CODAworx

Sikes is Founder and CEO of CODAworx, the global leader in commissioned art, serving as a professional network for a wide variety of artists, design professionals, and industry resources.  The CODAworx website showcases outstanding design + art projects through its sponsorship of several major awards programs and monthly digital magazine

She is an expert in artful living, having founded Artful Home, an ecommerce company that is now the largest retailer of artist-created home furnishings, and having authored The Artful Home: Using Art & Craft to Create Living Spaces You’ll Love.

Sikes has served on the boards of Craft Emergency Relief Fund (an organization that supplies grants and loans to artists who have suffered disasters), Aid To Artisans (an international craft organization focused on economic development), and the Chazen Musem of Art.  She also serves as Chair of the Wisconsin Technology Council and the Center for Healthy Minds. She holds a B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Alabama and an M.S. in Market Research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“My company, CODAworx, collaborates with creative companies that transform the places where we live and work through artwork commissions and installations.  I am excited to bring this industry of experts into the BCA fold, as they have a big impact on our built environments and can contribute to the BCA mission of supporting the arts in the workplace and in the community.”