Board of Trustees

Matt Connors, President
Matt grew up in Burlingame, California and went to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, graduating in 1974 with a degree in Theater Arts, Phi Beta Kappa Magna Cum Laude. It was while living in New York City after graduation, pursuing a theater career, that he first picked up a camera, learning how to develop film at home and make prints in the darkroom. After several years of theater jobs, he decided that the theater was not for him. He eventually left New York to return to the San Francisco Bay Area, landing a job as a software programmer, a career in which he stayed for the rest of his professional life, working as a programmer, designer, manager, executive and software architect. Along the way photography fell by the wayside, other than the usual vacation and special event snapshots.
Retirement provided the impetus to explore photography as a creative tool. His work has appeared in exhibits in Carmel, Monterey, Los Angeles, Oregon, Georgia and Massachusetts.
Matt is a member of ImageMakers of Monterey. Matt and his black Lab Norton are a therapy dog team at the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula.

Muema Lombe, Vice President
Muema Lombe is Silicon Valley based startup advisor. His career included leading IPO readiness for technology startups; Big 4 advisory; establishing the San Francisco controls function for a leading Fortune 20 financial services firm; and leading compliance for a Silicon Valley SaaS provider. The common theme in his work is reducing the risk profile and while increasing controls maturity.
He holds a degree from New York University’s Stern School of Business. Muema has the following audit, risk and information security certifications: Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC), Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional (CSSLP), Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT), Certified in Risk Management Assurance (CRMA) and Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA). Muema sits on the Board of Los Angeles based Trumpet Financial Group.
The Kodak disc camera sparked Muema’s love of photography which continues to this day.

Noelle Hetz, Treasurer
Noelle grew up in the Los Angeles area and is a graduate of UC Berkeley. She is a retired CPA and ran her own practice in Cupertino for 30 years. In addition to her practice she taught seminars nationwide on taxation for other CPAs.
Most recently Noelle has served as a trustee for the California CPA Education foundation and as a board member for the Truckee Donner Land Trust.
Noelle loves fine art photography. Because she is a docent at the Monterey Museum of Art, she has had additional opportunities to learn about photography as MMA’s permanent collection is 40% photography. Not a photographer herself she is a big fan of the art and a great appreciator!

Frank Yamrus, Secretary
Frank Yamrus is a fine art photographer who recently moved back to California, this time calling Los Angeles his home. Prior to this relocation, Frank spent eight years in New York City. While living in Manhattan, he started a series of portraits, “A Sense of a Beginning,” capturing in vivid detail and color the impact HIV/AIDS has had on long-term survivors of this disease. In many ways this collection of photographs bookends Frank’s first major body of work, Primitive Behavior. That series of luscious black and white prints was shot in the dunes and marshes of Provincetown, Massachusetts, a space known for anonymous sexual encounters between men. Frank claimed this sacred land as his studio and addressed the psychological issues, such as multiple losses, depression, despair and survivor syndrome, that were devastating his community. Before New York, Frank lived and played in San Francisco —his home after he received his MBA from Drexel University in 1986.
Having exhibited extensively across the United States and Europe, Frank’s’ images can be found in many public and private collections including London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, the Los Angeles Contemporary Museum of Art, The Kinsey Institute of Indiana University, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Special Collections at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, Austin, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. His work has been published in numerous catalogues, books and magazines. Frank is represented by ClampArt in New York City and Catherine Couturier Gallery in Houston.
In addition to producing work, Frank has served on the executive and curatorial committees of the Board of Directors at SF Camerawork from 1999 – 2004. During his tenure at SF Camerawork, he co-curated three exhibitions: Untitled [Conjecture], No Exit: Images of Imprisonment, and The Space Between: Locating Intimacy. Frank has also served on the Board of Directors of Blue Sky Gallery in Portland, Oregon and on their National Advisory Board.

Philip Geiger
Philip Geiger is the Director of Education and Communication for the Hospice Giving Foundation, an independent grant-making and educational foundation focused on end-of-life care and preparedness in Monterey and San Benito Counties. Philip is responsible for increasing visibility and engagement in the community, and for promoting active preparation and meaningful discussion for end-of-life issues and care. Before joining HG Foundation in March of 2017, Philip spent five years as Development Director of Legal Services for Seniors. He has served on several nonprofit boards, and currently also sits on the board of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Monterey Bay Chapter.
Philip’s serious interest in photography began eight years ago when he accompanied his wife, free-lance writer and writing instructor Lisa Crawford Watson, on an assignment to interview an organic rancher in Hollister. His photographs of the chickens, goats, sheep and guardian dogs started a second career as a journalistic photographer. His photos have now appeared in many local publications including Carmel Pine Cone, Monterey County Herald, Edible Monterey Bay, and Guest Life Monterey Bay, and in two books, Legendary Locals of Carmel-by-the Sea, and Eating with Grace.

Susan Hyde Greene
As long as she can remember, Susan Hyde Greene has been interested in photography, textiles, and art history, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts from University of Hawaii, Manoa, and a Master of Fine Arts from University of Utah, Salt Lake City. As Susan became aware that the history of art is the history of people, she saw the possibility of bringing people together through the language of art.
Following completion of a Master of Science in Special Education, Susan taught art throughout Marin County, CA, founding Very Special Arts Marin with Youth in Arts as well as Art Pals, an intergenerational arts program. Other teaching include the University of Utah, Santa Clara University and Napa Valley College. As an Access Advisor for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Susan led Art Lovers workshops inspired by current exhibitions from 1995-2015.
Susan has been the fortunate recipient of several awards and grants, and her works are included in many private and public collections. Her pieces have also been included in numerous exhibitions, regionally and nationally. For more information about Susan’s work and achievements, please visit her website: www.susanhydegreene.com

Jacki Horton
Jacki grew up in Massachusetts, attended high school in Dutchess County, New York and graduated from Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont.
Jacki’s first career in hotels started in a ski town inn in New Hampshire and then on to Boston and ultimately to many hotels across the US. She moved into design and construction project management with Hyatt in Monterey. Jacki retired from Apple after a career in real estate and development in Silicon Valley several years ago.
Jacki is an active volunteer at Spirals in Pacific Grove, which supports the Alliance on Aging for Monterey County, and at the Center for Photographic Art.
Photography has been a love since high school where she spent hours in the dorm darkroom and into college where Jacki worked on the newspaper as a photographer and held various editorial positions.

Michelle Piwowarski
Michelle Piwowarski is a New York native residing in the Bay Area. After graduating from New York University’s Stern School of Business with a dual degree in Finance and International Business, she began her career in financial services. Soon thereafter, Michelle discovered Compliance, geeked out, and pivoted to FinTech so she could use her expertise to help tackle the barriers around financial equity and inclusion. Throughout her career, Michelle has developed deep expertise in process improvement, identifying, evaluating, and mitigating compliance risk, policy development, and building and scaling teams and operations.
Michelle was introduced to photography in high school and fell in love with developing film in the dark room. She continues to enjoy photography, especially when incorporated in mixed media.

Lesha Maria Rodriguez
Lesha was born and raised in Salinas, California to a father who was a migrant worker – following the fields of the central coast to Yuma, Arizona. Her rugged spirit comes as a direct result of witnessing her family’s daily struggles. She earned an undergraduate degree in Art History from UC Santa Cruz and followed with a Master in Art (MFA) at UC San Diego – with a focus on the cultures and societies of Oaxaca, México. Her graduate work was heavily influenced by California’s migrant workforce whom, like her father, come primarily from México.
She was given her first camera at 8 years old and would run around in her own little world through a viewfinder, documenting everything in sight – from church with her grandmother to flowers in the back yard. Although her photographs lacked a seasoned eye and training – resulting in mostly multiple exposures on the same frame. Even though, she still very much considered those photographs works of art. In her mind, she was certainly already a ‘real photographer.’ As a young adult, her passion for photography flourished. Organically, her educational direction drove her towards the fine arts – earning a graduate degree and becoming a photography teacher in the same junior college where she started her formal training in photography.
Her greatest passion is sharing and learning about photography. In her free time, she continues to take classes and workshops. So far, she has had the privilege to attend and learn from these amazing photographers: Mary Ellen Mark, Charles Harbutt, Joan Liftin, Matt Black, Rebecca Norris Webb, Alex Webb, Nikos Economopoulos, Ted Orland, Brain Taylor and Maggie Taylor.
Lesha’s current work is focused on refining her techniques through continued experimentation along with proven results in the alternative photography process. When not experimenting and working in alternative photography, she can be found practicing her street photography. She divides her time between Santa Cruz, San Francisco, and Oaxaca, México.

Bob Sadler
Bob has his own executive development business helping Silicon Valley executives develop compelling narratives and a warmer, more authentic communication capability. Bob grew up in Hartford, CT. He graduated from Central Connecticut State University after a serving in the army.
His career moved seamlessly from high school teacher to community organizer and civil rights worker to consulting in the corporate high-tech world. He has always worked with large groups of marginalized people…working to understand core problems, inventing a new future, and mobilizing to attain that future.
He began photography in Vietnam in 1965 and continued developing his interest alongside his career. He is most known for “Inherent Worth and Dignity”, his exhibit of nearly a hundred formal portraits of homeless men in Monterey County. He is an active member of Imagemakers, and his work has been shown at Art Intersection in Gilbert, AZ, the Weston Gallery “Sadler and Karsh”, and many other local venues. He was commissioned by the Unitarian Universalist Church in Carmel to create a set of twelve pieces called “Transcendence” that is permanently installed in their sanctuary. His work is represented by the Weston Gallery.

Dennis Segers
Born and raised in rural south Texas, Dennis received a degree in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University, leading to a 40-year career in the semiconductor industry. He held various technical and corporate management roles, including CEO of two venture-backed startups. Most recently, Dennis served as Chairman of the Board for Xilinx, Inc. until its acquisition by AMD in 2022. Now retired and living in Carmel, he continues to serve on numerous corporate boards and teaches at Santa Clara University.
A brief job relocation to the Pacific Northwest in 1986 ignited his love for landscape photography. Hiking the slopes of Mt Rainier with a Nikon FE camera and Kodachrome 64, he learned photography from the writings of John Shaw and Galen Rowell.
His interest in photography and career in integrated circuit development formed parallel arcs, providing a first-hand perspective on the digital transformation of photography. Today he works principally with digital cameras but seeks to blend the best of digital and analog throughout the workflow using a variety of alternative processes and hand print techniques.
Dennis is a member of ImageMakers of Monterey and his work has been included in a variety of group exhibitions around the country.

Nancy Sevier
A lifelong Californian, Nancy received her BA degree from Chico State University and later went on to earn her Master’s degree in sculpture from San Jose State University.
She has been an active volunteer and docent for the Monterey Museum of Art, and ran an outreach program for an elementary school in Salinas. As an Adjunct-Professor, Nancy has taught photography at Hartnell College for the past eight years, often sharing with her students the astute exhibitions at the Center for Photographic Art.
Nancy is both a practicing artist and a curator. In 2018, her alternative processes photography was included in CPA’s Artists as Teachers exhibition. In early 2019, her impressive solo exhibition Resampled & Rearranged: Musical Objects Recomposed, featured large-scale installation work in the two-story gallery at Hartnell College. Her process highlights repurposed found and discarded instruments taken from the dump and off the streets, and makes use of their broken parts to explore the possibilities of new arrangements, new beginnings and new ways of seeing. She has also participated in many of CPA’s annual 8 x 10 fundraising exhibitions.
In addition to being an art maker, Nancy is also a curator. In 2016 she curated the exhibition Dress Tents, by artists Robin Lasser and Adriane Pao for the Center for Photographic Art. She has also curated a number of other exhibitions, including Modified and Re-Modified, two group exhibitions featuring artists who repurpose the found object, and Sonic, a group show of artists using sound as their medium.
Nancy’s photographs can be found in the collection of the Monterey Museum of Art, her mixed-media work which combines the photograph and the found object, in the Katie and Drew Gibson Collection, and her sculptural work, Lady Be Good, at the Westland House – Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula.
Most recently, Nancy assisted with the Henry Horenstein Workshop for CPA and went on tour to Cambodia with former Assistant Director Rick Murai.

Heather Snider
Heather Snider is an independent curator, writer, and consultant with 30 years of experience in the fine art photography field. Originally from Miami, Florida, Heather came to California to attend Stanford University and then began her gallery career at Vision Gallery in San Francisco. She also worked as Director at Scott Nichols Gallery and most recently as the Executive Director of SF Camerawork. Heather has written about photography extensively for national and international publications and curated exhibitions in the US, China, and South Africa. She previously served on the boards of SF Camerawork, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, and Chinese Artist Network. Though not a photographer herself, Heather grew up in a photography family and is a true fan of the medium and its relevance to contemporary life and cultural progress. Heather’s main creative outlet is music; she is a multi-instrumentalist but mostly a rock drummer. She currently plays with the band Sister Exister and lives in San Francisco.

Jan Watten
Jan has been passionate about photography since high school when she was given her grandfather’s Yashica twin lens reflex camera. Born in Oakland, and raised in Taipei, she has a BFA in Photography from California College of Arts and Crafts and is a practicing artist and curator, making photographs for more than 25 years in her Oakland studio in the Jingletown Arts District. She has shown domestically and internationally, and has been honored with numerous photography awards including being profiled in Black and White Magazine.
Jan is the program director of a national journalism awards program and founder of Gray Loft Gallery in Oakland, an alternative art gallery showcasing emerging and established artists in the Bay Area.
When she is not working or volunteering her time at Gray Loft Gallery, she can be found with her analog camera working on her current series Unexpected Landscapes. More about Jan can be found on her website janwatten.com.

Jonas Yip
Jonas Yip is a fine art photographer and musician based in the Los Angeles area. Born in Princeton, New Jersey to a poet-writer-professor father and an art historian mother, Jonas was raised in a creative environment steeped in art and music, poetry and performance, design and architecture, and plenty of world travel. Yet somehow Jonas decided to become an engineer, building a successful career in Silicon Valley startup companies. Over the years, however, he never stopped pursuing his creative passions: music, design, and photography. Jonas has since left the high-tech world to concentrate exclusively on these smaller, more personal projects.
Jonas has been honored with numerous photography awards and his work has been exhibited internationally. He has published two books, Somewhere Between (National Taiwan University Press, 2017) and Paris: Dialogues and Meditations (Nanjing University Press, 2008), in collaboration with renowned poet and scholar Wai-lim Yip. An exhibition, “Paris: Dialogue”, featuring photographs and poems excerpted from the books, traveled through Taiwan, China and Hong Kong and was also exhibited at the San Diego Museum of Art. Jonas’s work has accepted into the permanent collections at the San Diego Museum of Art in San Diego, CA, the National Museum of Chinese Literature in Beijing, China, and the California Museum of Photography in Riverside, CA, as well as numerous private collections. More information and news is available at jonasyip.com.