HEDY HELSELL
Chair, Community Advisory Board
Hedy Helsell has over 25 years experience in building organizational capacity in nonprofit organizations. Ms. Helsell has served in board, staff and volunteer capacities for a wide range of local, state and national organizations.
Ms. Helsell is a graduate of Mundelein College in Chicago where she received her Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics. She began her career as a teacher and worked in the aerospace industry on the Gemini program. After the birth of her first child, she spent the next few years raising three children, volunteering, working part time and completing her Master’s degree from Drake University in Counseling.
After moving to Dallas in 1978, Ms. Helsell began her career in the nonprofit sector. As President of the Center for Nonprofit Management for 18 years, she led an agency that provides management and leadership training, consultation, information resources, low-interest loans, technology and collaboration services to over 1,200 nonprofits annually.
A recognized leader in her field, Ms. Helsell has served as President of the board of the Nonprofit Management Association, on the founding board of the Alliance for Nonprofit Management and on the board of the National Council of Nonprofit Associations.
Ms. Helsell is Managing Consultant for the D-FW area for Skystone Ryan, a national firm specializing in consulting in philanthropy.
In addition to the KERA Community Advisory Board, her current community board service includes the Dallas Summit and the advisory board of La Reunion Texas. Ms. Helsell received the Distinguished Service Award from the Association of Fund Raising Professionals Dallas Chapter.
ROBERT MILNES
Vice Chair, Community Advisory Board
Robert Milnes is currently Dean of the School of Visual Arts at the University of North Texas in Denton.
Mr. Milnes moved to the area in December 2006 from San Jose, California, where he was for fifteen years Director of the School of Art and Design at San Jose State University.
He was elected this fall to serve a three-year term as president of the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD and served as Vice President of NASAD (2002-2005) and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors from 2000 – 2005. Mr. Milnes also served as a member of the NASAD Accreditation Commission (1991-1997) and as past-president of the National Council of Art Administrators.
Since 1990 he has served as a consultant or evaluator for forty universities, colleges and independent schools of art, chairing 26 accreditation teams for NASAD, including service in Qatar and Kuwait. He served as president of the Arts Council Silicon Valley and served on the Board of Trustees and Executive Board of the Montalvo Center for the Arts (1999-2005) and on the Aesthetics Advisory Committee for the Public Art Program of the San Jose Arts Commission (2000-2005).
In 2007 he received the award for leadership of the design community from the Dallas Chapter of International Interior Design Association and served that year as well on the Board of Directors of the Visual Art Society of Texas.
Mr. Milnes enjoys Antiques Roadshow, Austin City Limits, arts programming and the BBC World News on KERA television, as well as All Things Considered, Fresh Air, Car Talk and A Prairie Home Companion on KERA radio - and is so pleased with the internet presence of KERA including Art & Seek.
