The Board of Trustees
President: Peter R. Teahen
Peter R. Teahen is a Funeral Director, author and a mental health professional. He is president of Teahen Funeral Home and an Adjunct faculty member at the University of Iowa. Peter has been involved in leadership roles in more than forty-seven major disasters throughout the world. He has been recognized for developing mental health programs for the military and international humanitarian aid workers in areas of conflict. Peter is a recipient of numerous awards including the prestigious National Public Spirit Award.
President Elect: Mark Hixson
Mark Hixson is the Business Development Director of Ladco Incorporate in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He has 40+ years’ experience in Business Technology, Electronic Technologies, Business Management, and Sound Engineering. He is the past president of the Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival, Director Emeritus for Foundation 2 and currently serves on the HACAP Board of Directors as the Chairman of the Food Reservoir Advisory Council and is a Pastor for PCS Ministries he serves and is passionate about serving his community as a way to bring a sense of community to others and hopefully to inspire others to do the same.
Vice President: Debra Brooks
Debra Brooks is a native of Cedar Rapids. She is a member of the International Thespian Society and started her acting experience at Jefferson HS. She graduated from Coe for her undergrad work. Debbie taught music in Cedar Rapids Community Schools for over 20 years. She did her post-grad work at UI and Clayton. Debra has been a frequent presenter at both state & national conferences. She attributes her ease in public speaking to groups to her years teaching and as a performer. She was a featured soloist in the original 10 years of “The Follies” (some of her solos were, “Just a Housewife”, “Somewhere Out There”, “Somewhere” from West Side Story, etc.). She also had roles in different Broadway series stage productions at the Paramount Theatre, ie: Lady Thiang in The King & I and roles in Theatre Cedar Rapids productions, ie: Philia in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum under the direction of one of Old Creamery Theatre Company founders, Mick Dennison. She loves volunteering. She has served on many boards locally, and on several state and national boards. She is an accompanist and plays the piano and serves as the accompanist for Orchestra Iowa’s Discovery Chorus & Taft’s show choir, Adrenaline. She teaches private voice lessons and her paintings are shown in art exhibit shows. She spent the last part of her career helping those who are stuck in their careers, business or life as a Life Coach.
Secretary: Kim Kudej
Kim Kudej was appointed by Governor Branstad and confirmed by the Senate on April 11, 2016, to serve on the Council on Human Services which advises the Department of Human Services and its agencies. She retired from the Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office, where she worked primarily as a Public Affairs Specialist. During her career she designed, developed, and conducted educational and/or training seminars employing all types of media to disseminate information to the general public or specialized target groups. As a public affairs specialist, she organized and coordinated news media interviews and press conferences to foster communication between the federal government and state local organizations. She worked with IPTV on the show Internet Intruders as well as provided content for their Frontline program The Meth Epidemic. During her career, she planned and implemented more than one hundred conferences on substance abuse. She also set up school assemblies to reach over 30,000 middle schoolers to educate children on staying safe on the Internet.
In addition to serving as Secretary of the Old Creamery Theatre, she is a Paul Harris fellow, and is in charge of programs for Cedar Rapids West Rotary. Kim is also a member of the Older Iowans Legislature (OIL) which promotes the health and safety of Iowans through legislation. She has also assisted with fundraisers for various nonprofits as well as serving on a number of board and civil organizations.
Treasurer: Mike Murray
Mike Murray is a Wealth Advisor with UICCU Investment Services. He grew up in Cedar Rapids and now resides in Amana with his wife Beth and their 2 children. Mike has been an active volunteer in the community. He is a member and past President of the Iowa City Noon Lions Club and currently serves on the Iowa City Lions Foundation. When Mike is not busy attending his children’s activities he enjoys running, biking and golfing.
Directors:
John Slusher
John Slusher has lived in the Cedar Rapids area since 1966. He graduated from the University of Missouri with a major in accounting. He worked for Rockwell Collins with various jobs in finance. John and his wife enjoy growing roses, exhibiting roses at rose shows, and judging rose shows. They now grow about 50 roses and at one time had over 250 roses in their yard. They enjoy attending Iowa sporting events and have season tickets to watch 5 Iowa teams perform. Those are football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, wrestling, and softball. John also spends time as a volunteer. John has volunteered to do tax returns as a volunteer tax preparer. He is an AARP tax volunteer. He helps out low income people and retired people by preparing their tax return and submitting it electronically. He has been a tax volunteer since 1983. He works 1 day a week and does about 75 tax returns a year. He also volunteers at his church for various jobs and has worked on various committees. John also enjoys traveling with his wife. They have been on over 20 cruises seeing Alaska, the Caribbean, and the Panama Canal. They also make trips to Branson to see the various shows there.
Mark Van Heukelom
Mark is a Cedar Rapids native who grew up in the performing arts. He currently works as an attorney at Bradley & Riley PC in Cedar Rapids, where he specializes in state planning, probate and trust administration, and real estate. He has an economics degree from Northwestern University and Juris Doctorate and Master of Business Administration degrees from the University of Iowa. A husband and father to a young family, he enjoys laughing and giggling with his children.