Leadership
Staff
Derik J. Mercado
Director of Film, Video, & Visual Events and Creative Team Leader
Derik J. Mercado, CEO of Pinnacle Pictures, wears several hats at Alta Arts – most notably as chief videographer. He will be coordinating our visual arts events and assisting with social media outreach. Derik brings extensive skills in filmmaking, videography and editing.
Alexander’s handiwork is always on display at Alta Arts. His focus is assisting with exhibition installations and key event coordination. In his spare time, he pursues to expand his acting career which in the past has included an Astros commercial and several stage productions.
JP “Zenturo” Perez will take the lead in developing quality programming, and play a key role with marketing and social media outreach. JP is also a digital media photographer with a BFA from the University of Houston.
Advisory Board
Christopher Gongolas
ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER
Christopher Gongolas – artist, drummer, tribal art collector, inventor/designer, finance geek/tech entrepreneur – has served on numerous art museum boards. Co-founded ARGUS Software in 1984, still the global standard for valuing & structuring > $10 trillion in commercial properties & loans annually. He’s gifted over $12 million to 120 universities worldwide, beginning as a finance guest lecturer at Wharton Business School in 1984. During a 20 year hyatis in Greece & Cyprus, he designed a line of globally patented, mass market, kinetic art & silly consumer products – and is also scaling up his unique monumental kinetic sculptures that inspired these product
Edgar Guajardo
ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER
Edgar Guajardo is a Lighting and Scenic Designer/ Theatrical Producer/ Poet/ Actor/ Painter/ Carpenter originally from Pharr Texas, but has been residing in Houston for 10 plus years. He has a BFA in Theatrical Production with an emphasis in Lighting Design and Scenic Design from the University of Houston.
Catherine D. Anspon
ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER
For more than 25 years, PaperCity Executive Editor Catherine D. Anspon has covered the growth of Texas as a major state of the arts, including art fairs, artist and collector profiles, gallery and museum exhibitions, and as a member of international press delegations to Moscow and Shanghai.
She’s also served as Houston correspondent for ARTnews, and written for Art & Antiques, Spot, Glasstire, Artdesk, and Cultured. Her interviews have ranged from artists Julian Schnabel, John Currin, Emilia Kabakov, Jammie Holmes, Larry Bell, Carlos Cruz-Diez, The Haas Brothers, Trenton Doyle Hancock, and JooYoung Choi, to gallerist Meredith Long, collectors Lester Marks and Suzanne Deal Booth, and recently, the descendants of artist Tamara de Lempicka, Victoria de Lempicka and Marisa de Lempicka.
With a Master’s in Art History from University of Missouri, and a B.A. in History/Art History from Rice, she is the author of Texas Artists Today; a second volume is forthcoming focused upon Texas contemporary artists, benefiting Art League Houston.
Board of Directors
Michael S. Prentice
CO-FOUNDER & CHAIR
Michael S. Prentice is a renowned sculptor and investor based in Houston whose innovative initiatives to enhance Houston’s Sharpstown neighborhood have received acclaim. His most recent effort, the creation of the Sharpstown Prize for Architecture, resonated with city of Houston officials as well as the art and architecture community. Prentice established his own sculpture atelier in Paris 30 years ago, prior to moving to Houston in 1998. During his residency in France, he received private and public commissions from clients including Takashimaya, Cartier, LaCoste, GlaxoWelcome, City of Paris and more.
Michelle Bouchard
CO-FOUNDER & PRESIDENT
C. Michelle Bouchard has created, managed and scaled non-profits and private/public partnerships since 1986, serving 13 years as President of HealthCorps, a national program founded by Dr. Oz. During her tenure, the organization raised over $70mm and impacted 2.5mm students across 17 states. She has received recognition from the TX Legislature; CA Senate, Clinton Global Initiative; NYC Chamber of Commerce; NYC Council; Log Cabin Republicans; the Off‐Off Broadway Review Board and more for her work.
HEATHER CURRAN
MEMBER AT LARGE
Heather Curran has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Heather’s 27+ year career in oil and gas, and global commercial real estate services earned her a wide range of skills. Her 11-year tenure at Exxon, as part of the Management Development Program, involved changing positions approximately every two years to experience different types of responsibilities and build on her skill sets, which included supervising large teams as well as project management. This led her to a 16+ year career at Hines as Corporate Director of Learning & Development where she directed the efforts to establish the firm’s global learning offerings and services, and built the department. As a learning professional, she was requested to be a speaker at various external industry meetings and conferences. She is now applying her expertise and passion for learning & development as a free-lance consultant.
Gallery Hours
Gallery closed while we prepare for the next exhibition.
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