Arts & Ideas names new director for 2021 event

Shelley Quiala has been named the next executive director of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, effective August 1.

Quiala comes to New Haven from the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul, Minn., where she has worked since 2003. For the past six years, she served as the organization’s vice president in programming, education and community engagement. At the Ordway, Quiala led a team that programmed and produced concerts, comedy, dance, and educational programming that reached more than 150,000 people annually.

Before that Quiala worked with Teatro del Pueblo, a Latino theater company also in St. Paul, Minn. She was graduated from the University of Minnesota/Twin Cities with a double major in Spanish and Performance as a Medium for Social Change.

Quiala succeeds Liz Fisher and Tom Griggs, who have served as co-directors of the festival since 2017. Fisher, who has worked for the festival for more than 20 years, and Griggs, who joined the staff in 2014 after serving on the festival’s board of directors, announced their retirements last fall. They plan to assist in the leadership transition over the course of the next year, the organization announced.

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Griebel, Russo named to investment bank board

The Southport investment banking firm Carter Morse & Goodrich has named two new members to its Board of Advisors, which includes business professionals from industry sectors that are key to CMG’s mission and its clients, the firm says.

Joining the board are Nicole Russo, president and CEO of Microboard Processing Inc. in Seymour, and Oz Griebel of Griebel Consulting. 

Nicole Russo

In addition to her role with Microboard, Russo serves on the boards of Ultra Pure LLC and WP Ventures. She is a former vice president at GE Capital and is actively involved in global humanitarian projects. Russo is a graduate of the D’Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University, and Salve Regina University, and has completed post-graduate programs at Yale School of Management and the Harvard Business School.  

Oz Griebel

Griebel is a former regional president for Bank of Boston and spent 17 years as president and CEO of the Metro Hartford Alliance. His board service includes three for-profit businesses and numerous civic, cultural, and governmental entities. 

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Primerica Inc., a provider of financial services to middle-income families throughout North America, announced the promotion of Denise Donovan to regional vice president based in the company’s Vernon office. Primerica representatives educate their clients about how to better prepare for a more secure financial future by assessing their needs and providing appropriate solutions through term life insurance and mutual funds, annuities and other financial products.