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Gray Area Announces Six New Appointments To Board Of Directors

  •  Dec 3, 2020
  •  Gray Area
 

Gray Area is proud to announce the appointment of Holly Baxter, Fabien Beckers, Tim Chang, Andy Cunningham, Wasalu Muhammad Jaco, and Matt Lituchy. These exciting individuals bring deep experience in curation, community engagement, education, business, finance, technology, and marketing at a pivotal time for Gray Area’s growth. They join longtime Gray Area Directors Peter Hirshberg, Di-Ann Eisnor, and Barry Threw to form a leadership team with the diverse backgrounds and perspectives needed to ensure Gray Area’s support of San Francisco community and culture will expand in the years ahead.

A complete list of Gray Area's Governance and Advisory Board can be found here.

Andy Cunningham

An entrepreneur at the forefront of marketing, branding, positioning and communicating “The Next Big Thing,” Andy Cunningham has played a key role in the launch of a number of new categories including video games; personal computers; desktop publishing; digital imaging; RISC microprocessors; software as a service; very light jets; and clean tech investing. She is an expert in creating and executing marketing, branding and communication strategies that accelerate growth, increase shareholder value and advance corporate reputation. Andy serves on the following corporate boards: MixR (workplace community building software); Motiv Power Systems (electric vehicles); Onclusive (PR analytics); Specialized Bicycle Components, Inc. (bicycles and related gear); and Woodward Communications, Inc. (media and marketing services). She also serves as a trustee of The Aspen Institute (since 2000) and Menlo College (since 2014). Andy serves on the following not-for-profit advisory boards: UNICEF; Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications; and ZERO1: The Art & Technology Network, an organization she founded in 2000 with the mission to shape the future at the intersection of art and technology. She also serves on the Freeman Design Council, a “special forces” unit of The Freeman Company.

Fabien Beckers

Fabien Beckers is a serial entrepreneur committed to solving global problems that impact human lives. He received his PhD from Cambridge University, as well as a Masters from Stanford Graduate School of Business. As CEO he built one of the first cloud-AI platforms for diagnostic imaging and clinical diagnostics. Fabien disrupted the healthcare ecosystem using cloud to unlock data driven medicine ahead of his time. His company created 5 FDA-cleared products, the first open innovation platform, an AI marketplace, and launched a new method to transform how newborns with heart defects are diagnosed. Outside of work, he has traveled the world capturing life’s precious moments through his photography and is passionate about social innovation stemming from the intersection of arts and science.

Holly Baxter

  1. Creative, dynamic and visionary executive with 20 years experience as a fine art professional working in public, private and non-profit organizations and 10 years as a business development executive in the technology industry. Holly Baxter is Principal in Holly Baxter & Associates LLC, and is Executive Director for the Human Rights Foundation international art program, Art in Protest.
Previously, Ms. Baxter created, launched and directed RH Contemporary Art (RHCA), the contemporary art division of RH (NYSE: RH), dedicated to bringing international artists to a global audience, showcasing their work on both an innovative web-based platform and in a 28,000 square foot gallery in New York City, and fostering their talent through an elite artist residency program in Brooklyn.

Matt Lituchy

Matt Lituchy joined The Jay Paul Company in 2000, one of the country’s leading developers of workplace environments for the technology industry. In his capacity as Chief Investment Officer Matt oversees acquisitions, dispositions and new business opportunities as well as all capital, financing and strategic planning for the company. With over 25 years of commercial real estate experience, Matt has raised over $6 Billion in project financing and acquired in excess of $2 Billion of commercial real estate for investment or redevelopment. Matt’s activities have created over 12 million square feet of award winning campuses and skyscrapers that embody cutting edge design and sustainability. Matt is responsible for the creating the company’s unique art program and initiating the innovative 181 Fremont Philanthropic Award program in San Francisco. Matt is a founding board member of the East Cut Community Benefit District serving as Board President in 2018-19. Matt also serves leadership roles on the boards of the Silicon Valley Chapter of NAIOP and The City of Hope.

Tim Chang

Tim Chang is a Partner at Mayfield Fund, focusing on venture capital invests in Consumer Internet, Digital Media, eCommerce/Marketplaces and Health/Wellness. He has been twice named on the Midas List of top 100 VCs. Tim led Mayfield's investments in MOAT (acquired by Oracle), Basis (acquired by Intel), Fitmob (acquired by Classpass), Tonal Fitness, Grove Collaborative, and Drop.com and TRIPP. Tim was previously a Partner at Norwest Venture Partners, where he led NVP's investment in Playdom (acquired by Disney), ngmoco (acquired by DeNA), AdChina (acquired by Alibaba), PCH International, and Lumosity. Prior to joining Norwest, Tim was a Principal at Gabriel Venture Partners, where he established and led their wireless practice, investing and joining the board of Iridigm Display (acquired by Qualcomm). He was also actively involved with the boards of Placeware (acquired by Microsoft), IPWireless (acquired by NextWave) and NextG Networks (acquired by private equity syndicate). Before entering the venture capital industry, Tim was a Product Manager at Gateway, where he launched Enterprise products into the Japanese market, and began his career as a tri-lingual development engineer for General Motors, working across China, Korea, and Japan. Tim received his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he graduated in the top 10% of his class as an Arjay Miller Scholar. He also holds an MSEE and BSEE in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, where he was a Departmental Scholar and received full fellowship. Tim is an active musician and performs with the musical acts BlackMahal, Coverflow and RainbowParty. He is also passionate about tech-driven immersive art experiences that shift and expand empathy, compassion and consciousness, and enjoys collecting LED and lighting art.

Wasalu Muhammad Jaco

Wasalu Muhammad Jaco, better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco, is a Chicago-born, Grammy award-winning American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and community advocate. While musical genius and ingenuity are at the forefront of Lupe’s achievements, the artist extends his innovation to projects that aim to foster creative discourse and opportunities in underprivileged and impoverished communities. As the co-founder and co-owner of community initiatives such as, We Are M.U.R.A.L, The Neighborhood Start-Up Fund, Society of Spoken Art, and Studio SV, Lupe Fiasco proves that he is more than just a mouthpiece for change, but a committed facilitator of intellectual community discourse and outreach. We Are M.U.R.A.L (Magnifying Urban Realities & Affecting Lives) provides nurturing meals and winter clothing to inner-city youth, while fostering artistic and academic excellence in their respective neighborhoods. The foundation soon became the catalyst for The Neighborhood Start-up Fund, which encourages disenfranchised youth in developing entrepreneurial skills to establish businesses in underserved communities. Furthering his efforts in community engagement and mentorship, Lupe co-founded the Society of Spoken Art, which unites aspiring lyricists with established artists, who act as mentors to inspire the mastery of linguistics and semiotics. Studio SV, co-founded with Bonnie Chan Woo, is his latest effort marking Lupe’s global expansion through the venture company in Hong Kong that will develop, produce and finance innovative content. In addition to their various community efforts, the artist and humanitarian, also sits on the advisory board for Zero Mass Water; a renewable, solar-powered initiative that seeks to democratize water.