Meet the 2026-2027ACCV BOARD
The ACCV Board Members are elected and represent the following roles:
President
JOHN PILLSBURY - President of the ACCV, also serves as: the Executive Producer and Secretary of the Ventura County Gilbert & Sullivan Repertoire Co., President of the Philosophical Research Society, and president of a private philanthropic foundation. He looks forward to continuing to help the ACCV promote the arts and education in our community and would also like to thank all of our member organizations both for their support of the ACCV and the good work that they do.
Vice President
CONNIE TUNICK is a prolific artist and for the past twelve years she served as Hillcrest Galleria's Co-Curator. Connie’s art ranges from experimental paintings with collage and mixed media to printmaking. Connie Tunick has worked as a professional artist for many years, and is well known in the art publishing world. She belongs to the Thousand Oaks Art Association and Women Painters West, both juried art organizations, and also is a member of Westlake Village Art Guild. As a Board Member of Arts Council of the Conejo Valley, she is involved with the Conejo Cottontails, a public art project with collaboration between ACCV and Art Trek. She spends much of her time working and teaching at her industrial studio in Newbury Park. A Northwestern University graduate from Illinois, she is an educator and children's art specialist with a California teaching credential and MA degree in Education from CLU, Thousand Oaks. The experimental quality and artistic sense of play that can be found in children's art is integral to her work.
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Secretary
KRISTINE CLARK - I am a proud and fortunate mother to an ever curious and creative teenager. Artistic expression, in many forms, are part of our daily life- participation, as well as, pure enjoyment of. As a former para-educator in Special Education for fourteen years in the Las Virgenes Unified School District, I am a strong advocate for the Arts to be accessible and taught to all. I graduated from UCLA, majoring in Art History, and have volunteered at various organizations, including the Getty and the Malibu Stage Company. Also, I served on the Native American Cultural Resource Advisory Committee and the Trails Committee for the City of Malibu. Art is a passion of mine, and I am a strong believer that a community needs various artistic platforms where people may acquire, manifest, and benefit from creativity and culture.
Treasurer
Parliamentarian
GERI SCHONBERG - After graduating from Vanderbilt University with a degree in Philosophy, I moved to Manhattan while my husband completed medical school. While living in Colorado I completed my graduate studies in Art History at the University of Denver. Thousand Oaks has been my home for most of my life. I served as a docent at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Finally, about 30 years ago, I took some art classes and painting and art began to be the focus of my life. In addition to my membership on the board of the Arts Council, I am a member of the Thousand Oaks Art Association, the Los Angeles Art Association and Women Painters West. Increasing participation in the arts and public art in our community is the reason for my work for ACCV.
Director of Finance
Director of Exhibitions
DEBRA SOKOLOW is a native California artist, best known for her drawings and paintings. Her compositions reflect an abstract and spiritual form of expression where the process is as important as the product. Whether drawing or painting at a site or in the studio Sokolow finds inspiration from nature, humanity and the urban environment. As an arts educator Sokolow designed and developed a discipline-based curriculum for drawing, painting, architecture and design integrating sustainability, innovation, problem solving and reflection. Her artwork can be viewed in exhibitions and competitions. Sokolow is the recipient of arts educator awards, a California Arts Council grant and a Fulbright Memorial Fund Scholarship. Sokolow is actively involved in community minded organizations.
https://www.debrasokolow.com/
Director of Events and Hospitality
PAT JOHNSON is one of the founders of the Arts Council and has served as President, Secretary and Member at Large. Pat has been the driving force for some of the key programs such as the Conejo Cottontails, a public arts work project in partnership with ArtTrek and scholarship prgams such as "Hang with the Best". Fresh off as a role as Member at Large, Pat is back acting as the Director of Events.
Director of Electronic Media
MATT McGEE established his theatre and literary production company Secondhand Store Productions at ACCV in 2000. A graduate of the California Coro Arts Program, his plays have appeared at Santa Paula Theatre and most recently at Hollywood’s Hobgoblin Theatre. He publishes Falling Star Magazine, a literary quarterly.
Director of PR/Marketing
Director of Membership
Director at Large
LAURIE HANIG - Laurie is a credentialed Art and Special Education Teacher who has taught for over 25 years in both the private and public school settings. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Art from UC Santa Cruz and Credentials from California State University, Northridge. After retiring from Los Angeles Unified School District, she went on to pursue her passion in the arts by creating and implementing a curriculum to teach Judaic Art to children. Through teaching creative art lessons that incorporated a variety of new techniques and materials into her mixed media projects, Laurie’s career as an artist began to grow. She has showcased and sold her work at local art and craft fairs, boutiques and is frequently commissioned by private parties. Her painting of The Tree of Life is part of the permanent collection of art at Temple Etz Chaim. As a mixed media artist, she focuses on subjects related to Jewish history, traditions and symbolism. Laurie’s art also seeks to raise awareness around social and global issues. Her current project speaks on the pandemic and depicts a series of decorative mixed media face masks constructed on canvas, that were submitted to the WLVG Members Art Show for January 2021. Laurie is certified by Monart School of the Arts and is a member of the Westlake Village Art Guild.
Director at Large
Lucia Lemieux - Lucia Lemieux received an MFA from the American Film Institute. She worked in entertainment, was a California Arts Council Poet in Residence, and taught high school English. She served on the Arts Council of the Conejo Valley in the early 2000 for several years and is excited to be back. She is also part of the Village Voices Chorale as singer, grant writer and music committee member, a docent for the McCrea Ranch, and a member of SCBWI, SCWriP, and AWP. A professional writer and poet, she has several publications, most recently, USA 250 (2026), First Light Journal (2026), Erbacce Journal 84/85 (20th of 12,600 poets internationally) and Women in a Golden State (2025) among others.