Meet Our Staff

Founder and CEO

Kat (they/she) is a nonprofit executive and fundraising professional who has inspired over $35.7 million in charitable giving over 11 years. As an avid STEAM advocate, they feel a strong connection to the principles of social entrepreneurship, particularly centered around arts-integrated racial and economic justice.

Kat was first in their family to attend college, start a business, and get a Master’s Degree. In February 2021, at 31, they were honored by the New York City Council and the Chair of the Arts and Culture Committee for community service and a lifetime of philanthropy as part of Black History Month celebrations.

In 2014, Kat founded Arts Business Collaborative, a technical assistance and research nonprofit committed to improving the quality of life of people of color through the arts and STEM. Under their leadership, the organization’s budget grew from $30,000 in 2018 to over $10 million in 2020, providing technical assistance and fiscal sponsorship through the lenses of racial equity and data-informed research for nearly 3,500 BIPOC- and Latinx-led community-based nonprofits, individual artists, and creative economy small businesses.

Kat serves on the Queens Community Board 2 as Treasurer and part of the Arts & Culture and Budget Committees. They also serve as President of the board of The Effing Foundation for Sex-Positivity and are a co-founder of BLX Alternative, an organization committed to reducing and eliminating the shame and stigma associated with alternative relationships for economically and racially marginalized communities.

They are a graduate of Wellesley College with a dual Bachelors in Media Arts and Sciences and Printmaking and earned a Masters in Nonprofit Management with a concentration in Online Community Organizing at Northeastern University. In their limited spare time, they like to play resource management video games, make art on their mini etching press, play with their cats Noodle & Kimchi, and take long nature walks.

Chief Financial Officer & Director of Operations

Josh (He/him/his) has been working in the non-profit sector in different capacities for the past 15 years. This includes as a board member for different non-profits and currently as a CFO for a NYS charter school. Josh holds a strong belief that non-profits provide the greatest diversity to the business world as well as the most interesting projects. As such, his life mission is to help non-profit entrepreneurs reach success by sharing his years of HR, finance, and start-up knowledge in the non-profit world as a mentor and coach to small business entrepreneurs.

Director of GAP Programs

Krista (she/her/hers) is able to take action on her passions by engaging entrepreneurs and artists through her work as the Director of GAP Programs here at Arts Business Collaborative (ABC). Krista has previously worked in fund development, economic development and education + policy over the last ten years with a strong emphasis to create opportunity- whether that be through policy advocacy or through funding-- for black and brown communities. She has a strong desire to remove societal divides, while working to dismantle systems that create disparities, so that all persons have real equitable opportunity. Through her commitment to create a more inclusive universe, Krista also serves as the Inspired Director and Founder of Detroit Parent Collective; a social-impact small business that was carefully designed to bridge families/ communities across Metro Detroit. es here

Executive Assistant to the CEO & CFO

Carolyn (she/her/hers) has been involved in non-profit organizations in the tri-state area for over 15 years. Most notably as the president and one of the founders of Operation Toy Train. OTT has collected over 350,000 toys for the USMC Toys for Tots Foundation since its inception in 2009, helping to provide holiday presents for children of struggling families in the northeast. She is thrilled to apply her experience volunteering, as well as many years of administrative experience, to benefit under-represented communities in the arts and sciences.

Music and the arts have always been at the core of who she is. Carolyn was a performer with the New York Renaissance Festival for several years, and enjoys singing and performing in her spare time, as well as spending time with her husband Rudy and her two cats, Ziggy & Fedya.

Board Treasurer

Akil Davis (he/him) is a Financial Advisor in Omaha, Nebraska. He has been married for 13 years and has 3 beautiful children. In his free time, you may catch him hanging out with his family and friends and enjoying Nebraska sports and Chicago Bear football games.

Board Secretary

Kat (they/she) is a nonprofit executive and fundraising professional who has inspired over $22 million in charitable giving over 11 years. As an avid STEAM advocate, they feel a strong connection to the principles of social entrepreneurship, particularly centered around arts-integrated racial and economic justice.

Kat was first in their family to attend college, start a business, and get a Master’s Degree. In February 2021, at 31, they were honored by the New York City Council and the Chair of the Arts and Culture Committee for community service and a lifetime of philanthropy as part of Black History Month celebrations.

In 2014, Kat founded Arts Business Collaborative, a technical assistance and research nonprofit committed to improving the quality of life of people of color through the arts and STEM. Under their leadership, the organization’s budget grew from $30,000 in 2018 to over $10 million in 2020, providing technical assistance and fiscal sponsorship through the lenses of racial equity and data-informed research for nearly 1,000 BIPOC- and Latinx-led community-based nonprofits, individual artists, and creative economy small businesses.

Kat serves on the Queens Community Board 2 as Treasurer and part of the Arts & Culture and Budget Committees. They also serve as President of the board of The Effing Foundation for Sex-Positivity and are a co-founder of BLX Alternative, an organization committed to reducing and eliminating the shame and stigma associated with alternative relationships for economically and racially marginalized communities.

They are a graduate of Wellesley College with a dual Bachelors in Media Arts and Sciences and Printmaking and earned a Masters in Nonprofit Management with a concentration in Online Community Organizing at Northeastern University. In their limited spare time, they like to play resource management video games, make art on their mini etching press, play with their cats Noodle & Kimchi, and grow vegetables to share with the community in their backyard garden.

Board Memeber

Isabel Jones (she/her/hers) currently holds the role of Senior Clinical Quality Analyst with Wolters Kluwer, which is known to be a leader in medical information. Before this, she began her career as a Labor and Delivery RN at Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital. After earning her Master of Nursing Science in Nursing Informatics from Duke University, she stepped into various Informatics roles at Indiana University Health. There, she was involved in a number of healthcare implementations in the ambulatory (outpatient), inpatient, and Behavioral Care areas.

As a clinical analyst at Wolters Kluwer, her role (among other things) is to be the "intermediary" or "translator" between the clinical arm and the development arm of a project. One of her favorite parts of her work is creating and testing the many scenarios that could "break" the code. In addition, she was an active member of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committees at both IU Health and Wolters Kluwer. In her spare time, Isabel trains in the sport of Olympic-style weightlifting and reads a lot of sci-fi/fantasy books. She lives in Indianapolis, IN with her husband, Erik, and two cats, Ollie and Waffles.