WHO WE ARE: Leadership

Board of Directors

Heidi Alexander Secretary
Heidi Alexander is an attorney and web consultant. She is currently at LAWYERS CONCERNED FOR LAWYERS, and teaches nonprofit law at a local community college. She has worked in both the the public and private sectors, served on multiple boards, initiated and developed innovative projects with for-profit and nonprofit corporations, led organizations and associations, and contributed to various political and social justice causes. Heidi was born and raised in the Midwest, but now calls Massachusetts her home. She is a tech enthusiast and outdoor fanatic, who can either be found behind her computer or exploring the great outdoors by bike, boat, or foot.

John Amaral Treasurer
John is a founding principal of Omni Properties, LLC and Omni Development, LLC. Omni’s businesses include commercial and residential real estate development, commercial brokerage, development consulting and property management. Omni also operates as a merchant builder and engages in development for its own account as well as on a joint venture basis. John is directly involved in all aspects of Company operations including the permitting, financing and tenanting of projects. John has volunteered his time and expertise with organizations including The Fresh Air Fund, Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the Disabled, Shirley & Groton Youth Sports and Habitat for Humanity. He was a member of Rotary International for 10 years and a graduate of Bentley University.

Jenny Clark 
Jenny has 20 years of experience in the non profit world, working with YMCAs, social service agencies, and youth programs. In her various roles, she has done everything from teaching water skiing to developing capital campaigns and grants. Jenny currently is the Finance and Operations Manager for the American Camp Association, New England and thoroughly enjoys visiting camps throughout New England and helping families afford a camp experience for their children. Armed with a degree in PsychoBiology from Wheaton College, she lives in Dunstable with her 2 children and one very silly dog.

Rick Gilles Chair 
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Rick is an innovative leader in building sustainable organizations that create and maintain value with a proven ability to turn around and build organizations in many sectors. Rick has been an active entrepreneur and business consultant for the past 29 years. He has served as CEO/CFO/COO of multiple businesses, and as a consultant providing C-level management, business development, and turn-around services; launching new ventures, and developing dynamic financial cash flow forecasting models for companies ranging in size from $1 million to $500 million. Rick has also been an active participant in government where he applied many of the principles of business he learned over the years. He has been a Selectman, Finance Committee chair, Capital Planning Committee chair, and Community Preservation Act Committee chair for the Town of Ayer. Rick lives with his two boys, James and Max.

Mauricio Puente 
Mauricio has been managing Customer Service corporate strategies for the past 20 years, as Manager, Director and Executive Director. He has owned businesses in sport event production, education consulting and retail. Mauricio has also worked in Health Care as senior education instructor and management consultant and in a nonprofit community organization as Senior advisor. He did his undergraduate studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston, College of Public and Community Service in Management of Helping Services and his graduate studies at Boston University, Metropolitan College in Adult Education. He has a deep rooted belief in education. Long involved in the art world with his father a prominent Salvadorian artist, he has been a photographer all his life. He began working with large frame film cameras and developed and printed in his father's dark room. Now in the digital world, he prints with a large format printer in his studio in Pepperell, Massachusetts. Mauricio has volunteered throughout his life to many nonprofit organizations including the American Heart Association, the Red Cross and many conservation Projects. He is a long term “Defender of Wildlife” member of the Sierra Club and a member of the Massachusetts Audubon society. He is on the Board of Directors of the Nature Walks Conservation Society. Mauricio enjoys kayaking, hiking and taking a deep breath of fresh air.

Staff

Monica Hinojos Executive Director
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As the Executive Director of 3Rivers Arts, Monica is focused on building community and enabling artistic collaboration. Her goal is to spur development and expansion of the creative economy in the region by showcasing the vast artistic talent within reach.

Monica is an accomplished business and community leader with over 15 years of diverse experience, shaping a career as a collaborative, persuasive problem solver. As a consultant, she identified and supported results-focused leaders, social entrepreneurs, nonprofits, and artists by employing her marketing, project management, fundraising skills to spearhead innovative programs to spark change. Her PR and marketing background consists of leading creative programs for Massachusetts Office of Travel + Tourism, Monster.com, Allaire, and Manage, Selvage & Lee Public Relations. She led entrepreneurial programs at the Center for Women & Enterprise.

Monica has taken on volunteer leadership roles in peace making and women empowering initiatives. She is a former member of the Board of Directors for One Common Unity in Washington, DC (now on their Advisory Board), an Advisory Board member of Women’s Education Project in NYC, and a member of the Boston’s Women Social Entrepreneur Circle. As a former Executive Council member of the Business Council for Peace (Bpeace) in NYC, she co-chaired the Bpeace Latin American Exploratory Team, leading the research effort to launch women entrepreneurial programs in El Salvador. She received an EXPLORER VERA (Volunteer Excellence Recognition Award) for this project.

She was awarded a fellowship from The Center for Whole Communities as a Next Generation Leader; and an Environmental Cultural Heritage Fellowship from the QLF/Atlantic Center for the Environment, visiting UNESCO and other key sites in Hungary, Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic. She has an MBA from Simmons College School of Management, a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, and currently lives in Groton, MA with her partner, Ray Capes.

Mauricio Cordero Creative Projects Director
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Mauricio Cordero has worked in a wide variety of settings, from non-profit organizations to some of the largest corporations. He is a consultant and trainer specialized in Innovation, Creative Thinking and Accelerated Learning. He has worked at the ICA Boston, Boston Center for the Arts, Pfizer, Dannon, Mill No. 5 among many others. He is also an active artist who continues to pursue his own creative expression alongside his professional development.

Ken Hansen Creative Designer
Ken Hansen likes to experiment with many tools for expression, and works with many traditional media as well as digital forms. A graduate of Boston University School for the Arts, Ken initially (and literally) made his mark on the Boston advertising scene with magic markers and expanded his artistic reach into the digital realm as former Senior Illustrator / Multimedia artist and Digital Artist for Boston-based advertising agencies and publisher Haughton Mifflin. Now as 3Rivers Arts’ Creative Director, Ken shapes the organization’s branding and marketing concepts through his stylish and imaginative designs. He resides in West Groton with his wife, Michele Tetreault, and daughter, Claire, and in his “free” time has been engaged for the past year in building and painting his collection of vintage plastic "Big Daddy Roth" models. 

Julie Pampinella PR Director 
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PR Director Julie Pampinella loves nothing more than bringing attention to the people and organizations who inspire us through the arts. Her career in publicity and media relations began at Berklee College of Music, where she worked with local and international print, electronic and broadcast media to bring faculty and student stories to life, garner notice for Berklee at on and off-campus programs and events, like Berklee in Nashville and the Heineken Jazz Festival in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and promote the Film Scoring, Songwriting and Music Therapy departments and Women in Music programming. She went indie in 1998, co-founding Stratosphere Communications, a small boutique firm whose clients included The Boston Music Awards and NEMO Music Showcase and Conference, The Boston Rock Opera, and Boston-based independent filmmakers, singer-songwriters, rock and pop bands. In 2002, her path led to Celtic music and musicians, working with Irish Tenor John McDermott, and introducing the award-winning Cape Breton band The Cottars to US audiences. Since moving to the area several years ago, Julie has worked locally in the natural healthcare field, handling marketing and pr for Community Chiropractic in Groton, and freelance writing. She's also been hard at work raising a budding artist/musician with her husband, Paul, a member of the a cappella rock band, Five O'Clock Shadow, Assistant Professor of Voice at Berklee College of Music and vocal instructor at Indian Hill Music Center in Littleton. They live in a very musical household in North Shirley, MA.

Sheila Peters Financial Manager / Office Administrator
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Sheila Peters is a seasoned business professional. She has a unique breadth of experience in operations/administration, including office management, human resources, marketing, training and finance/bookkeeping. She has proven effective in a variety of business and non-profit organizations, ranging from a venture capital firm and high-tech start-ups to financial services and arts organizations.

Her passion is dancing and she has been dancing professionally for over 35 years. Trained originally as a ballet dancer, Sheila began performing at age 18 with Concert Dance Co., MA, a modern dance company. Other performing credits include: Repertory West, CA, Northern Ballet Theater, NH, Independent Choreographers and Composers, MA, as well as additional companies on both the east and west coasts. Sheila was a founding member of the Santa Barbara Dance Alliance and has taught at universities, private studios and prep schools including UCSB, Alan Hancock College, CA, The Groton School, MA, Ventura Community College, CA, Ojai Valley School, CA, and Acton School of Ballet, MA. She has directed and founded her own schools and performing companies and choreographed for many other performing groups. Sheila holds a BA in Dance from UCSB and a MS in Leadership from Northeastern University.

Jill Sauvageau Program Manager 
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Jill holds a bachelor’s degree in English－Theater from Fitchburg State College. In 2010, after a semester long internship, Jill became the Production Manager of Cornerstone Performing Arts Center in Fitchburg. There she managed a number of shows including Pride and Prejudice, True West, and Outside the Wire. Jill was also a company actor, appearing in A Child’s Christmas in Wales, The Music Box, and The Music Box (revisited). In 2010, Jill was nominated for the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship for her work in Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. Jill understands the importance of bringing art and creativity to the community. Using her background in performing, she hopes to inspire those around her to get up, get out, and get creative. She is excited to join 3Rivers Arts as the Program Manager, where she will be introducing new and exciting classes to the community, as well as, new performances throughout the region. For the past year Jill has been working with kids, and has found herself truly inspired. By teaching ballet, tap and creative movement, she has been able to rediscover and reawaken her need to explore the imagination. Jill currently lives in West Groton, with her cat, J.C., and two guinea pigs, Duncan and Darwin.