EXECUTIVE BOARD

Richard Companik, President

Rich is Vice President of Strategic Development and a Realtor for Berkshire Hathaway Home Services New England, New York, and Hudson Valley Properties in New Canaan, Connecticut.

Prior to joining Berkshire Hathaway, Rich co-founded Great Bowery, an international artist management, content production and image licensing agency based in New York and London, where he served as CFO, COO and, ultimately, CEO.  Richard also served as CFO for Art + Commerce, Assistant Controller for the Associated Press, and Director of Management Audit for The Walt Disney Company.

Rich is a licensed real estate agent in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and has nearly three decades of business experience primarily focused on arts, entertainment, and media.

Rich serves as the President of the New Canaan Society for the Arts/Carriage Barn Arts Center, as Treasurer for the Town Players of New Canaan/Powerhouse Performing Arts Center, and serves on the board of GMHC in New York City.  Rich and his husband, along with their two children and two dogs, reside in New Canaan.

Ariane Triay, Vice President

Born in Paris and raised in Connecticut, a love of art is in Ariane’s genes. Her great great grandfather René deBraux was an impressionist painter and founding member of the Salon d’Automne in Paris with contemporaries like Pissarro and Signac. Her grandfather and aunt are/were also talented artists and these genes have presented themselves in her own life-long love of art. An avid collector of “anything I like”, her walls are always full and she is especially fond of sourcing attainable art and discovering less known artists.   

A graduate of Brooks School and Colby College, a non-linear career path took her from interior design to event planning and back to interiors (with a healthy pause to raise her kids). Ariane opened her interior design studio, La French Goose, in 2018 and her studio is located in downtown New Canaan. She has been an avid patron of the Carriage Barn for years and joined the Board in 2023. She is delighted to share her passion for art by helping to expand the Carriage Barn’s reach in our area.

Ariane also donates her time to Horizons at New Canaan Country School but when she has time off you’ll find her at home in “Stam-Canaan”, binge-watching a Netflix series, rearranging furniture, or sitting in front of the fire in her PJs, alongside her husband, their two college-aged kids (when they’re home), and their three Havanese dogs. 

Bo Marcus, Treasurer

Bo is originally from Dallas. After graduating from UT Austin, he moved to Washington DC and started Tortilla Coast, a popular Tex-Mex restaurant on Capitol Hill. A few years later, he opened Cafe Deluxe, an upscale bistro. After twenty plus years in the business, a private equity company persuaded him to sell his group of six restaurants. He has a passion for art, including creating most of the marketing materials for his company and teaching himself PhotoShop, as well as an avid sports photographer. Bo and his wife raised their four kids in New Canaan, where they have lived for 20+ years.

BJ Flagg, Secretary

BJ is President & Founder of Nurenu Brand Marketing, a full-service integrated brand marketing agency. With a keen focus on strategic vision, BJ provides expertise in strategic brand marketing solutions, brand design, web development, customization, and integration solutions. Along with these efforts she has extensive experience in advertising, sales support, and new generation design applications offering a visual extension of the brand and professional user experience. She believes in collaborating with clients to create the best solutions for each company’s marketing goals.

BJ began her career working in Vermont and saw Burton Snowboards launch, taught design at UVM, and worked in printing. Moving from Vermont to NYC area, her love for graphic design never wavered, placing her with many well-known agencies including BBDO, J. Walter Thompson, and Hill & Knowlton. She later co-founded Flagg Brothers, Inc. which was a corporate communications agency with IBM as their first and steady account. The potential of the internet was just beginning and it was a privilege to see it through the lens of so many large corporations. BJ’s passion for the power of digital marketing was always an area of focus for her. Her love for working with start-ups and companies at the point of scaling up is contagious – companies that were either ‘new’ or ‘renewing’ their brand marketing. Thus, Nurenu was born.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

George Bennington (ex-officio)

Thomas Berntsen

Tom graduated Rochester Institute of Technology in with a B.S. in professional photography. He immediately launched his career as a commercial photographer in N.Y.C., specializing in the decorative arts. He later shifted his creative efforts toward an inspiring mode of self-expression. Steadily working on expanding his oeuvre in novel ways using new and varied material, Tom is an active member of the local arts community.

Michael Carusi

Michael is an independent web developer and web host who has spent more than ten years growing his tech company to provide practical long-term solutions for small businesses and nonprofit organizations. After getting his start as a marketer working for nonprofits, Michael taught himself web development after developing an interest in computer science during his undergraduate days at American University, where he obtained a BA in English. After spending four years working as a conventional web developer, Michael identified an underserved target audience of small businesses and nonprofits that required specialized web development services without bells and whistles often associated with bigger projects. He now hosts more than 180 small business and nonprofit organizations as part of his value-add web hosting services platform, including the Carriage Barn.

Lisa Ferrante

Lisa is a Realtor with Houlihan Lawrence in New Canaan.  She is a New Canaan native, having grown up in town and attending all three levels of the public school system before she earned her degree in Art History at Ithaca College. in addition to her Real Estate credentials, she has over 20 years of sales and marketing experience working in the Consumer Packaged Goods industry consulting with Retailers to develop, package and market their portfolio of products. She is an active member of the Country Club of New Canaan and serves on the Membership Committee, Board Member on the New Canaan Beautification League, and Committee Member of Realtors supporting the New Canaan Library new building project.

Heather Jones

Heather J. Jones is a realist painter originally from New York City and now based in New
Canaan. She is an Elected Artist Member of the American Artists Professional League and has
recently exhibited with the Allied Artists of America and the Salmagundi Club.
Prior to moving to New Canaan, Jones lived in London, England where she was the Founding
Partner and Creative Director of an apparel company, which designed and manufactured
licensed infantswear for such notable international brands as The World of Eric Carle and Miffy.
The company’s clothing was sold globally, from independent boutiques to major department
stores, such as Nordstrom and TJ Maxx.
Jones holds a Bachelors of Business Administration from Fordham University and a Master’s
degree from New York University. When not painting, Jones enjoys cooking (and eating!),
nature walks and is a serial DIY-er often found in her garage refinishing furniture. She loves
living “in the woods” with her husband, two young children, mother and two Doodles.

Susan Kemp

Originally from the United Kingdom Susan is a 26 year resident of New Canaan. While holding a BS in Management Science from Manchester University and starting a career in banking it was the completion of an Associates Degree at the New York School of Interior Design shortly after arriving in the US that lead to a passion for the visual arts. Whether it be attending, studying or organizing Susan is always keen to engage with the arts both in the local community and further afield.

Kathy Megrue-Smith

Kathy is a third generation New Canaanite, who recently moved back to her hometown. She is a working artist sharing studio space at the Wilson Avenue Artists’ Loft in Norwalk.  A graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, Kathy worked in Manhattan as a graphic designer for Conde Nast Magazines and Richard Danne & Associates before starting her own firm, Studio Megrue. After a move to Dallas, she dedicated her time to her painting and printmaking, winning several awards and securing multiple solo exhibitions in Texas and New York.

Kathy is head of the RISD Alumni Club of Connecticut. She is the past co-leader of the RISD Alumni Club of NYC, a member of the Outreach Commission at St Peters Church in Morristown, NJ, a trustee of Gill St. Bernard’s School in Gladstone, NJ and co-head of the Arts Committee for Mountain Lakes Schools. Along with her husband Allen, Kathy has raised four children and survived multiple moves including several years in Toronto. She is happy to be back in New Canaan close to family and is very enthusiastic about supporting the Carriage Barn Arts Center. 

Butch Quick

ADVISORY BOARD

John Dunn, Serena Gillespie, Jeanne McDonagh, Art Potts, Sue Stone

To reach out to anyone listed here, please email [email protected] and your inquiry will be re-directed.