We can’t do it alone. Meet our strong, tested, committed board of directors.
Barbara Adams, Board President
Barbara is an associate professor in the Department of Writing at Ithaca College, a program she helped to co-found in the 1970s. Her degrees are in English literature: a B.A. from the University of Southern California and an M.A. from Yale University. As a teacher, Barbara specializes in feature journalism, arts criticism, and food and travel writing. She developed and heads an extensive internship program to provide professional experience for IC writing students. As a writer, for more than four decades Barbara has been a theater critic, book reviewer, and arts journalist for Ithaca area publications. Her passions include theater and art, languages, gardening, and photography. She’s also a founding member of Ithaca City of Asylum and former board chair. Barbara chairs the Executive Committee for The Ithaca Voice.
Raza Ahmad Rumi, Board Member
Raza is a policy analyst, journalist, and author. He is Director, Park Center for Independent Media and teaches in the journalism department. He is also Visiting Faculty at Cornell Institute for Public Affairs. During 2015-2017, Raza was a scholar in residence at IC and taught courses in journalism and writing departments as well as at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study, New York University. Raza has been a fellow at the New America Foundation, United States Institute of Peace and the National Endowment for Democracy. He is a member of think tank at Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, Georgetown University; and a nonresident fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. Raza was the editor of Daily Times, The Friday Times and a TV broadcaster in Pakistan before he moved to the United States in 2014. Raza is the author of Delhi by Heart: Impressions of a Pakistani Traveller, The Fractious Path: Pakistan’s Democratic Transition and Identity and Faith and Conflict. His most recent book Being Pakistani: Society Culture and the Arts was published in June 2018 by Harper Collins, India. He co-edited a volume of essays entitled Rethinking Pakistan that was published by Anthem Press in September 2020.
Ann-Marie Adams, Board Member
Ann-Marie has over two decades of experience in corporate communications, social networking, non-profit leadership, and advocacy. She currently teaches journalism law and corporate communications in the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College. She believes literacy (traditional and digital) is a critical component to creating opportunity, both socially and economically and that aim has consistently linked her professional and personal endeavors across time. She has lived in and around the Ithaca area to teach, write, or porch sit since 1993. Ann-Marie chairs the Personnel Committee for The Ithaca Voice.
Michael Perehinec, Board Secretary
Michael is a partner in the firm of Coughlin & Gerhart, LLP, working out of the firm’s Cortland and Ithaca branches. He moved to the area in 2011 and resides in Freeville with his partner and their three dogs, Nemo, Tinkerbell, and Roo. He volunteers his time working with the Tompkins-Cortland Special Olympics program as a golf coach and board member. He recently became a board member of the United Way of Tompkins County. Michael completed his undergraduate studies at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA and obtained his law degree, With Distinction, from Ohio Northern University in 2011. Michael enjoys working with The Ithaca Voice because they provide extensive and in-depth coverage of the issues affecting Tompkins County residents on a daily basis.
Cassi Norgaisse, Board Treasurer (Interim)
Cassi has spent the last 10 years driving strategic communications, content production, and event planning in the marketing and academic sectors. She currently oversees communications for the Cornell Law Library as part of her role as Library Administrative Manager and has previously crafted brand messaging for prominent organizations within the Ithaca community as the Account and Brand Manager for Communique Design & Marketing. Cassi is very excited for this incredible opportunity to support a non-profit local news organization as established and well-regarded as The Ithaca Voice.
J.R. Clairborne, Board Member
J.R. is the Founding Director at Tompkins County Department of Veterans Services. He is a former alderperson of Ithaca’s Second Ward. He has also worked within a news industry as an editor and reporter. J.R. chairs the News & Ethics Committee for The Ithaca Voice.