Barb Adams — President & Executive Committee Chair

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 headed 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. 

Nate Kopp — Vice President, Secretary & Nominations Committee Chair

Nate is Special Counsel with the law firm of Coughlin & Gerhart, LLP.  He grew up in the Ithaca area and attended Cornell University before heading west. He attended law school at Indiana University and then practiced law in Chicago, Illinois and Salt Lake City, Utah, for many years. Nate returned to Ithaca in 2021 with his family, to rejoin the growing community and raise his kids as Ithacans. He strongly believes that a community thrives when it is educated and informed, and that local not-for-profit news publications like The Ithaca Voice are essential partners in that effort.

Brett Bossard — Interim Treasurer & Development Committee Chair

Brett Bossard is Executive Director of Alumni and Family Engagement at Ithaca College. He formerly served as Executive Director of Cinemapolis, where he successfully navigated the COVID closure and post-pandemic pivots to operations. Bossard has spent more than two decades in arts administration, with leadership positions at the Community Arts Partnership of Tompkins County, the Hangar Theatre, and the Cayuga Museum of History and Art. He has worked extensively in fostering collaborative community development, volunteering for the NYS Council on the Arts, the NYS Alliance for Arts Education, and currently as the Chair of the Strategic Tourism Planning Board of Tompkins County. Brett earned a B.S. in Communications at Ithaca College and an M.A. in Popular Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University.

J.R. Clairborne — Nominations Committee

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.  

Cassi Norgaisse

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.