Board of Directors

Doug Affinito is a business leader, Information Technology Specialist, and artist.  Graduating from Brandeis University with a concentration in Theatre Arts and Dartmouth College with a masters in Management Information Systems, he enjoyed a 30-year career as a Corporate Information Technology leader.  

Upon retirement in 2013 he began a ‘second career’ in artistic pursuits including theatrical directing and set design, photography and videography, furniture and musical instrument building, and vocal and instrument musical performance.  He has also served on numerous boards of directors including the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Cantus, Minnetonka Choral Society, Magnum Chorum, Mount Calvary Academy of Music, Brandeis University Alumni Board and Alewerks Brewery.

Allison Anfinson is a strategist who pairs clarity with creativity. Her first opera, Aida at the Cairo Opera House (Cairo, Egypt), sparked a love of culture and travel that continues to shape her perspective. She believes that impact comes from strategy rooted in curiosity, connection and joy. 

Angeline Carlson, PhD, RPh, has been a healthcare business executive in the Twin Cities for over 30 years. She is a founding principal of Data Intelligence Consultants, LLC, a health economics and outcomes research consulting group located in Eden Prairie, MN, where she leads multidisciplinary research teams studying care delivery and patient experiences. She is also an Adjunct Professor in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Minnesota. 

Prior to her work at Data IQ, Dr. Carlson served as a senior research scientist at the former Diversified Pharmaceutical Services and at United Health Group working with large administrative databases to provide data support for disease management, formulary decisions and health plan policy initiatives. She is a pharmacist with over 40 years of experience in community pharmacy, managed care and pharmacy benefit management and an active member of the public health community in Minnesota and has been recognized for her efforts with the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Public Health Achievement Award in 2013 and the Albert Justus Chesley Award in 2020 from the Minnesota Public Health Association.

Penny Gottier Fena is a seasoned nonprofit executive. She held senior leadership positions for the American Lung Association for over thirty years. At the American Lung Association, Penny was involved in landmark legislative campaigns in the fight against big tobacco, developed nationwide children’s asthma programs and provided oversight to a dynamic team of professional leading lung health, clean indoor and outdoor air in the Upper Midwest and Nation. She is now lending her expertise to Skylark in nonprofit management and fundraising development. Penny Fena has always been passionate about the performing arts and is thrilled to be involved with such a dynamic organization.

Chamika Hawkins-Taylor, PhD, is a social scientist and assistant professor at Xavier University of Louisiana.  She is an alumnus of the University of Minnesota (PhD), the University of Southern California (Master) and the University of California-Davis (Bachelor). She is a passionate leader in the health equity space to improve the health and wellness of people who are disenfranchised and underserved. 

She has loved opera and the theater since she was a child and remembers, fondly, attending the popular “Nutcracker” production for the first time with her mother in her hometown of Shreveport, LA. Dr. Hawkins-Taylor was raised in a musical household where her family played instruments and sang in choirs. Music and theater are in her blood; piano and singing lessons were a constant for many years. She focused on piano and continued performing in college with the UC Davis Gospel Choir. Even as a post-graduate student, she found herself on a study abroad experience in Ghana, West Africa focused on music and art education as a center-piece for the country’s emerging economy.

Ann Morelli Spencer fell in love with opera when a college friend gave her Madame Butterfly excerpts for Christmas and has never looked back! A graduate of Oberlin College and Harvard Law School, she recently retired after a varied career that ranged from Indian law to commercial real estate. In addition to her service on the Skylark Board, she is a past member of the Minnesota Citizens for the Arts (MCA) and Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Boards (MRAC), for both of which she served as Chair.

Olivia Tanaka-Kekai studied linguistics and music at Tulane University of Louisiana, and during her time there was exposed to opera as both a field of study and form of entertainment. Her original foray into the medium was with Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, which cemented her appreciation for the complexities of operatic composition. However, she is a passionate enjoyer of all music, with experience ranging from her time as an on-air DJ and fundraising coordinator for WTUL 91.5 to being the concert chair for Tulane University Campus Programming.