Full Circle People
Core ARTIST Leadership GROUP
Rick Shiomi (Co-artistic director)
Martha B. Johnson (Co-artistic director)
Lara Trujillo (Core Artistic Group member)
Stephanie Lein Walseth (Core Artistic Group member)
Ricardo Beaird (2020 - 21 Resident Core Artist)
General Manager
Quinci Bachman
Full Circle Board of Directors
Michael Katz - President
Christina Ogata – Vice-President
Martha B. Johnson - Secretary
Ross Peterson – Treasurer
Rick Shiomi
Moses Kariuki Ehlers
Gordon Nakagawa
Martha J. Johnson
Full Circle Honorary Advisory Council
David Hwang
Cochise Anderson
Rose Chu
Don Eitel
Ricardo Vazquez
Jennifer Weir
Harry Waters, Jr.
Full Circle Board of Directors
Michael Katz | Board President
Michael Katz is a Minneapolis attorney with thirty years’ experience in construction and corporate law. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and William Mitchell College of Law. He began his career in construction litigation, then moved to in-house practice, first with S.J. Groves & Sons Company, then with Ellerbe Becket. He is a life-long student of English and French literature, English drama and history. He is currently in private practice in downtown Minneapolis, representing clients in the design and construction industry.
Christina Ogata | Vice-President
Christina Ogata had a 30-year career as a labor attorney, and continues her work as a human relations activist, amateur musician and community participant. Christina puts some of these values and experience to work by being active in and giving to nonprofit arts organizations. She is a past-president and board member of COMPAS and a 30-year member of the St. Paul Civic Symphony, a group that just celebrated its 70th anniversary and is the oldest community orchestra in the Twin Cities area. Christina retired as General Counsel for Education Minnesota, a union that represents Minnesota’s public school teachers and other school district employees as well as the faculty of Minnesota’s two-year community and technical colleges. She is a graduate of Macalester College and the University of Minnesota Law School. She loves dancing merengue and salsa and attending arts performances of all kinds. She has a strong affinity for and experience with the Colombian-American and Japanese-American communities and cultures.
Ross Peterson | Board Treasurer
Ross Peterson is President and CEO of Multiventure Properties, Inc., a local Condominium and Townhome Association Management Company that he founded over 30 years ago. Ross was first introduced to Rick and Martha several years ago, through Mu Performing Arts. His appreciation and respect for their individual talents made his decision to accept a position on the Full Circle Theater Board an easy one. During his career, Ross has served in various capacities on multiple real estate related boards and committees. He has also worked with hundreds of Association Boards of Directors, providing daily management and accounting services. Ross will be responsible for the financial oversight of the project.
Martha B. Johnson | Secretary
Martha B. Johnson brings to Full Circle many years of administrative experience both from her serving as Chair of the Theater Arts Department at Augsburg University for several years and from her experience as Co-Artistic Director of 21st Street Players. In addition she served on the board of 21st Street Players for five years, and on the board of Mu Performing Arts for the first five years of its existence.
Greg Anderson | Director
In 2014, Greg Anderson enthusiastically accepted the invitation of Full Circle’s founders' Rick Shiomi and Martha Johnson's to join the the company’s first board of directors. Greg's association with Rick and Martha goes back to the early days of Mu Performing Arts when he served as a board member for three terms and as Treasurer for many years. Greg has also served as Board Chair and Treasurer of several non-profit organizations including the American Swedish Institute and the Swedish Council of America. Greg retired as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operations Officer of Ellerbe Becket upon the sale of the company in 2009. Since then he has been an independent financial consultant. Greg has held senior leadership positions at Banta Corporation, Midcontinent Communications, and B. Dalton Booksellers and has served on several corporate boards. Greg began his career as a CPA with the international accounting firm of Grant Thornton. Greg enjoys theater and building start-up organizations, making him a great fit for the Board of Directors of Full Circle Theater Company.
Rick Shiomi | Director
Rick Shiomi served on the board of Mu Performing Arts for twenty-one years, served on the board of CAATA (The Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists) from 2006 to 2014, and served on the board of MRAC for several years. He served on the board of The MN Theater Alliance for four years.
Moses Kariuki Ehlers | Director
Moses Kariuki Ehlers is the Marketing Manager at Fish and Richardson PC, where his knowledge of digital marketing’s power is helping attorneys maximize their online professional credibility, and the law firm define and achieve new brand goals. His background and experience across many digital marketing platforms enables him to keep everyone on the same path and heading toward identifiable marketing goals and objectives. He brings a number of coaching and leadership qualities to his position. He is able to align himself with an organization’s vision, and work with individuals who have many different kinds of personalities. He can also serve as a team leader in a variety of situations, using his excellent time management skills to run teams with confidence. As a leader, he will take ownership of projects, and make decisions to get them done. These skills have allowed him to deliver success across a wide variety of industries including law, broadcast TV, human capital management, education and entertainment. His fascination with digital marketing is more than a 9-5 one. In his spare time, he is actively participating in the trending topics throughout various platforms.
Gordon Nakagawa | Director
Gordon Nakagawa is Emeritus Professor of Communication Studies and Asian American Studies at California State University, Northridge (CSUN). His scholarship has examined Japanese American World War II incarceration narratives and communication, power, and equity in marginalized communities. He is a founding faculty member of the Asian American Studies Department at CSUN and the founding chair of the Asian Pacific American Communication Studies Division in the National Communication Association. In the 1980s, he was an activist with the National Coalition for Redress/Reparations, which advocated for a formal apology and reparations from the federal government for 120,000 Japanese Americans who were incarcerated in U.S. concentration camps during World War II. He has also served as the Director of Equity and Diversity at CSUN and as the first Director of Diversity Integration at Hamline University. He is currently an organizational consultant on Communication, Equity, and Diversity. Most recently, he was Vice President for Diversity Integration at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts. He is a member of the Twin Cities chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League.
Martha J. Johnson | Director
Dr. Martha J. Johnson is the Assistant Dean for Learning Abroad at the University of Minnesota. She has worked in international education since 1991 for organizations and institutions in the US, Ireland, Australia, and the United Kingdom. She holds a BA with a double major in English literature and theatre arts from St Mary’s University of Minnesota, an MA in English literature from the University of St Thomas, and a PhD in American Studies with an emphasis in drama and the performance of gender, race, and cultural identity from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. Her dissertation focused on the works of playwright David Henry Hwang and she is a member of board of the David Henry Hwang Society. She has served in leadership positions for multiple educational programs, associations, and non-profit organizations.