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Lori Madden

BRIMS Executive Director

Lori has been providing Irish dance instruction in Charlottesville and central Virginia since 2001 and has been executive director of BRIMS since 2003.  Lori, along with her children Meg, Patrick & Marina, is a founding member of BRIMS and has been a trip leader on all four of the BRIMS Ireland Study Trips. 

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Sherry Olander

Board Chair

Sherry plays flute and bodhrán. She joined BRIMS several years ago and owes much of her Irish music-playing ability to the classes, teachers, and friends that are part of this community. Outside of BRIMS, Sherry is a licensed Dynamic Emotional Integration® Trainer & Consultant and also a licensed Massage Therapist. Joining the BRIMS board was the first foray for Sherry into the nonprofit governance world and she's still learning as she goes.

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John Blandin

Board Co-Treasurer

John is a lifelong music learner and has been a member of BRIMS "family" since shortly after moving to the Charlottesville area (2009).   He plays (and teaches) DADGAD guitar, octave mandolin, and most recently began learning to play tenor banjo and mandolin.  He has served on the BRIMS board since 2015

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Carrie Brubaker

Board Co-Treasurer

Carrie began Irish dancing in 1995 with the O’Neill-James School in Falls Church, VA, there she studied under Laureen O’Neill-James and assisted with the beginning adult classes. In 2002 she joined the Culkin School which has a large and active adult dance group. At the Culkin School she studied with Sean Culkin, Nicki Sack and Caterina Earle. While dancing with the Culkin School she competed as a member of the National Championship adult ladies ceili team.  Carrie is an accountant with the firm Hantzmon Wiebel LLC.

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Polly Clark

Board Member

Polly joined the BRIMS family when her youngest daughter started Scoil in first grade right after her family moved to Charlottesville from the Chicago area. Her daughter jumped right in and loves playing the Tin Whistle and Irish flute, as well as dancing both hard and soft shoe.

 

Polly has a background as a lawyer representing non-profit organizations.

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Leslie Hellerman

Board Member

Leslie has a love of Irish music, dance, and culture as a result of her involvement with BRIMS where her daughter, Chloe, has taken dance, Irish flute, and taught dance classes for more than 10 years.

 

Leslie lives on a family farm in Afton, VA, and has a professional background in education, public relations, fund raising, volunteer management, and event planning.

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Sheri McGuire

Board Member

Sheri plays Irish Flute, and has been a student of BRIMS since 2018.  She has a love of Irish music and culture and has traveled to Ireland many times with family as well as in 2018 with BRIMS.  Sheri lives in Farmville, VA, where she is Longwood University’s Associate VP of Community and Economic Development and Director of Longwood’s Small Business Development Center program.  In these roles, she enjoys connecting people, projects and resources to make a positive impact on her community and region.

Admin & Board

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