Commission member biographies

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Current Commission Members

There are eleven, appointed Commissioners: five appointed by the Sacramento City Council, five appointed by the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, and one appointed jointly by the mayors of Folsom, Isleton, and Galt.

Charles Barr
Appointed to the Arts Commission by the County of Sacramento in 2005, Charles brings a vast amount of business as well as arts experience to the Commission. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Texas A&M University. He served as Executive Vice President of Chrysler Corporation as well as other corporate executive positions. He has served as Chair or Board member on the Fair Oaks Theater Festival, the Arthritis Foundation of Northern California, Port Arthur Chamber of Commerce, New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, and many more. He also previously served on the Arts and Education Committee of the Commission.

Daniel Gorfain
Appointed to the Arts Commission by the County of Sacramento in 2006, Dan brings varied experiences to the Commission. Dan is a retired Civil Engineer and environmental program manager for the State of California. He served as Fund-Raising Chair and President of the Sacramento Youth Symphony and is the current President of the SYS Foundation. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Sacramento Symphony Association and has been a supporter of the arts in Sacramento for nearly three decades. Mr. Gorfain is the immediate past Chair of the Arts Commission.

Heather Hutcheson
Appointed to the Arts Commission in 2008 by the City of Sacramento, Heather is an Assistant Professor of English at Cosumnes River College (CRC). At CRC, Heather manages the annual production of the campus literary journal, the Cosumnes River Journal, co-hosts a literary reading series, and organizes an annual senior and student memoir conference, Our Life Stories, each April. Heather spends the majority of her time outside of the classroom working to promote the arts in Sacramento;she is an active member of the Sacramento Poetry Center, the events committee of California Lectures, the arts and advisory committees of the South Sacramento Coalition for Future Leaders, the advisory committee for the Tahoe/Colonial Collaborative, Communities and Physicians Together, and numerous community organizations. She teaches creative writing workshops for families, and, for nine years, she volunteered as the Managing Editor of Poetry Now, a monthly poetry publication. A former journalist for The Desert Sentinel and The Atascadero News - and contributor to numerous other publications - Heather is an award-winning writer who has been published nationally. 

Carlin Naify, (Chair)
Appointed to the Arts Commission by the City of Sacramento in 2008, Carlin Naify describes herself as a community volunteer. For many years she was active in the Sacramento City Unified School District and was recognized as a district champion. During the last few years she has served as President of the National Charity League, the Sacramento Public Library Foundation and the Crocker Art Museum Docent Council. She is currently a member of the Crocker Art Museum Board of Directors and became a Commissioner on the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission in September 2008. Carlin is also the owner of Beers Books, a 70-year old used books bookstore in downtown Sacramento. She has been very lucky to follow her passions for art and books as a business owner and volunteer in the city of Sacramento.

John Nicolaus
Appointed to the Arts Commission by the County of Sacramento in 2008. A Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, John seeks to incorporate art into many of the public and private projects he designs throughout California. John most recently served as chair of the former Art in Public Places Committee, and has been active in many local and national civic and environmental organizations. John is a Principal at The HLA Group, a landscape architecture firm with offices in Sacramento and Beijing.

Allison Joe
Appointed to the Arts Commission by the City of Sacramento in 2009, Allison brings a diverse background to the Commission. A long-time Sacramento resident, Allison is a land use planning and economic consultant specializing in community and economic development. Allison has served as an Executive Fellow with the California Arts Council, working to identify the needs of local arts organizations in the State Local Partnership Program, as well as worked for other State agencies and departments involved in local small business and economic development strategies. Her consulting experience includes community visioning exercises for public open space, community centers, civic amentities, and commercial corridors, and her work often addresses the arts as economic engines within communities, as well as evaluates the economic and fiscal challenges to communities who are looking to support related civic amenities. She also is involved locally in the development of young professional arts audiences. She is active in the Urban Land Institute, American Planning Association, and Americans for the Arts.

Cheryl Holben
Cheryl Holben was appointed by the City in 2009. Cheryl Holben has owned her own interior design business for 15 years, specializing in residential interiors. Recent projects have been completed in Sun Valley, Idaho, San Francisco, the Napa Valley and the greater Sacramento area. Prior to that, she was Legislative Director to U.S. Senator Thad Cochran. Cheryl has served on the board of the Center for Contemporary Arts, Sacramento for 5 years; the past two as president. She is active in other community organizations including the Junior League of Sacramento, National Charity League, and Sacred Heart Church.

Sid Heberger
Sid Heberger was appointed to the Arts Commission by the City of Sacramento in 2009. She grew up in Sutter Creek, California. Regular visits with her mother to the movies and local history museums instilled in her a passion for cinema and historic architecture. In 1983 Sid moved to Sacramento to attend college and graduated from Sacramento City College with an Associate of Arts Degree in Languages and Literature. In 1986 she became involved in the re-opening of the historic Crest Theatre in Downtown Sacramento. Her involvement with the theatre blossomed into a management position in 1988 and she is now CEO of CSLM Inc., the corporation which operates the Crest. During her career at the Crest, Sid has helped to produce a number of film events including the Sacramento Jewish Film Festival, now in it's 13th year, The Trash Film Festival, a popular midnight movie series, The Sing Along Sound of Music and the 50th Anniversary presentations of 'Casablanca', 'Gone With the Wind', 'Wuthering Heights' and 'The Wizard of Oz'. She was involved in the 1991 and 2009 restorations of the theatres' 100 foot neon marquee, the 1995 restoration of the theatre interior, including personally assisting in the renovation of the theatre's ornate gilded ceiling, color selection, historic tile matching and concessions design and the 1997 addition of two art cinemas adjacent to the historic theatre. Sid serves as a member at large on the Board of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership and is a member and co-producer of the local comedy troupe 'I Can't Believe It's Not Comedy'. She lives in Land Park with her husband Bill and their son Nicolas.

Cecily Hastings
Cecily Hastings is the publisher of Inside Publications which she founded in 1996. Each month they publish and direct-mail more than 54,000 copies of Inside East Sacramento, Inside The City and Inside Arden to Sacramento older, established neighborhoods. All publications feature the work of local artists on the covers.

She also co-founded the McKinley East Sac Neighborhood Association and the East Sacramento Chamber of Commerce, and has served for more than a decade on each board. She is also the founder and president of the Friends of East Sacramento, a nonprofit established to raise funds for neighborhood parks, safety and schools with the annual East Sacramento Home Remodeling Tour that she co-chairs. Cecily is a former commercial interior designer and graduated from the University of Michigan with a BFA.

Cyril Shah
Mr. Shah was appointed to the Arts Commission in 2011. Cyril A. Shah is Managing Director of The Shah Group, based in Sacramento, California. The Shah Group is dedicated to comprehensive wealth management, and Cyril provides financial planning and portfolio management services to individuals, companies, government entities and other institutions. Cyril was named a 2011 Premier Advisor by the National Association of Board-Certified Advisory Practices (NABCAP). His prudent pension fund management has been recognized in Pensions & Investments – the international newspaper of money management – and the Sacramento Bee. The Sacramento Business Journal recently named Cyril to it’s 40 under 40 list of business leaders from the four-county region. Cyril is a Commissioner and past Chairman of the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Commission. He was appointed by Mayor Heather Fargo in 2005 and reappointed by Mayor Kevin Johnson in 2010. In this capacity, he affects policy related to redevelopment, affordable housing, public housing and community development in the City and County of Sacramento. After graduating from U.C. Berkeley, Cyril returned to his hometown and began to fulfill his personal commitment to serving the community. He is past President of the East Sacramento Improvement Association (ESIA) - Sacramento’s oldest and largest volunteer neighborhood association, and a Senior Fellow at the American Leadership Forum. Cyril is a past board member of Sacramento Heritage, Inc and Community Services Planning Council. He has also completed the City Management Academy and City Planning Academy. Cyril’s interests are broad and varied. They include art, film, sports, and local food. He is an avid wine collector and he enjoys thoroughbred horse racing. Cyril and his wife Stephenie were married at the Crocker Art Museum. They reside in East Sacramento with their two children, Juliet and Palmer.