New Faces at Nakashima Foundation
Our Foundation is growing! In 2024, we added three new members to our Board of Advisors and hired a full-time staff member.
David Verdon and Deirdre Miller are joining our Advisory Board and bringing with them a rich background in nonprofit work and a deep passion for fine art, furniture, and restoration.
David is currently Senior Vice President and Group Creative Director at an oncology marketing firm. His passion for fine furniture motivated him to dabble in making wood furniture himself, mostly adapting 17th/18th century American simple designs. David has also performed multiple restorations on numerous rooms in the couple’s historic homes. David is an avid music fan who has turned that love into writing and performing music. He has served on the Chairman’s Council of the Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia for over five years.
Deirdre is currently the Executive Director, Head of Learning and Development at Otsuka America Pharmaceuticals. Her diverse past has given her rich experience that includes working in disciplines such as journalism, marketing, psychology, learning/development, clinical trial development, instructional design, organizational development, and culture change. Her commitment to the community is demonstrated through her volunteer work and positions held in community mental health in the UK and US along with her support for many non-profit organizations such as the Main Line Art Center and as a board member of the Center for Emerging Visual Artists.
We are also excited to welcome Kevin Wilkes to our Board of Advisors. While growing up on the Upper West Side in New York, he developed an enthusiasm for social activism and intellectual debate, and a passion for theater. Kevin worked to restore and renovate theaters in addition to pursing theater recreationally. After attending Princeton for his undergraduate degree, he founded the Princeton Design Guild in 1985, a design/build practice with a craft-based philosophy. Kevin obtained his Master of Architecture from Yale University in 1991, and has received numerous awards for his design projects, was a full-time special lecturer at New Jersey Institute of Technology, and has served as an inspector for Princeton Township.
Lauren Griffin is our newest staff member at the Foundation, joining us as Program Coordinator and Assistant Archivist. A native of West Virginia, Lauren studied History and Japanese language during her undergraduate career and spent a year abroad at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. She moved to Philadelphia to pursue a Masters Degree in Public History at Temple University and previously worked in Philadelphia at Shofuso, a traditional Japanese House designed by George Nakashima’s colleague, Junzo Yoshimura. Lauren spends her time processing and facilitating research in the archives, welcoming guests on guided tours, and organizing programs and events.
