We see the world in different ways and strive to bring a multiplicity of perspectives to every project. WolfBrown is a cross-disciplinary team of full-time professional consultants with specialized skills and experience in program design, strategic planning, market research, evaluation, leadership development, pedagogy, and youth development. Read more about the current work of our team members, collaborators, fellows, Scholars-in-Residence, and interns.
Managing Principal
Alan Brown (he/him), Managing Principal of WolfBrown, is a leading researcher and management consultant in the arts and culture sector worldwide. His work focuses on understanding consumer demand >>
Associate Principal
At WolfBrown, John Carnwath works primarily on arts funding, evaluation, and cultural policy. Carnwath recently developed a long-term plan to build capacity for evaluation and impact assessment among >>
Scholar-in-Residence
Marco Emilio Bruscoli is WolfBrown’s Scholar-in-Residence, supporting new research activities and product development efforts for the opera, theatre, classical music, and presenting fields. His research has provided the >>
Consultant
Erin Gold (she/her) is an experienced researcher, writer, project manager, and event coordinator. Since joining WolfBrown’s Detroit office in 2018, she has worked on a variety of evaluation, >>
Senior Consultant, Creative Opportunities
Kathleen Hill (she/her) joined the Cambridge office of WolfBrown in 2021 to support clients in research, evaluation, and strategic planning efforts. She is a recent graduate from Carnegie >>
Principal and Director of Research for Youth & Families
Dr. Steven John Holochwost is Principal and Director of Research for Youth & Families at WolfBrown. He works with programs designed to improve the lives of vulnerable children and >>
Senior Research Analyst in Arts and Culture
Aleksandra (Aleks) Kazakova is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Quantitative Methods in Educational and Psychological Research at the Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY). After graduating >>
Director, Audience Research Program
Alan Kline (he/they) is the Director of Audience Research Programs at WolfBrown. He has dedicated his career at WolfBrown to helping arts and culture organizations better understand and build >>
Principal
Joseph (Joe) H. Kluger, a Principal of WolfBrown, has over 30 years of experience as an arts and culture executive and consultant in strategic planning, organizational collaboration, facilities >>
Research and Project Manager in Arts and Culture
Anusha Mohan (she/her) joined the Cambridge office of WolfBrown in 2023 to support the team by contributing to the formulation, implementation, and management of research projects. To learn >>
Director of Communications and Field Learning
Annick Odom (rhymes with unique, she/her) joined WolfBrown in 2022. She oversees the firm’s various communications channels and supports field learning efforts, building the knowledge and capacity of >>
Principal Researcher
Dr. Dennie Palmer Wolf is Principal Researcher at WolfBrown. She is one of the leading arts and human development researchers and evaluators in the United States. Wolf holds >>
Office Administrator and Bookkeeper
Claire Pavlik Purgus is the part-time Office Administrator and Bookkeeper at WolfBrown. She is a multi-skilled, creative professional with 20+ years of experience. Her work lies in administration, program >>
Principal
Surale Phillips (she/her) is a distinguished researcher who has guided countless organizations and agencies through research and consulting projects over the past 20 years. Her focus is applied >>
Principal
Dr. Thomas Wolf’s career spans over four decades and encompasses the fields of philanthropy, education, and the arts. He established the Cambridge office of WolfBrown in 1983. Prior >>
Salvador Acevedo, managing partner of Scansion, is a frequent collaborator with WolfBrown, most recently on a two-year portfolio evaluation of the California Arts Council’s grantmaking programs and processes. He has partnered with Alan Brown and John Carnwath on a range of other projects involving market research and planning work, including the CAC grant making evaluation.
Salvador comments, “I am deeply interested in the commonalities that connect people and communities to their cultural identities. I apply these insights to develop strategies that are beyond multicultural—instead, they are truly intercultural. For over 20 years, I’ve been a consultant, executive, and researcher, helping to link the social capital of organizations with business opportunities for growth. Being bilingual and bicultural gives me the ability to more easily recognize the common ground for successful innovation solutions. Nothing beats that moment when I'm interviewing a person and their eyes light up because they have a brilliant answer to one of my questions. That moment usually drives the innovation process later on.”
Denisa Ahmetaj graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology from Lehman College and will be pursuing graduate study in clinical psychology in the near future. She has been working with Dr. Holochwost since 2022. She worked as a research assistant on "Making Space in Science Instruction: Developing the SPACE-IT Program to Foster Students' Spatial Thinking Skills and Science Achievement" research project where she coded and managed a database with over a 2000 participants. She also worked on the "Summer Arts for Learning Academy" research project. She is currently working with Dr. Holochwost and the Brain and Early Experience Lab on a study of the associations between maternal psychopathy and early neurological development.
Kate Anderson has served a Project Manager for the Philadelphia Lullaby Project and assisted with the REACH Lab since 2018. She assists with project evaluations, reports, and study proposals. Additionally, she has expanded and streamlined program manuals, data collection manuals, and assessment measures. She administers child assessments and code data in this role as well.
Jane Culbert provides WolfBrown with expertise in comparative research and financial analysis. She earned her business acumen first-hand, managing the fiscal and related organizational strategies of three of Boston’s cultural institution. She served as Business Manager for Revels, Inc., General Manager for the Cambridge Arts Council, and Business Manager for the Handel and Haydn Society. She served as an integral member of WolfBrown's research, feasibility study, evaluation, and strategic planning teams since 1986, providing the financial analyses and planning that are central to their integrity. She has expertise in appraising clients’ internal budgeting and accounting systems, framework budgeting for short- and longer-term projections based on past performance, and strategic financial impact projections.
Catherine Reed is a mixed methods researcher who crafts compelling narratives and rigorous research programs. Her research expertise is in design & anthropology, fields that are ultimately about how humans are shaped by culture, ideas, history, technology, and more. Most recently, she was involved in WolfBrown's work with the Olney Culture Lab's Olney Embrace project.
John Shibley has 35 years of experience leading complex organizational improvement efforts in a variety of industries, sectors, and settings. His practice focuses on the intersection of strategy, innovation, and organizational learning. He is a frequent collaborator with WolfBrown on a variety of research and consulting assignments that require systems thinking and innovative facilitation techniques.
For six years John was a lead consultant in the Doris Duke Innovation Lab for the Performing Arts, a year-long intervention to incubate strategic artistic innovations and deliver them to the public. He helped develop the program during his tenure as EmcArts’ Director of Organizational Learning.
Before working with nonprofit organizations, John enjoyed a 15-year career leading strategic organizational learning and Total Quality efforts in the for-profit sector. As the Manager of Training and Development at L.L.Bean, he helped engineer that company’s system wide change to Total Quality Management. He was the lead consultant for an eight-year project in strategic product development at Harley Davidson through the Center for Organizational Learning at the Sloan School of Management/MIT, one of the longest running projects of its kind in the world.
John was a founder of the Society for Organizational Learning and has published articles on systems dynamics, collaboration, and consulting practice. He enjoys mentoring emerging organizational development consultants.
Emma Terrell is an arts education researcher, evaluator, practitioner, and performer. She holds a Bachelor of Music from Rice University and a Master of Education from Harvard University. Emma’s work focuses on developing evaluation strategies to support the organization’s goals of improving culturally-sustaining educational experiences for children through the arts and storytelling. Emma has worked with various educational organizations within the arts, philanthropic, and entertainment industries, such as Carnegie Hall, the William Penn Foundation, and Mattel. She is thrilled to collaborate with WolfBrown, as she is drawn to the organization’s multifaceted approach to helping arts and cultural organizations create effective, relevant educational programs. In her free time, Emma teaches at the Community Music Center of Boston and the Cambridge Youth Gamelan Ensemble.
Stanford Thompson, a principal of Goldsmith Strategies, is a leading voice in arts education with a focus on promoting cultural equity and leading change for nonprofit organizations across the sector. He has collaborated with WolfBrown on strategic planning, program evaluation, and new venture development with the support of national institutional funders for a decade.
Stanford founded and led the internationally recognized Play On Philly organization. He served as the Founding Board Chairman of El Sistema USA and the National Instrumentalist Mentoring and Advancement Network. In those roles, he has led complex strategic planning and organizational design projects resulting in new ventures that better serve constituents. Additionally, he has helped dozens of nonprofit arts organizations evaluate the effectiveness of programming and identify solutions to deepen and broaden their impact. He works closely with the boards and staff of arts and cultural organizations, educational institutions, institutional funders, and national service organizations.
Stanford holds a faculty position with the Global Leaders Program. He serves on the boards of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, BalletX, and The Presser Foundation. He holds degrees from The Curtis Institute of Music and New England Conservatory.
WolfBrown is committed to cultivating young leaders in the arts research and evaluation fields through internships, and fellowships. These voices have brought fresh, valuable perspective to different aspects of our work, including the design and implementation of our research.
Our work also involves the development of transparent processes that foster youth voice and participation through evidence gathering. We incorporate youth voices into the very design and implementation of our research, and we welcome inquiries from interested youth.
Tess Kelley joins the Boston WolfBrown team as a Fellow for Youth Engagement. A graduate of Harvard College, she is a current master’s student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is passionate about improving students’ access to transformative educational opportunities, both inside and outside the traditional classroom space. At WolfBrown, she is excited to draw upon her teaching and curriculum development experience to provide insights for WolfBrown clients. When not conducting interviews or reading about English Language Arts pedagogy, she loves trying new restaurants in the Boston area and talking about her four dachshunds.
Hallie Lederer, WolfBrown’s Fellow in Visual Communications, is a graphic artist, researcher and educator with her master’s degree in Art Education. She has been active in field of graphic arts for more than ten years with a focus on innovative branding. She has worked with WolfBrown to create the “Reinventing Strong Practices” website for The William Penn Foundation and the “BAI Compendium of Best Practices” website for Bloomberg Philanthropies. She has also worked as a researcher for WolfBrown, designing and leading a research project for Open House New York to inform their future programming with a focus on inclusivity and belonging for a younger audience. Hallie is pursuing a future in cutting-edge arts programming with a goal of creating positive social impact.
Haeun Moon is a student fellow. She conducts primary and secondary research in partnership with Carnegie Hall and the National Endowment for the Arts, studying the impact of the National Youth Orchestra programs.
We always welcome inquiries from potential collaborators. Please and one of our consultants will respond.
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