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 is managing partner of Scansion. His most recent collaboration with WolfBrown was 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 is a Research Associate at WolfBrown. Currently, Denisa is working with Dr. Steven Holochwost and the Brain and Early Experience Lab on a study examining the associations between maternal psychopathy and early neurological development. She holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from Lehman College and plans to pursue graduate studies in clinical psychology in the near future. Since 2022, she has been collaborating with Dr. Holochwost. As a research assistant, she contributed to the "Making Space in Science Instruction: Developing the SPACE-IT Program to Foster Students' Spatial Thinking Skills and Science Achievement" project, where she coded and managed a database of over 2,000 participants. She also participated in the "Summer Arts for Learning Academy" research project.
Kate Anderson is a Research Associate with WolfBrown. She 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. Kate administers child assessments and code data in this role as well.
Jane Culbert is an Associated Consultant with WolfBrown. Through her work, she provides 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.
Haeun Moon (she/her) is a Research Associate at WolfBrown, where she collaborates with clients like Bloomberg Philanthropies and the New England Conservatory. She began at WolfBrown as a research intern, working with Carnegie Hall and the National Endowment for the Arts to assess the impact of the National Youth Orchestra programs.
A recent graduate of Harvard College, Haeun studied Social Studies and Philosophy. Her senior thesis explored South Korean citizens' perspectives on national identity, combining data analysis with qualitative interviews. She has also researched climate change legislation at Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.
Haeun is a founder and board member of Through the Staff, a nonprofit providing free virtual music lessons to young musicians. An accomplished violinist, she has performed on prestigious stages worldwide, including Royal Albert Hall and the Concertgebouw.
Catherine Reed is an Associated Consultant with WolfBrown. She 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 organizational improvement efforts across various industries. His work focuses on strategy, innovation, and organizational learning. He frequently collaborates with WolfBrown on research and consulting projects, using systems thinking and innovative facilitation.
John was a lead consultant in the Doris Duke Innovation Lab for the Performing Arts, supporting strategic artistic innovations as EmcArts’ Director of Organizational Learning. Before his nonprofit work, he spent 15 years leading strategic learning and Total Quality efforts in the for-profit sector, including helping L.L.Bean implement Total Quality Management. He also led an eight-year strategic product development project at Harley Davidson through MIT’s Sloan School of Management.
John co-founded the Society for Organizational Learning and has published articles on systems dynamics and collaboration. He enjoys mentoring emerging consultants in organizational development.
Stanford Thompson is an Associated Consultant with WolfBrown, where for a decade, he has collaborated on strategic planning, program evaluation, and new ventures supported by national funders. Stanford is a leader in arts education, promoting cultural equity and driving change in nonprofit organizations.
As founder of Play On Philly and former Board Chairman of El Sistema USA and the National Instrumentalist Mentoring and Advancement Network, Stanford has led major strategic planning projects that foster impactful new ventures. He has helped numerous arts organizations evaluate and enhance their programming to better serve communities.
As a principal at Goldsmith Strategies, Stanford works closely with arts organizations, educational institutions, and national service organizations. He is a faculty member with the Global Leaders Program and 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.
Marc Skehan, a Research Fellow at WolfBrown, is working on research related to the long-term impacts of music education on children's socio-emotional, cognitive, and academic development. He started to collaborate with WolfBrown after meeting Dr. Steven Holochwost while taking psychology courses from CUNY Lehman College. In charge of cleaning and coding over 4 years of longitudinal data, Marc is assuring the accuracy of diverse datasets collected from multiple project sites. Marc is passionate about this research, as he hopes it will help the field gain a deeper understanding of executive functioning and socio-emotional outcomes in children, perhaps suggesting music education can have a transformative power in addressing socio-economic challenges. He comes to us after having spent 5 years working as a Perfusionist at Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY, and he’s looking forward to continuing his career in psychological research. In addition to his work with WolfBrown, he is interning at St. Vincent’s Hospital for Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Services in their Partial Hospital services, Westchester, NY.
We always welcome inquiries from potential collaborators. Please and one of our consultants will respond.
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