Board of Directors

Your Holly Board of Directors

Ivana Pelnar-Zaiko-Board Chairman
Ivana retired from a career as non-profit executive that included positions as vice president of leading private colleges and a major international consulting company. She also had advised universities and arts non-profits in Germany, Denmark, Bulgaria, and the country of Georgia with a lecture and workshop program in fundraising and non-profit management through the US Department of State. In Dahlonega, Ivana is active as volunteer, part-time consultant, and board officer with local non-profits.
Ivana’s volunteer activities include the Holly, where she served on the Board of Directors and was instrumental in obtaining major grants for the 2014-2015 renovations of the historic building.

Nathan Gerrells-Vice Chairman

Nathan Gerrells is proud to serve as the Artistic Director of the Holly Theatre. Previously he served on the Holly Theater Board of Directors from 2013 to 2016, where he was instrumental in building the Holly Performance Academy's programs and directed the often sold out summer camp series including The Lion King Jr., Wizard of Oz, and Beauty and the Beast Jr. He also directed the Holly Mainstage production of White Christmas. Nathan was one of the first recipients of the "Freddie Gershon" award for excellence in children's theater directing at the 2007 Junior Theater Festival held each year in Atlanta.

By day, Nathan is the Assistant Principal at Long Branch Elementary School. He has 11 years of experience in Education including winning Lumpkin County Teacher of the Year in 2013. He is proud to call the Holly his second home; he has worked in just about every aspect of the theater since high school. This is a special place, and he wants to see us continue to expand our programming and build upon the base of community support.

Jim Bailey-Treasurer

Jim Bailey is a native of Fannin County, Georgia along with his wife, Pat. He retired as an executive in the aerospace industry after 40 years of service. Subsequently, he and Pat were able to once again return to the mountains of North Georgia. Jim has a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering and holds a Masters Degree of Business Administration in Finance. He has had the good fortune to perform in the Holly Theatre productions of You Can’t Take It With You, Til’ Death Do Us Part, and Christmas Belles. He is excited to have this opportunity to serve the community by advocating and supporting the education and entertainment mission of the Holly Theatre.

Drew Ferguson—Secretary

Drew Ferguson first became involved at the Holly Theater around 1994 and served as a volunteer in several capacities both on- and off-stage through dozens of performances, children's shows and summer camps over the ensuing decade. Since then, Drew has accrued ten years of experience working in higher education, where he currently serves as Director of the Office of Assessment at Brenau University in Gainesville, GA and is in the final throes of earning his master's degree in computer science at Georgia Tech. In his role at Brenau, Drew oversees the systematic assessment of academic degree programs as well as of administrative effectiveness across the university. Drew's enjoyment of spreadsheets and their many uses in organizing data has been called "excessive", "a cause of mild alarm" and "beautiful, if it weren't so sad - or maybe that's what makes it beautiful, like the ending of Lost."

Having experienced it for himself, Drew knows how important the Holly is in the north Georgia community for people of all ages, but perhaps especially for youths looking for their tribe, and is excited to continue helping the Holly reach new heights while maintaining its original values and vision!

Dawn Phipps
Originally from Newburgh, Indiana, Dawn graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from Ball State University in Speech Communication, Theatre, and English education. She received her Master’s Degree in secondary education from the University of Southern Indiana and Educational Leadership from Oakland City University. In her home state, Dawn had a successful teaching career, teaching theatre and English as well as participating in local theatre productions both on stage and behind the scenes. In 2001, Dawn and her husband moved to Forsyth County, Georgia where she has been a teacher and administrator with Forsyth County Schools, currently serving as Director of High School Education. Last year, Dawn joined the Holly Theatre family acting in The Addams Family, Company and directing Christmas Belles as well as serving on the Holly’s Artistic Committee. Dawn is delighted to be a member of the Holly community and hopes to continue to collaborate in the mission and vision of the Holly Theatre by serving the community in the development of Theatre Arts programming, education, and entertainment.

David J. Miller

Dr. Miller is a small business owner and currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Lumpkin County
Board of Commissioners, Chair of the Lumpkin County Board of Health and member of the
Northeast Georgia Health System Advisory Board. He is also a Full Professor and Lead Faculty
for the Healthcare Adminstration programs at Brenau University School of Business. In 2019, he
had his debut on the Holly Theater stage as Mayor Josiah Dobbs in Brightstar and looks forward
to more adventures in acting.

Cathy McMullan

Cathy McMullan is married and has four children. She has lived in the Dahlonega area since 1985 and has been teaching at Long Branch Elementary school since 1999. Her love of working with children led her to volunteer during the senior summer camp in 2013. Since then, she has returned to work with the summer camps each year and has costumed many shows for the theater. She hopes to continue using her creativity to help the Holly be successful and to grow the children's theater program.

Mary Norman
Mary Norman currently serves as full-time Lecturer of Marketing within the Mike Cottrell College of Business at the University of North Georgia. Prior to joining UNG in 2014, Mary spent twenty-nine years in the consumer packaged goods industry. Mary served in multiple sales and marketing leadership roles with The Coca-Cola Company for 15 years. Prior to her time at Coca-Cola, Mary held key management positions within The Gillette Company, a Division of Procter and Gamble, developing and marketing leading products for the North American marketplace. Mary earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree and also a Master of Business Administration Degree, with a concentration in International Marketing, from The University of Notre Dame. While serving her company and customers, Mary has continued to serve her community. She has been active in fundraising efforts in support of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and the Susan G. Komen Foundation, in addition to serving as a Corporate Agent for her Alma Mater. Mary is passionate about education and applied learning. Mary currently is a student mentor, serves as the Faculty Advisor for the UNG Chapter of the American Marketing Association, and has spearheaded the Confidence UNG women’s leadership initiative within the College of Business. Mary and her husband recently purchased a home in Dahlonega that they are enjoying renovating. She is excited to have an opportunity to serve the local community, using her marketing experience to support the mission of the Holly and expand engagement and support for one of Dahlonega’s special historic treasures.

Glenn Whitehead
Glenn has worked in Information Technology for over thirty-five years. He has been in management for more than thirty of those years. He is currently the President of Advantage Dealer Services, an automotive advertising agency. Glenn started running sound for theater productions in high school. After a long hiatus, he started doing theater again at the Cumming Theater. He has served as the Technical Director for several shows. This included designing / running sound, lighting, sets, playbills, and anything else the producer required. Twelve years ago, he came to the Holly Theater and started running sound for productions. He has been on the board of theater production companies and has served as an officer for other non-profit groups. He is married with two children and five grandchildren.

Bill Poole
Bill has recently retired in Dahlonega after practicing as a corporate and tax lawyer in Atlanta for 45 years. During his career, he has often advised and served on the Board of Directors of profit and non-profit corporations. Since moving to Dahlonega, which he first visited while attending Ranger school as an Infantry officer, Bill has been an active Owner of R Ranch in the Mountains, where he provided pro bono legal advice and served on its Board of Directors for three years and as its President for two years. He and his wife, Barbara, have been enthusiastic supporters and patrons of the Holly Theater. Bill has assisted the Holly Board as a pro bono legal counsel by coordinating with the Fox Theater Institute in a state law lobbying effort, reviewing contracts for show productions and drafting liability waivers and other contracts. Bill utilizes his legal knowledge and experience and his education of an Engineering B.S. degree from West Point, a law J.D. from UGA and an MBA from GSU for the benefit of the Holly Theater.

Bud Stumbaugh
An entrepreneur, corporate executive, and a former eight-term state senator, Bud recently moved to Dahlonega with his wife,Tania. He wants to help the Holly Theatre thrive. His interest in working for the Holly is motivated by 2 primary things. One, the theatre is a terrific way to enhance the skills, courage, and even the personality of children and adults in our community. Very few things are more noble than helping people step up and step out! As he and Tania saw in the many performances they attended while building our house here, the Holly does that extremely well. Two, the Holly adds fun in the lives of people in our community. There are many opportunities to frown in the sometimes stressful world in which we live. The programs at the Holly decrease frowns by providing smiles. He wants to insure we continue to do that long into the future. He is responding to the need for directors with fundraising, marketing and management experience. He can help us secure a stable future as a dynamic communicator of the Holly’s attributes both one-on-one and as an accomplished public speaker before small and large groups. He also has a lot of experience fundraising for the university on whose board he serves as well as for the Epilepsy Foundation and political campaigns. He will be happy to ask others to give to the Holly just as he will be doing.

Hal Williams-Chairman Emeritus
My family roots run to the original settling families in the 1828 gold rush. Dahlonega has been home to Carol and I since the mid 1960’s. As students at NGC we began our married life here and raised our children and grandchildren here. We retired here in 2008, after owning several successful businesses, working for the Chamber of Commerce and the US Army.

As a member of the original Holly Theater Board I have enjoyed my over 25 years of experience both on stage and as a board member at the theater. Since 1948 the Holly has been the cultural center for Dahlonega and proudly continues as a leading performing and education center for Georgia. I am honored to continue to be associated with this exemplary theater community.