Board of Directors Biographies
Prof. Cinder Cooper Barnes
Board Chair, Executive Committee
Director of the Global Humanities Institute, Professor of English
Global Humanities Institute
Cinder Cooper Barnes has over 20 years of higher education teaching experience. She is presently a full-time faculty member in the English department at Montgomery College and serves as the director of the Global Humanities Institute. As part of her professional responsibilities, she serves as the college’s Fulbright Scholars Liaison, writes proposals and grants; develops various programs for faculty, staff, and students; and mentors junior faculty. In recent years she served as a member of Montgomery County’s Victims’ Services Advisory Board and volunteered as a Victim Assistance and Sexual Assault Program outreach volunteer. Cinder earned a bachelor’s degree in English at the University of South Carolina and master’s degree at Northern Illinois University. She is currently working on her doctorate in Education Policy, Organization and Leadership with a focus on Global Studies.
Genna Styles-Lyas, Ed.D
Board Vice Chair, Advocacy Committee
Director of LAA Community, Engagement & Equity in Research
Americans for the Arts
Genna (she/her) brings over fifteen years of experience in arts education, community engagement, and equity-centered practice. She has served in leadership and teaching roles with organizations including Everyman Theatre in Baltimore and SPdp (Staycee Pearl dance project) in Pittsburgh, where she helped develop artistic standards for the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards.
Genna currently serves as Director of Local Arts Agencies Community Engagement and Equity in Research at Americans for the Arts, a national advocacy organization. In this role, she supports hundreds of communities nationwide and informs policies that make the arts more accessible, inclusive, and impactful. She is also a trusted facilitator and a member of the advisory committee for The Leadership Institute for Compassionate Changemaking.
A former Maryland State Arts Council Teaching Artist Roster panelist, Genna holds a Doctorate in Education from the University of Pittsburgh, with a focus on Out-of-School Learning, a Master’s in Early Childhood Education from Northcentral University, focusing on arts integration, and a BFA in Acting and minor in Musical Theatre from Point Park University. She is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
Marquette Rogers
Board Secretary
Supervisory Information Technologist
Library of Congress
Marquette Rogers is concluding his tenure in the role of President of the MASSB Board, with a history of leadership within the organization as past Vice President and Secretary. He also served as the Chair of the Montgomery County Board of Social Services for 5 years, ending in 2023. With a two-decade-long commitment to community service, he has been actively involved in various boards and committees, from representing parents for the NAACP at Highland Elementary and as a former Statewide At-Large member of the Maryland Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee.
A native of The District of Columbia, Mr. Rogers is an alumnus of the Duke Ellington School of the Performing Arts with a focus on classical voice. He pursued higher education in Information Systems Management, earning a BS from UMGC. Professionally, Mr. Rogers has dedicated over 20 years to the IT sector, working as a Systems Engineer, IT Project Manager, and presently a Supervisory IT Section Chief at the Library of Congress. A Maryland resident for three decades, he has lived in Prince Georges County and most recently in Silver Spring, Montgomery County, with his wife and their twins.
Ryan Lorey
Board Treasurer; Chair, Finance Committee; Public Arts Trust Steering Committee
EDENS
Dr. Sharon Fechter
Governance Committee
Emeritus
Montgomery College
Dr. Fechter has served as Dean of Humanities at Montgomery College and as Professor of Spanish and chair of the Department of World Languages and Philosophy. She earned her Ph.D. from New York University. She has served as president of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP), as community college representative, and as an associate editor for the refereed journal Hispania. She is a member of the national work group for America’s Languages under the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the MLA’s Community College Committee. She has presented and published on topics concerning community colleges, world languages, literature, distance education, and international education.
Lauren Cook
Ex Officio
Past Board Chair, Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County
Visual Artist and Instructor, St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland
Lauren Cook teaches visual arts at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac, serving four terms as department head, and is a committed advocate of arts education for all ages. She has experience as a consultant on K-12 arts curricula and teacher training, as an independent curator and jurist for art competitions, and designed and ran an accredited overseas summer studio program for K-12 art teachers. Cook is a trained facilitator in educational neuroscience research for the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning at St. Andrew’s and previously worked for the Council on Foundations and the Council of Governors’ Policy Advisors on intersectional policy development. She maintains an active studio art practice and holds a M.A. in Art Education from Maryland Institute College of Art, a M.B.A. from George Washington University, and a Bachelor of Philosophy from Grand Valley University.