Our Board of Directors

Alan Stein is the 2026/7 President of the Tucson Jazz Festival Board of Directors. He is a retired business executive currently splitting his time between Tucson, Arizona and Fairfax, Virginia. A native of Phoenix Arizona, he has served as the Vice President of Logistics Management at CALIBRE Systems, a logistics and management services firm in Alexandria, Virginia, where his portfolio included several optimization practices in the defense industrial base. He is also a retired U.S. Army Colonel having served in several worldwide active army command and staff assignments. Alan is a member of the University of Arizona National Leadership Council, has served on the University of Arizona Foundation Board of Trustees, and he has been the Chair of the UA Alumni Association Governing Board. He holds a MS degree in Logistics Management from Florida Institute of Technology, a BA from the University of Arizona in Oriental (Middle East) Studies and is a graduate of the Eisenhower College, National Defense University. Besides jazz, his hobbies include cycling, hiking, sailing, and wood working. His wife, Janet Stein is a Doctor of Optometry, and he is immensely proud of his daughters Casey and Allison. 

“I’m incredibly grateful and excited for the opportunity to serve on the board of the Tucson Jazz Festival. It allows me to contribute to two things I love; live jazz, and a vibrant arts community in Tucson as a venue to appreciate this unique art”.

(Eu)Gene Goldsmith - Gene has called Tucson home for over 45 years and is a lifelong jazz fan. He is an attorney and maintains a general commercial and tort litigation practice. Prior to joining the board, Gene and his wife regularly attended the Tucson Jazz Festival and other local live music events for years.

Previously, Gene spent approximately 30 years on the board of The Beacon Group, formerly the Beacon Foundation, and was president of the Beacon Foundation Board for 2 years in the 1990s. Gene has been married to his wife Patty for 41 years and they have 3 adult sons. He is also an amateur musician and plays bass in a band with friends. He recently began studying jazz guitar. In addition to music, Gene's hobbies include travel, reading, exercise, sports, and film.

Laura Liewen, CPA and Shareholder, Tax and Accounting at R&A CPAs in Tucson, has more than 20 years of experience in public accounting specializing in income tax return preparation, compliance, and research for individuals and businesses. Laura graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Arizona, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, majoring in accounting. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Arizona Society of Certified Public Accountants (ASCPA), and the Tucson Tax Study Group, Inc. Her musical background includes five years as manager for rock group the Gin Blossoms. In 2019 she joined the Tucson Jazz Festival board.  Laura enjoys spending her free time with her family, including her pets, and traveling the world. 

Steven K. Pope has a background including significant managerial, training and consulting experience. Pope is a veteran of the print and electronic media industries and has also done consulting and training in the internet and financial arenas. Immediately prior to his retirement at the end of 2016, Pope managed the activities of Tucson Local Media in the position of Publisher for the Explorer, Inside Tucson Business, The Foothills News, the Marana News, Tucson Weekly and the Desert Times. Earlier in his career, he has worked in senior management positions for Gannett, Knight Ridder, the Tucson Star, Swift Communications, Media News Group and Huckle Communications and Freedom Communications with regional and national responsibilities including the COO position of Huckle Communications.  Pope has also operated his own newspaper and internet consulting company. Pope believes in community service and has served in leadership positions on numerous Boards in every location he has lived. Pope has a special affinity for the arts and has served on the boards or advisory boards of the Paradise Center for the Arts, (MN), the Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs, (CO), the Bravo Vail Valley Music Festival, Vail, (CO), the Houston (TX) Theatre Under the Stars, the Arizona Theatre Company, and the Southern Arizona Arts and Cultural Alliance. Not-for-profit governance, marketing and capacity building are key knowledge areas for Pope and he currently serves on five not-for-profit boards and serves pro bono as the Vice President of Professional Development for the Southern Arizona Chapter of SCORE. Pope holds a Bachelor of Science degree from California State University, San Bernardino, California in economics and a Master of Business Administration degree from California State University, Dominguez Hills with a concentration in marketing and finance.

Cindy Aguilar, director of communications for Visit Tucson, is a passionate advocate for Tucson and the city’s culture.  She directs media members and visitors to the very best of what this region has to offer, whether that’s the best Sonoran hot dog or unique places to stay. Cindy has been with Visit Tucson for ten years, previously working in hotel sales. She enjoys spending time with her husband and two young boys, listening to live music, and finding time to read a great book in her limited spare time.

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Jazz pianist Angelo Versace, a native of Indiana, Pennsylvania, has been the Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Arizona since 2014. He attended William Paterson University from 2004-2008, studying with Mulgrew Miller, a seminal figure in jazz and a man whom Versace cites as being a main musical influence. He subsequently earned his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the University of Miami, studying jazz piano, jazz pedagogy, composition and arranging. During his time in Miami, Versace was on faculty at the Superior Academy of Music – an award-winning institution backed by the Royal Conservatory Music Development Program. He also was on faculty at the CGCC Community Arts Program and Dillard High School – high school jazz band programs that found success at the prestigious Essentially Ellington competition. He began to work for the Tucson Jazz Institute (the two-time winner of the Essentially Ellington competition) after his move to Arizona in July of 2014.

Versace has performed on twelve studio albums: two as a leader and ten as a sideman, including Jazz Hymns with guitarist Jerry Hahn and Kristian 3.0 with Take-6 vocalist, Khristian Dentley. He has also had the privilege of working as a sideman with several internationally recognized artists: Lewis Nash, Warren Wolf, Terell Stafford, Brice Winston, Joe Saylor, Troy Roberts, Dave Stryker, Roxy Coss and Chuck Israels. Versace travels yearly to Taipei, Taiwan where he is on faculty at the Fu Jen University Jazz – a camp which coordinates with the American Institute of Taiwan Jazz Outreach Program. Most recently, he has been a member and appointed board director of the newly minted Tucson Jazz Collective (TJC). The group, which has performed for the SAACA Jazz Legends Concert with vocalist, Becca Stevens, continues to perform in and around Southern Arizona.