Jelani Buckner (Managing Director) recently joined The Billie from his successful leadership position as the Director of Operations and Administration for the Harlem-based Afro Latin Jazz Alliance (founded by Grammy Award winning pianist and composer Arturo O’Farrill) where he helped realize a budget increase of over 120% during his tenure. He has extensive nonprofit experience including roles at Bric Arts Media House and Teach for America. Jelani has a BA in Film & Video from Rochester Institute of Technology, a degree in Digital Communications from New York University’s School of Professional Studies as well as an Accounting Certificate from Baruch College. His affinity for the arts led him to work at one of the world’s largest and finest museums, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2013, Jelani founded Walk of Art, a 501c3 organization that provides high-brow artist mentorship to youth in low income neighborhoods throughout NYC and Miami, he still remains active as a board member.

Jonathan McCrory is an Obie Award-winning, Harlem-based artist who has served as Artistic Director at Dr. Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre since 2012. He has directed numerous professional productions and concerts which include: How the Light Gets In (NYMF), Klook and Iron John (NAMT),  Dead and Breathing, HandsUp, Hope Speaks, Blacken The Bubble, Asking for More, Last Laugh and Enter Your Sleep. He has worked at ETW at TISCH NYU with Emergence: A Communion and evoking him: Baldwin and at Suny Purchase directing Exit Strategy, &  A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes.In 2013, he was awarded the Emerging Producer Award by the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston Salem, North Carolina, and the Torch Bearer Award by theatrical legend Woodie King Jr. He is a founding member of the collaborative producing organizations Harlem9, Black Theatre Commons, The Jubilee, Next Generation National Network and The Movement Theatre Company. McCrory sits on the National Advisory Committee for Howlround.com and was a member of the original cohort for ArtEquity. A Washington, DC native, McCrory attended the Duke Ellington School of the Arts and New York University’s TISCH School of the Arts. To learn more, please visit www.jonathanmccrory.com.

John Sheehy joined The 52nd Street Project in 1998, from Lincoln Center Theater where he was Development Associate and Research Associate. Prior to that he worked at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, CT. John is also a lyricist and published playwright with an MFA in Dramatic Writing from Brandeis University. His plays have been seen in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, and Louisville, KY.