National Bonsai Foundation Introduces 2020-21 Board of Directors
We are thrilled to announce the National Bonsai Foundation 2020-21 Board of Directors! James Hughes is our new Board Chair. Read about his curatorship at the Museum and his background in our August blog posts. Marybel Balendonck, one of the founding NBF directors, will retain her position as vice president.
We also have some new faces in officer positions. Help us welcome Chair-Elect Daniel Angelucci and Secretary/Treasurer James Brant.
Daniel Angelucci, Chair-Elect
Daniel Angelucci will serve as the NBF chair-elect for two years, followed by a two-year term as the NBF board chair. Angelucci has been practicing bonsai for 36 years.
He was first introduced to the art when he lived in Flint, Michigan, and came across a bonsai demonstration at a local mall. Angelucci was inspired to buy books about bonsai to learn more.
In 2008, his interest in bonsai took off after he joined the Ann Arbor Bonsai Society and the Four Seasons Bonsai Club of Michigan. The clubs exposed him to nationally recognized groups, like the American Bonsai Society (ABS), and bonsai artists like Jack Wikle and former NBF Co-President and Museum Curator Jack Sustic.
Angelucci first joined the NBF board as a member in 2018. He decided to apply for the chair-elect officer position to contribute a varying skill set to the operations in support of the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum.
“It seemed to me that about 90 percent of the people who were on the board of the Foundation were bonsai professionals in some form or another,” he said. “I’m mediocre in bonsai art at best, but I thought I might have something to offer with regard to the time and talent I accrued in my financial and business backgrounds.”
Now fully retired, Angelucci brings to the NBF board an extensive background in wealth management and investment strategy, with educational certificates from Duke, Harvard, Yale, Wharton and University of California, Berkeley.
He is a longtime friend of the arts, serving on the Board of Directors of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and holding memberships in NBF, ABS, the Ann Arbor bonsai society and Pittsburgh Bonsai Society.
As chair-elect, Angelucci will focus on forging relationships with U.S. bonsai professionals and broadening the awareness of the Museum to maintain its significance as a U.S. national treasure.
“There’s so much history in the original gift that the Japanese gave to the United States and in trees like the Yamaki pine, which survived the Hiroshima bombing,” he said. “It would be a travesty if we were not able to maintain the health of trees like that.”
James Brant, Secretary/Treasurer
James Brant will serve as Secretary/Treasurer for two years, then step into the full position of Secretary/Treasurer for two more.
Brant taught various levels of education, from elementary school to adult evening school, for 31 years in Pennsylvania, retiring in 1999. He became involved with bonsai in the 70s, starting classes at Rosade Bonsai Studio in 1978.
Brant has served several positions in the Pennsylvania and MidAtlantic bonsai societies and is a member of the Bonsai Society of the Lehigh Valley, Second Sunday Study Group and Delaware Valley Bonsai Study Group. He has served as coordinator for the Delaware group and Bonsai Kaido Ken Shu Kai Study Group.
Brant has also instructed children’s bonsai classes and presented programs on wintering and bonsai display. He received the 2002 Bonsai Clubs International Meritorious Service Award.
He was honored and pleased to join the board after being asked to fill in for a departing member. Before the joint Secretary/Treasurer position was created this year, Brant served solely as the NBF treasurer and has been a board member since 2005.
Brant said some of his most memorable moments from the last 15 years at NBF were the compilation and publishing of Bonsai Master John Naka’s sketchbook, which you can find on our website, and the renovation of the Japanese exhibit.
In his new position, Brant hopes to provide NBF with a continuity of service and contribute to the Board’s goals in as many ways possible.
“My wife Linda and I have met some truly wonderful people, and traveled to some remarkable places to spread the fellowship of bonsai,” he said. “Bonsai – and, to a degree, NBF – is a hobby that has given my life meaning, serenity, fellowship, and learning all rolled into one.”
Here is our full 2020-21 Board of Directors. We can’t wait to see what this year will bring under the stewardship of these devoted individuals!
OFFICERS
James Hughes (‘22) - University Park, MD, Chair of the Board
Daniel Angelucci (‘22) - Harrison Township, MI, Chair-Elect of the Board
James Brant (‘22) - Royersford, Pennsylvania, Secretary/Treasurer
Marybel Balendonck (’23) - Fullerton, California, Vice President
DIRECTORS
Ross Campbell (‘23) – Silver Spring, MD
Milton Chang, PhD (‘23) – Los Altos Hill, CA
Christopher Cochrane ('22) – Glen Allen, Virginia
Julie Crudele ('22) – Annapolis, Maryland
Edward Fabian, ('21) – Niceville, Florida
Joseph Gutierrez, MD, FACS ('21) – McLean, Virginia
Karen Harkaway, MD (‘21) – Mount Holly, New Jersey
Richard Kahn, PhD (‘22) – Alexandria, VA
Cheryl Manning ('21) – Los Angeles, California
Ann McClellan ('21) – Washington, DC
Carl Morimoto, PhD (‘21) – San Jose, CA
Pauline Muth ('21) – West Charlton, NY
Doug Paul (‘21) – Kennett Square, PA
Glenn Reusch (’21) – Rochelle, Virginia
Deborah Rose, PhD (’22) – Beltsville, Maryland
Stephen Voss ('21) – Washington, DC
EX-OFFICIO
Charles Croft – President, Potomac Bonsai Association
Mark Fields – President, American Bonsai Society
ICYMI: We profiled our recently retired board members! Reflect on their legacies with us here.