Building Our Founding Board

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Suzanne Jurva is an award-winning filmmaker and former studio and production executive. Suzanne created the feature film research department for Steven Spielberg at DreamWorks SKG. She was a feature film development executive supervising many Academy Award-nominated and winning films, including Saving Private Ryan, Gladiator, Amistad, Minority Report, AI, The Lost World, The Prince of Egypt, The Peacemaker, Men in Black, Deep Impact, and The Lookout, among others. 

Since leaving DreamWorks, she has produced and directed numerous award-winning films that screened at over fifty festivals. The partial list includes Pet Names (SXSW 2018), named one of the Top 10 Films by the Hollywood Reporter, Messwood (DocNYC, 2021), Flowers Forever, short doc, Milwaukee Film Festival Winner, (2022), Changing Keys: Billy McLaughlin & the Mysteries of Dystonia, PBS and PBS Pledge Drive campaign, Yoopera!, Finlandia Foundation National’s Lecturer of the Year and PBS. She was the NASA liaison and key research producer on Tom Hanks’ IMAX documentary, Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon. Her current projects include Make Peace or Die: Honor the Fallen, Producer (theatrical) and Impact Producer (2025), Generation Mars producer/director, short documentary. 

Suzanne is a graduate of Michigan Technological University and was inducted into the College of Arts and Sciences, MTU’s President’s Council of Alumna, and a past advisory board member of the Pavlis Honor College.

As a life-long lover of music, Chris Carpenter has many connections to the music industry.  Moreover, he has a passion for seeing Milwaukee emerge as a serious player in the music industry with first class facilities and services to support musicians of all levels from beginner to professional. 

Prior to retirement, he had a long career in the financial services and wealth industries as an operational expert.  Although born in Milwaukee, he moved to Philadelphia to co-found ADVISORport, one of the first web-based platforms for financial advisors, which eventually was sold to PNC bank.  He then moved back to Wisconsin and worked at several Wisconsin based banks and investment advisory firms and consulted nationally on technology and operational issues.

Over the past 3 years, Chris has immersed himself in the music industry, sitting on the board of Wisconsin Area Music Industry (WAMI) and forming an angel network to invest in music related ventures before joining Sincerely In Song as a board member and advisor.

Darrell “DJ” Lynn Hines II is a third-generation pastor at Christian Faith Fellowship Church and Plaza (CFFC), the largest predominantly African American church in the state of Wisconsin with a membership of over 5,000. He is the Chief Operations Officer for the organization, which covers CFFC, The Darrell Lynn Hines Academy a K4-8th grade school, Destiny High School and a host of community outreach programs such as “We Give MKE”. In this role Hines is responsible for the day-to-day operations, managing a team of 50 employees while giving oversight of the campus that includes three facilities totaling over 250,000 square feet. Hines received his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Hines recently launched his own company “DJ Hines Enterprises” from which he operates several business ventures such as consulting, real-estate acquisition, media production, and product development.

Hines has received several awards of distinction including the 2013 Milwaukee Business Journals 40 under 40 award and Madison 365’s 49 Most Influential African Americans in the state of Wisconsin. 

Hines has been married to Nina Hines for 19 years and they have three beautiful children together, Darrell Lynn Hines III who is 16, Chloe Lynn Hines age 13 and Sedona Lynn Hines age 8.

Lindsay Stevens is a music and live events industry veteran with 30+ years of experience and the Founder and Executive Director of Rock the Green (501c3), an award-winning sustainability nonprofit. Rock the Green’s mission is to create a sustainable ecosystem in concert with each other, a philosophy that guides Lindsay’s work in bringing artists, organizations, and communities together to drive meaningful, eco-actionable impact.

Roger Ryan is an eight-time Grammy®-nominated producer, composer, and arranger whose career spans gospel, R&B, pop, jazz, orchestral, and global music. A Juno Award–winning producer and international clinician, Ryan has collaborated with artists such as CeCe Winans, Whitney Houston, Kirk Franklin, Lalah Hathaway, Wynonna Judd, and Brian McKnight. 

Known for his emotional depth and musical sophistication, he is also the founder of AfterTouch Music, Inc., and remains active globally as an educator and mentor.

Samantha (Sam) Jimenez is a Trust Officer at Capital First Trust Company, where she manages and administers trust accounts for clients nationwide. With over 15 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, Sam brings deep expertise in engagement, outreach, fundraising, event management, volunteer coordination, case management, program development, and business mentorship. Her career highlights include successfully restructuring regional outreach programs that significantly increased community participation, as well as designing and mentoring initiatives that support emerging leaders and local entrepreneurs.

Passionate about empowering individuals and strengthening communities, Sam joined the board of a nonprofit organization to help amplify voices, support Wisconsin’s creative economy, and build sustainable career paths for local artists in Milwaukee. She is also actively involved in work with children and youth, as well as environmental stewardship, volunteering with several organizations that advance these missions.

Outside of work and volunteering, Sam enjoys hiking the trails around Milwaukee County, writing poetry, meditating, attending community events, and spending time with her family. She holds a degree in social work from UWM and an MBA from Concordia University of Wisconsin.

Heather Ladage  

Heather Ladage fell in love with the media industry as a copy writer at Indiana University’s award-winning newspaper. She has since worked in television, for print magazines and newspapers, and now across multi-media platforms.  

Ladage was named Market President and Publisher of the Milwaukee Business Journal in March 2022, where she leads a 20-person staff to top performance across all areas of the media business – print and digital audience development, marketing strategy, advertising and sponsorship revenue, creative design, business integrity, and editorial vision. She has spent 24 years with parent company American City Business Journals where she has won the company’s highest honor – the Chairman’s Eagle Award for Excellence – 10 times. Ladage was the circulation and marketing director for the Austin Business Journal from 2001-2008 followed by several positions at the corporate level including Circulation Sales Development Director, Regional Circulation Marketing Director, and National Audience Development Director – Sales. Most recently, she served as the Market President and Publisher for the Austin Business Journal.  

Prior to her tenure with ACBJ, Ladage spent time at Destination Marketing Hawaii and Publicitas/Globe Media representing national titles such as Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel, Midwest Living, The Wall Street Journal, Travel & Leisure, The New Yorker, and Outside Magazine.

Ladage is a member of TEMPO, the HOAN Group, UPAF Notable Women, and the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and serves on the board of directors for United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County. She was recently named a PowHER Class of 2025 honoree.  

Ladage has chaired both the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM) and Austin Habitat for Humanity and is a past board member for United Way for Greater Austin, Texas Association of Business, Better Business Bureau, Austin Advertising Federation, and the Greater Austin Chamber. She is also a past member of the Dell Seton President’s Council and Austin Area Research Organization (AARO). In 2013, she was named Outstanding Austin Communicator by Women Communicators of Austin.

Ladage loves travel, live music, and sporting events. She lives on Milwaukee’s East Side with her partner Steve Tych and their rescue dog Roux.  

Liz Bentz is a Milwaukee native, operations and marketing leader based in Phoenix who specializes in building scalable systems, cross-functional teams, and clear processes that help mission-driven work scale. She brings nearly two decades of experience across B2B and B2C environments, including time living in Asia, where she deepened her ability to navigate complex stakeholders and translate strategy across very different cultural contexts.

Liz focuses on strengthening infrastructure, data-informed planning, and stakeholder communication so that creative programs and outdoor initiatives have the structure they need to thrive. Her passion for the arts and the outdoors is rooted in a belief that creative expression and time outside are essential for healthy, connected communities, and she is especially excited about work that brings those experiences to people who might not otherwise have access. When she’s not in a board meeting, you can usually find her on a dance floor, exploring mountains around Arizona, or volunteering with conservation-focused groups.