Team

Small crew, bold vision.

Lani Rovzar comes to BACF with a deep working history in the Bay Area arts community, as well as many years of experience helping scale globally a successful start-up. She's worked with nonprofit organizations such as The Sharon Art Studio, New Langton Arts, Museum of Craft & Folk Art, Headlands Center for the Arts, and served on the Advisory Board for the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery. Passionate about supporting local artists and community, she founded 42 Degrees Arts Agency, an incubator program through Intersection for the Arts. She believes it is especially important to support the wonder, inquisitiveness and joy creativity invites in young people, so that it has the opportunity to grow into a natural modality that shapes the way they approach their lives and the world. For fun, Lani enjoys taking photos with her vintage Polaroid LandCameras on hikes in the Mojave Desert.

Kirstin Bach is a long-time San Francisco resident, arts administrator and mother of two teenagers. She has organized and produced artist projects and exhibitions in a variety of cultural settings. She formerly headed up the Arts program at the Exploratorium where she led the artist-in-residence program as well as art installations, programs and performances. Previous to her work at the Exploratorium, Kirstin was an exhibition coordinator at the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Assistant Director for Administration at the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts and Program Director for The Seed Fund. Kirstin has learned through her experience working with artists and scientists, that curiosity and creativity fuel innovative thinking and drive learning. She is fervent in her support of creative youth, and through her work hopes to cultivate an understanding of the value of lifelong creativity.

Ileana is an artist and arts administrator with an extensive background in youth education, public engagement, and community partnerships. She has held leadership roles at major Bay Area institutions, including the Bay Area Discovery Museum, Headlands Center for the Arts, the Cantor Arts Center and Anderson Collection at Stanford University, and the San Francisco Art Institute, where she oversaw Public Education and Summer Youth Programs.
As an artist, Ileana is deeply committed to weaving exploration, risk-taking, and creativity into everyday life. Her passion for the arts began at Buena Vista Arts Integrated School, where music, dance, visual art, and theater were fully integrated into the curriculum. She is a lifelong advocate for creative expression and for supporting young people in developing their voices, leadership skills, and capacity for meaningful change.
In her spare time, Ileana works in her studio exploring diverse materials and the intersections of art-making, athletics, gender identity, and ritual.

Grace is a marketing leader with over a decade of experience building brands, leading strategy, and executing campaigns across B2C, B2B, and B2B2C channels. She has worked at early-stage startups and mission-driven organizations, where she's led everything from product launches to partnerships and creative content development. She was drawn to BACF by its commitment to uplifting young artists and valuing the creative process—a mission that deeply resonates with her own experiences and values. Creativity has been a central thread throughout Grace’s life. She studied vocal performance in college, directed her a cappella group, and has performed at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. She’s passionate about design, and has recently taken up watercolor painting as another creative outlet.

As a long-time Bay Area resident and supporter of the Arts, Dr. Emil Kakkis, formed the Bay Area Creative Foundation to establish a non-profit organization promoting creativity in young people in the Arts and Sciences. We seek to inspire local residents, schools and businesses to support creativity and creative efforts of our local creative youth. The goal is to increase the awareness of the importance of creativity in all of our lives and encourage our young creatives by acknowledging that they have a special place in the world and are valued by their community.

John Ditton serves as CEO of Diadema Partners and is a dedicated board member of the Bay Area Creative Foundation (BACF), alongside other innovative startup ventures.
Launching the BACF with founder Dr. Emil Kakkis, John brings deep experience from the healthcare & technology sectors, where he previously served as a leader in commercial operations and marketing. His involvement in launching the Rare Artist competition and online gallery for the EveryLife Foundation revealed the profound joy and empowerment that creative expression can bring—sparking his commitment to fostering creativity among high school students.
With over 20 years collaborating with marketing agencies, sales teams, and groundbreaking scientists, John developed a passion for cultivating creative, forward-thinking business leaders equipped to solve tomorrow’s toughest challenges.
A graduate of the Royal Military Academy Duntroon and the University of Tasmania, John resides in the Sierra Nevada mountains, where he draws inspiration from the vibrant creative energy of his family.
John is driven by the belief that nurturing creativity in young people today builds the innovative thinkers our world will need tomorrow.

Tishan Cowan is an innovative partnerships leader with over 20 years experience designing impactful partnership strategy roadmaps and building best in class teams that deliver on organizational goals and missions. Having worked at both entertainment media companies and technology start ups, she enjoys building new roadmaps that haven’t existed before. Currently, she serves as the Head of Partnerships at Understood.org, a social impact organization dedicated to helping individuals with learning and thinking differences thrive.

Fay Griffin has spent her career in operations at the intersection of technology and entertainment. Through her work on some of the largest visual effects films and acclaimed video game titles, she discovered firsthand the value creativity brings to complex problem solving and building enduring products. Whether you are an artist, technologist, product manager, analyst, or people manager, creativity shapes how we process information and make decisions. Art grounds us - bridging imagination and what is possible. Fay looks forward to bringing her 20+ years of experience in operations to further the Foundation's mission.

Dale Taormino is a sales and growth strategy leader who has spent her career helping innovative technologies find their path to market and scale. She believes creativity is a critical catalyst for innovation—whether in the arts or in business—and that the ability to imagine what’s possible and think beyond the bounds of what already exists drives meaningful impact. Dale brings expertise in growth strategy, market expansion, and strategic partnerships to support the Foundation’s mission.