John Bovard (Board President / Treasurer)

​John Bovard has been supporting the accounting and tax reporting efforts of CDE for three years before joining the board in 2015. He is a CPA with more than 25 years of financial accounting, tax and consulting experience. John’s experience includes 20 years with a Top 10 International CPA firm where he served as a Partner. Currently John is the Managing Partner of Bovard LLC. He is a life-long resident of Chicago and currently resides in the western suburbs with his wife, Barb, and son, Patrick. John and Barb are active members of the community and supporters of Chicagoland area nonprofit organizations.   

Jane Liles Martinez (Board Secretary)

​Originally from Cincinnati, Jane Liles Martinez is a former market researcher, having worked for Kraft and ComEd among other companies. Before coming to Chicago, she was involved in asset management, human resources, and corporate records during a stint in Washington, DC. A graduate of Mount Holyoke College, where she majored in German literature and minored in chemistry, Jane lived with her family in Japan during her junior high school years. She currently sits on the Local School Council (LSC) for A.N. Pritzker Elementary and is a past member of the Talcott Elementary LSC. Jane has been a member of the Chicago Church of Christ for 25 years. She and her daughter, Isabel, live in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village neighborhood. Isabel is a long-time fan of CDE and has been in several of Ellyzabeth's classes.

Paul Pasulka (Board Member)

​Paul Pasulka is a Chicago playwright (paulpasulkaplays.com) and a clinical psychologist (paulpasulka.com) in private practice and on faculty at Northwestern University School of Medicine. His plays have been produced and read throughout Chicago and in New York. 'La Maestra' received a staged reading with dance, movement, and song at CDE in June 2016 and was produced by CDE as part of the 2018 season. He has also presented autobiographical stories throughout Chicago, including with the GenNarrations Project of The Goodman Theatre, and was invited to read at The International Storytelling Festival in San Miguel Allende, Mexico in 2014. When not dissuaded, he may also act and direct.

Ellyzabeth Adler (Board Member)

​Ellyzabeth Adler is Founder and Executive Director of CDE. She holds a Master of Arts in Directing and Movement from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a BFA in Performing Arts from Roosevelt University. She has worked as a performer and teacher for various theaters, outreach programs and organizations, including Eclipse Theatre, ProsArts and The Chicago International Children’s Film Festival. Adler has also worked as an independent choreographer creating modern dance theatre pieces for various theatre productions and has created six evening-length works, including adaptations and originals: T.S Eliot’s Death Dream Kingdom, The Wasteland, The Yellow Wallpaper, Chicago Stories, This Is Not A Pipe, Mirrors and Touch, inspired by the poetry of Rumi, and the highly recommended Bindis and Bruises.