Our Leadership

LONJ Founders

William Corson (Co-Founder, Vice Chair) served as the company’s most frequent stage director. For 20 years he produced and/or directed over 60 mini-shows ranging from Gypsy to The Barber of Seville. Additionally Bill has directed over a dozen full length productions such as The Pirates of Penzance and Thoroughly Modern Millie. A former member of the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players (NYGASP), Bill is a G&S enthusiast but with a wide range of musical theater background. He is a graduate of Colgate University and once led their well-known men’s a cappella group, The Colgate Thirteen. Although still active as an LONJ Trustee Bill is now retired living in Woodstock, VT where he serves as a Village Trustee, Chair of Pentangle Arts, President of the Woodstock VT Pickleball Club and is actively involved with the local chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society.

Lauran Fulton Corson (Co-Founder) is an accomplished coloratura soprano who has performed a wide variety of well-known roles throughout the USA, including Marie (Daughter of the Regiment), Gilda (Rigoletto), Adele (Die Fledermaus), and Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor). Lauran is a graduate of the University of Michigan and holds a B.M. and M.M. in Voice performance as well as attending The Juilliard School in Opera training. She has worked alongside her husband Bill for over twenty-five years as Artistic Director of Light Opera of New Jersey. She provides vocal instruction to serious amateurs and professionals and has held many master classes and workshops on the mature voice. While remaining active members of the Board of Trustees, Lauran and Bill are happily retired in the beautiful Village of Woodstock, Vermont.

William Corson (Co-Founder, Vice Chair) served as the company’s most frequent stage director. For 20 years he produced and/or directed over 60 mini-shows ranging from Gypsy to The Barber of Seville. Additionally Bill has directed over a dozen full length productions such as The Pirates of Penzance and Thoroughly Modern Millie. A former member of the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players (NYGASP), Bill is a G&S enthusiast but with a wide range of musical theater background. He is a graduate of Colgate University and once led their well-known men’s a cappella group, The Colgate Thirteen. Although still active as an LONJ Trustee Bill is now retired living in Woodstock, VT where he serves as a Village Trustee, Chair of Pentangle Arts, President of the Woodstock VT Pickleball Club and is actively involved with the local chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society.

Lauran Fulton Corson (Co-Founder) is an accomplished coloratura soprano who has performed a wide variety of well-known roles throughout the USA, including Marie (Daughter of the Regiment), Gilda (Rigoletto), Adele (Die Fledermaus), and Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor). Lauran is a graduate of the University of Michigan and holds a B.M. and M.M. in Voice performance as well as attending The Juilliard School in Opera training. She has worked alongside her husband Bill for over twenty-five years as Artistic Director of Light Opera of New Jersey. She provides vocal instruction to serious amateurs and professionals and has held many master classes and workshops on the mature voice. While remaining active members of the Board of Trustees, Lauran and Bill are happily retired in the beautiful Village of Woodstock, Vermont.

LONJ Board of Trustees

(Note: Bill Corson and Lauran Corson, above, are also members of our Board of Trustees.)

LONJ Board of Trustees

(Note: Bill Corson and Lauran Corson, above, are also members of our Board of Trustees.)

Michael Baruffi (Treasurer) has been performing with LONJ for several years and is a member of the Board of Trustees. Michael is retired from the Mars/Wrigley company where he served 29 years in Cash Management, Budget and Planning and Sales Forecasting roles. He holds a BA in Political Science from Penn State University and an MBA in Finance from Rutgers University. Michael is also a member of the Summit Chorale, the Hackettstown Community Band and is very involved in Music Ministry at Resurrection Parish in Randolph, N.J. Michael resides in Randolph with his wife Rebecca.

Mary Deal is a native of Savannah Georgia and partially retired from the practice of commercial law. Mary received her JD from the University of Georgia School of Law and BA in English and Theatre from Upsala College in East Orange, NJ. Her career in the law has included 20 years with AT& T concentrating on international acquisitions, mergers and joint ventures and negotiating other international business arrangements for AT&T around the world. After AT&T, she also served as General Counsel for World Partners, Ltd, Ontera Broadband, Inc., and InteliSpace, Inc. before joining the commercial practice of Bevan, Mosca and Giuditta, PC. She is a musician, singer and actress with long experience on stage and behind the scenes.

Chris Dzerovych is a graduate of Clark University (BA) and Boston College (MBA). She now volunteers on a regular basis for arts and environmental organizations. She was a Co-Producer for Die Fledermaus and has assisted with grant applications and props and set design on several productions.

Don Green has had a varied career that started with computer engineering, extended into manufacturing management and culminated with project management for the implementation of large scale computer systems for Xerox and Fujitsu. He brings skills acquired in these areas to assist Light Opera of New Jersey in the business aspects of their organization.

Will Leland is retired from BBN Technologies, where he was a Principal Scientist and a Program Director, focusing on network research. He is an IEEE Fellow. He received his undergrad degrees from MIT and his Ph.D. (in Computer Sciences) from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has been a fan of light opera since childhood, despite being unmusical. Will and his wife Mary Leland live in Madison, NJ.

Shari Loe, 67, returned to the Board of Light Opera of New Jersey in May 2022 after a break from July 1, 2019-21 to concentrate on her role as President of the Board of Trustees of Morristown Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. Shari is a retired attorney who worked in-house at AT&T for 28 years. She graduated with a BA in Political Science from Yale in 1977 and obtained her law degree from New York University Law School in 1983. An Army brat who has lived in France, California and Virginia but identifies as Texan from her family’s roots there, and having lived in Houston from age 12 through college, she comes from a musical family, sings in her church choir when she can, and has loved story-telling and theater all of her life. Her daughter Sarah Bernadette Matsushima, who was honored to be a member of the LONJ company in her teens, has moved on to become a professional singer-songwriter with degrees from Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory. Shari is forever grateful that LONJ nurtured Sarah’s talent and held her to the same high standards as adult members of the company. Shari continues to serve as an active volunteer in her congregation, including being co-chair of its Capital Campaign which has raised almost $8M over the past 8 years to support a building project. A mother of three and grandmother of two, she enjoys reading (especially science fiction and fantasy, science, African-American and Womens’ Studies), and lives in Whitehouse, NJ with her husband, David Matsushima and their black Lab, Gigi. She’s working on becoming a patio gardener at their new townhouse.

Mary Lynne Nielsen (Secretary) is the director of business operations at the IEEE Standards Association, helping to create technical standards that establish global interoperability and portability for today’s technology. She directs IEEE’s events, membership, and awards administration programs, offering thought leadership, planning, and execution to manage activities and relationships with a variety of internal departments and external organizations. Mary Lynne graduated from Indiana University—Bloomington with a BS degree, with high honors, in music (voice performance) and journalism. She also completed executive education at Cornell University. Mary Lynne has performed extensively in the NY/NJ/PA area in situations as diverse as concertizing at Lincoln Center to appearing in local television broadcasts in Philadelphia. She also serves on the board of Friends of Music at St. Paul’s, supporting the Steeple Concerts musical performance series in Westfield, NJ.

Heath Weisberg (Chair) is General Counsel of CAM Capital, a single family office and investment firm, and the Kovner Foundation, where he is responsible for legal, regulatory, and compliance matters. His legal and business experience extends to investment management, private funds, and mergers and acquisitions. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Private Investor Coalition. Heath earned his JD, cum laude, from New York University School of Law and his BA, cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania, with distinctions in Music and Philosophy. He began performing with LONJ in 2016, joined the Board of Trustees the same year, and has been serving as Interim Chair since 2019. Heath lives in Short Hills with his wife and three children (four, counting the dog).

Staff

Jason C. Tramm is delighted to be named as Executive Director of the Light Opera of New Jersey. He has been hailed as a “conductor to watch” by Symphony Magazine and “filled with Italianate passion” by the Huffington Post. Maestro Tramm’s work in the operatic, symphonic and choral realms have received critical acclaim throughout the United States and abroad. He also currently serves as the Director of Choral Activities at Seton Hall University (where he was named the 2017 University Faculty Teacher of the Year), Director of Music Ministries at the Ocean Grove Great Auditorium, Artistic Director of the MidAtlantic Artistic Productions, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Long Island Concert Orchestra.

As a guest conductor, he has led performances in Italy, Romania, Hungary and the Czech Republic. He is the host of Music Matters with Jason Tramm, a podcast that explores artistic innovation under extreme circumstances, as seen through the eyes of distinguished artists. Music Matters can be seen on YouTube and heard on Spotify, Apple and Google Podcasts and is aired on Saturdays from 11:30- Noon on WMCA Radio in NYC!

Jason C. Tramm is delighted to be named as Executive Director of the Light Opera of New Jersey. He has been hailed as a “conductor to watch” by Symphony Magazine and “filled with Italianate passion” by the Huffington Post. Maestro Tramm’s work in the operatic, symphonic and choral realms have received critical acclaim throughout the United States and abroad. He also currently serves as the Director of Choral Activities at Seton Hall University (where he was named the 2017 University Faculty Teacher of the Year), Director of Music Ministries at the Ocean Grove Great Auditorium, Artistic Director of the MidAtlantic Artistic Productions, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Long Island Concert Orchestra. As a guest conductor, he has led performances in Italy, Romania, Hungary and the Czech Republic. He is the host of Music Matters with Jason Tramm, a podcast that explores artistic innovation under extreme circumstances, as seen through the eyes of distinguished artists. Music Matters can be seen on YouTube and heard on Spotify, Apple and Google Podcasts and is aired on Saturdays from 11:30- Noon on WMCA Radio in NYC!

Denise Szabo (Company Manager) hired in 2019 by LONJ after a 35 year career in local government, most recently having held the position of Municipal Clerk/Assistant Administrator in Bernards Township. Having always been a supporter of the performing arts and LONJ, she is delighted to be part of the team. Denise runs every integral internal part of the LONJ machine with a smile and is an essential part of the company’s success.

Teresa (Tess) Giardina (Director of Outreach and Community Engagement) came into the LONJ fold in 2020 for the production of Die Fledermaus. Since then she has been involved in several LONJ shows both on and off stage, becoming part of the production committee in mid-2023. Teresa earned her Bachelo’rs Degree in Music from Hamilton College and a Master’s Degree in Voice Performance from Ithaca College. She has studied with Lauralyn Kolb, Deborah Montgomery-Cove and Amy Zorn. Since graduating, she has performed regularly with local NJ companies including the Baroque Orchestra of NJ, Opera Theatre of Montclair and LONJ, as well as being a regular Anthem singer for the Somerset Patriots for over twenty years. In 2014, in an effort to create additional opportunities for local musicians, she and her husband, Rob Keiser, founded Vari Musicisti, a pick-up orchestra that has performed a variety of opera, art songs, and classical music. Teresa also plays the trombone, being an active member of the Raritan Valley Symphonic Band and the Raritan Valley Trombone Quartet. On the administrative side, she worked in Subscription Sales for the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra for over ten years. In addition to her musical interests, she is an avid knitter, crafter, reader and Yankees fan. Teresa lives in Cranford with her husband, son and cats.

In Memoriam

David L. Clark received his undergraduate degree from North Texas University, Denton, TX, and completed his graduate work at Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. Mr. Clark spent the first ten years of his career as a professional opera singer, spending three seasons at the Santa Fe Opera Company, Santa Fe, NM. For over thirty years, he was in the insurance industry eventually serving as a practicing reinsurance intermediary. During Mr. Clark’s business career, he was a Hall of Fame member in the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT), and a member of the Advanced Association of Life Underwriting (AALU). He earned both Chartered Life Underwriter and Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter designations. This dual certification placed him in the top 1/10 of 1% of insurance professionals in America. Outside of business, Mr. Clark was active in the Metropolitan Opera Society, the Boy Scouts of America, served as Chair of the New Jersey Multiple Sclerosis Society (10 years), and as a board member of the Marilyn Horne Foundation (15 years). He served on our Board of Trustees after being instrumental in the founding of LONJ.

Steven M. Fulda was Managing Director at Fulda Business Planners, where he specialized in creating and developing winning business plans, creating long-term financial plans, and redirecting strategy and operations to enable businesses to succeed. He had fifty-five years of executive management, consulting, and teaching experience spanning all facets of business strategy, planning, business analysis, development, and financing. Mr. Fulda combined management consulting experience as a business planner with earlier senior executive responsibilities in systems engineering and technology development. Utilizing this multidisciplinary background, he had been successful as a change agent, implementing new strategies and tactics that have not only averted problems but increased operational effectiveness and profitability. Over the years Mr. Fulda and his colleagues identified, exploited, and managed growth opportunities for over 200 emerging businesses. Mr. Fulda was an experienced director, serving as a member of three Boards in both the corporate and non-profit sectors. He chaired the audit committee and co-chaired the strategic planning committee of a public biotech company. Mr. Fulda held two Masters’ degrees, one in Systems Engineering and the other in Quantitative Business Analysis. His undergraduate degree was in Engineering Physics and Applied Math.