Board of Directors
Sumit Agarwal
- Experienced business leader from company founding onwards
- Will serve as Chair of Board and lead fundraising
- 7 years at Google
- Air Force officer
- Novice student in acro, passionate about circus
Sumit Agarwal, a deputy assistant secretary of defense, has been named senior adviser in the Division of Cyber Engagement and Innovation in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense. The appointment was announced by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Jan. 18, 2011 along with several others.
Prior to this reassignment, Sumit dealt with public affairs outreach and social media for almost a year as a deputy assistant secretary of defense. He joined the Defense Department from the private sector.
He worked at Google as head of mobile product management for North America. Prior to joining Google, Sumit worked at Atlas Venture in the Internet and enterprise software sectors. He also founded Quova, a geolocation services company. He began his career at Trilogy Development Group in Austin, Texas.
Sumit has a degree in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is a major in the Air Force Reserves.
Margaret Lum
- Performance/volunteer background Western Ballet, Ballet America, San Jose Dance Theatre, other artistic non-profits
- Contributing in areas of HR, Performance Outreach, Logistics
- Passionate about future and promotion of awareness of the circus-dance-art community
Margaret comes from a background of art, dance, and engineering. With well over a decade of experience in each of these areas, she brings to Circus Center a unique perspective on organizational management, operations, and technology-arts integration. She works as a software engineer at VMware, the market leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure products, and is also involved in Bay Area technology communities such as Codechix and Bay Area Geek Girls, networking entities such as 106 Miles, Women 2.0, and various SCM/release engineering. Her educational background is in Computer Science and Biopsychology. She is inspired by the talent and dedication of the students, faculty, and staff, and is grateful for this opportunity to contribute to an historic symbol of creative expression and innovation.
Sven Olbash
- Successful self-managed full-time performer
- Experience in fund raising, arts management, and curriculum development
- Active Circus Center student and community member
Steven “Sven Edward” Olbash has over a decade of experience as a full time performing artist and is currently the Director of Music for Notre Dame des Victoires Parish, where he established Les Choristes, the professional vocal quartet-in-residence at the French National Church. Sven is on the staff of San Francisco Opera where, as a Teaching Artist, he develops curriculum for the ARIA artist residency program, in partnership with San Francisco public schools, and leads professional development for artists and educators. A recreational student at the San Francisco Circus Center since 2009, Sven currently trains five days per week as an individual user as well as being enrolled in classes in tumbling, static trapeze, and aerial arts. He holds degrees in performance and pedagogy from Boston University and the New England Conservatory.
Caroline Orrick
- Dedicated and long-standing member of Circus Center family
- Will lead Student Affairs
- Graduate of Clown Conservatory
- Passionate former Board member
Caroline Orrick has a BA in Classical Archaeology from Wellesley College, and a BS in Earth Sciences from UC Santa Cruz. Before settling down, she taught high school history at a New Hampshire boarding school for four years. She and her husband have lived in San Francisco 25 years and raised three daughters. She has served on non-profit boards focusing primarily on development. She also spent many hours serving on parent committees (often fundraising) at her daughters’ schools and colleges. Caroline’s interest and involvement in Circus began in 1995 with an acrobatic class at the Circus Center. She is a graduate of the CC Clown Conservatory and a past Circus Center Board member (Development Committee).
