Terri Messing - Chair

For the past 30 years, Ms. Messing has worked in the arts field. Her career has included work as a Registered Music Therapist and Creative Arts Manager, as a music educator and as an oboist. Prior experience includes arts program development and implementation for children, seniors, at risk adolescents, acute care hospital and rehab patients. For the past 15 years, she has focused on enhancing the arts of North East Tarrant County, first with Art in the Square and the Southlake Arts Council,  more recently as co-founder and Chairman of the Apex Arts League.

Ms. Messing has a Bachelor and Masters degree in music.  She and her husband Mark have 2 children working as professional musicians. She performs with the Northeast Orchestra, the New Philharmonic Orchestra of Irving and has begun to dabble with paint.

Tamara McMillan - Vice Chair

Tamara has been a resident of Southlake for 24 years.  She spent a 30 year career in the mortgage banking industry and has been retired since 2011.   Since that time she has expanded her involvement as a community volunteer.  Tamara is a past director of the Bob Jones Nature Center Organization where she chaired and co-chaired a number of very successful fundraising events. She currently serves on the Southlake Parks Development Corporation, the Southlake Arts Council and the Southlake Historical Society.  She also is president of Nature Reach, a newly created nonprofit organization based in Southlake. Tamara is a past member of the Southlake Community Choir and has served as a volunteer for the Southlake Community Band. She is an alumna of the University of South Florida, where she met her husband Ken.

Laurie Ogborn - Secretary

Laurie grew up in a small town in rural Kansas, where her love of the arts led to many trips to nearby Pittsburg for music lessons and cultural events through the small university there. As an undergraduate, she double-majored in piano and speech/language pathology but ultimately finished with a master's degree in the latter.

Always a supporter of the arts through performance, volunteer work, and (lots and lots of) tickets, she was thrilled to begin working with APEX nearly a decade ago, coordinating the team of volunteer ushers who help make our events successful. In addition to her work with APEX, she recently celebrated her fifth year as a volunteer usher with the AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas and is actively involved with the annual Art in the Square event at Southlake Town Square. She still plays piano, wants to learn the ukulele, and is honored to have this opportunity to work more actively with APEX as a board member.

Ken McMillan - Treasurer

Ken McMillan has been involved with the arts in Southlake for more than two decades. He is a founding member of the Southlake Community Band, where he has served in various leadership positions, including President. He also served as a member of the Apex Arts League advisory board for several years prior to joining the executive board as the League’s Treasurer.
Since moving to Southlake, Ken has built a history of service to the community. He is an appointed member of the Southlake Crime Control and Prevention District Board. He is a volunteer for the Department of Public Safety and regularly volunteers to assist other local non-profit groups. He also has held leadership positions with other local organizations, including president of the Mission Hill Estates Homeowners Association and president of the Northeast Tarrant Amateur Radio Club.
Ken has a Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of South Florida in Tampa. He is retired after a long career with Verizon Communications, where he served in various executive positions in domestic and international network operations. He and his wife Tamara have lived in Southlake for over twenty years

Tania Askins - Programming

Tania Askins is a graduate of Southern Methodist University’s (SMU) Meadows School of the Arts with a music degree in both violin and viola. She also holds a finance degree from SMU’s Cox School of Business as well as a master’s degree in economics and development finance from John’s Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

Currently Tania is a Managing Director with a boutique investment bank in the Dallas area specializing in infrastructure and municipal finance, which has been her primary career focus. During her career, she has held positions in New York and Washington DC. And while living there, she continued to play and perform music with some truly amazing musicians and composers.

Tania has always loved performing chamber music and has participated in numerous festivals including the Killington Music Festival (Vermont) and the Fontainebleau Music Festival (France). Continuing her musical adventures, she has served on boards and in various advisory roles for numerous arts organizations including: the American Youth Symphony, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and the Beethoven Project Trio. She is honored to work with the talented individuals that serve the Apex Arts League

Noreen Wasserman Houston - Membership

Noreen Wasserman Houston, is a marketing and logistics professional who primarily worked for consumer market companies including Clairol, M&M/Mars and TCBY as well as Burlington Northern Railroad, where one of her projects was written as a Harvard Case Study.  After retiring as a vice-president of Logistics, she pursued a second career in non-profit management with the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.  She continues to serve in the community as a board member of the Jewish Federation of Fort Worth and Tarrant County.  Previously, Noreen was a board member of the Jewish Education Agency and Beth-El Congregation.    

She has a MBA in Marketing from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and a BS in Business Logistics from the Pennsylvania State University. Noreen and her husband Bill reside in Colleyville, and love spending time with their two children and three precious granddaughters, Isabel, Felicity and Colette.

Tim “Timbo” Sabo - Marketing

Having spent many years in the ad agency trenches building big brands like Chili's, Krispy Kreme and Nintendo; Tim now adds his creative zeal to the Apex team. Apex marketing requires a dedicated volunteer team that strives to keep the arts relevant in the surrounding communities despite tight budgets and deadlines. Tim is a current resident of Southlake, Texas in a household that tries to balance the arts with sports - just as he experienced growing up.

Miriam Murray - Film

Miriam Arroyo Murray is an art enthusiast, collector and patron of the arts. It’s no wonder she says museums are “the greatest places on Earth!” As a Southlake resident since 1998, she believes the Arts not only bind the social fabric of a community, but can also drive its economic growth.

Miriam is married to her college sweetheart, Michael. They have two children, Ryan and Brianna, both graduates of Carroll ISD and Texas Christian University (TCU). Miriam is a Financial Coordinator at Hathaway Murray Consulting Inc., and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Seton Hill University, Greensburg, Pa. She’s a graduate of the Leadership Art Institute – Business Council of Arts, Dallas, and holds certificates in Non-Profit Management and Positive Psychology from TCU. She has also attended numerous extended education programs at TCU and Southern Methodist University (SMU) to study Art History and Studio Art courses. And as a passionate and avid Yoga practitioner, she is a certified 200-hour Yoga Alliance teacher. 

Her volunteer service and active memberships include the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA): Community Engagement Programs and Arts & Letters Live; DMA: Book Talk; Art in the Square Festival, Southlake, Texas; Southlake Women’s Club; International Women’s Club; and she’s a member of Business Council for the Arts, Leadership Arts Alumni (LAA). She also serves as an Arts Council Board Member (Vice Chair) for the City of Southlake.

Miriam is fluent in English and Spanish, and is currently learning Italian. Fantastico!

Peggy is the CEO of White Star Laparoscopic, Inc. and a consultant to Action Products, Inc. She served on the National Exhibitors Advisory Committee for the Association of Preoperative Nurses for six years and held the Chair position for two years. She also served as a volunteer member of the Department of Surgical Technology Advisory Committee.

She has a true love of dance and a passion for all the arts. Her greatest pleasure is to teach others. In her prior career, Peggy directed a preschool which provided affordable interactive learning programs designed to engage and educate young children through the arts. She owned and operated a dance studio in Phoenix, AZ and taught twelve years for the Washington School District’s Community Dance program. It was her joy to introduce the world of the dance to students of all ages.

Peggy attended Missouri State University and is a former member of Dance Masters of America, the United States Gymnastics Federation and Screen Actors Guild (SAG). She has lived in Southlake for the past 15 years. She and her husband Frank have two daughters. Her greatest title is being addressed as “Grandma Peggy” by her six delightful grandchildren.