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Jessica Robinson Love
Executive & Artistic Director

Jessica Robinson Love has served CounterPULSE for twelve years. During that time, she has ushered CounterPULSE through a merger and relocation, expanding the organization’s budget ten-fold during her tenure as director. She designed and implemented CounterPULSE’s successful Artist in Residence program, and has curated dozens of performances and workshops. She has also served as guest curator for organizations such as Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the San Francisco International Arts Festival.

Jessica is a writer, performer and political activist and her dance writing has been published in In Dance and on CriticalDance.com. She has worked in administration, production, and publicity for artists and arts organizations including Jess Curtis, Keith Hennessy / Circo Zero, Dance Through Time, and the Erika Shuch Performance (ESP) Project.

Jessica served as adjunct faculty member at the New College of California where she has designed and implemented courses including “Activist Arts Synthesis”, “Arts Administration and Cultural Organizing” and “20th Century US History through the Arts.” During her tenure on the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards Committee she was responsible for curating and co-producing the annual Bay Area Dance Awards. She has served on the steering committee for San Francisco Arts Forum, the Theatre Bay Area Theatre Services Committee, the Dance/USA Emerging Leader Task Force, and the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of Alternate ROOTS, a service and granting organization for community-based artists in the Southeastern United States. She has been the recipient of awards and scholarships from Dance/USA and the Bill T. Shannon Leadership Institute, and was the inaugural recipient of the Bay Area Dancers’ Choice Award for her service to the dance community, and she recently served as part of the US delegation to the International Tanzmesse in Germany.

Jaclyn Anku

Community Relations Manager

Jaclyn is thrilled to bring her love of hospitality, art and community to the position of Community Relations Manager. She graduated with her B.A. in Art History from San Francisco State University and followed her passion for contemporary and African art to Ghana, London and now back to San Francisco. Jaclyn loves losing herself in a good book, finding new coffee shops, experimenting with recipes and enjoying the company of friends.

Kat Cole
Development Manager

Originally from Honolulu, Kat discovered dance while attending the University of San Francisco, receiving her BA in Creative Writing and minors in Dance and Performing Arts.  While attending USF she had the pleasure of working with Amie Dowling, Eli Nelson, Katie Faulkner, Kelly Kemp, Natalie Greene, and the Dance Generators.  She serves as the Co-Artistic Director for detour dance, dances with number 9 dance and collaborates with The Collage Theater.  Through her creative endeavors, she explores the written word, the body in motion, and the narratives that weave these forms together.

Jeffrey Morris 
General Manager

For the past ten years, Jeffrey Morris has worked professionally in production and administration for a variety of performing arts organizations throughout San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. Some highlights include The San Francisco Mime Troupe, New Conservatory Theatre Center, Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, Ars Nova NYC and Actors’ Equity Association (national office). Jeff holds a degree in Performing Arts from UC Santa Cruz and is extremely excited to be back in the Bay Area as part of the incredible CounterPULSE team!

Julie E. Phelps
Program Director (Interim Artistic & Executive Director OCT 2012 – FEB 2013)

Maximilian Pierre Urruzmendi
Technical Director

A son of Uruguayan immigrants, Maximilian Urruzmendi grew up in metro Atlanta, Georgia. At the age of 10 he became involved in community youth theater, offering him the opportunity to learn a wide range of skills, both on and off stage. He later attended Georgia State University for Women’s Studies and Anthropology while also acting and interning at Whole World Improv Theater in Atlanta. For fun he likes to dance with a soccer ball on real and fake grass and climb on real and fake rocks. Max is beyond excited to be a member of the CounterPULSE staff and is dedicated to using his capacities and experience to support and create radical theater.

Shamsher Virk
Graphic Designer

Shamsher Virk comes to CounterPULSE with a dedication to performance as a language and tool for collaborative community-based arts. As Graphic Designer, he connects CounterPULSE to our neighbors, our city, our media, and our wider community in cyberspace. Prior to CounterPULSE, Shamsher worked with Joanna Haigood’s site-specific performance company, Zaccho Dance Theatre. Shamsher graduated from College of the Atlantic in 2007 with a B.A. in Human Ecology, a course of study that immersed him in interdisciplinary communication arts and social research methodology. Shamsher’s experience in the non-profit world includes documentary video production work with Interlock Media in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and administrative work with the Centre for Performance Research in Aberystwyth, Wales.