Our Board

Chair of the Board

Reni Gertner, MPH

Reni, MPH, is a Strategic Communications, Marketing & Branding Consultant who works with local and national clients on marketing and brand strategy design and implementation, public relations, content development, and online and social media branding. Previously, Reni worked as an editor in the medical and legal publishing industries for 15 years. She graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in Biomedical Ethics and holds a Master’s in Public Health with a focus in Epidemiology from Boston University. As Chair of the Board, Reni brings both professional expertise and personal passion to advancing the mission of therapeutic medical clowning. She is inspired by how the Troupe’s work bridges science and empathy, transforming moments of fear or isolation into connection and joy, and reminding us that presence and play can be powerful forces for healing.

Vice Chairman; Past Treasurer

Alan T. Huberman, CPA

Alan is a Tax Principal with the accounting firm of CLA (CliftonLarsonAllen). Alan primarily advises privately held businesses, non-profit organizations and high net-worth individuals and their families on business planning and operations as well as personal tax planning. Alan has experience with corporate and individual taxation, trusts and estates, probate accounting and administration, business planning and consulting, tax and financial planning, tax representation and defense matters, litigation support services and tax planning in contemplation of divorce. Before joining the board in 2004, Alan had the privilege of visiting Franciscan Children’s to witness first-hand the clowns in action. After that visit, he was hooked and decided to take on the role as Treasurer, where he focused on establishing and maintaining the Troupe’s budget as well as assisting with financial reporting. Alan currently serves as Vice Chair of the Board.

Executive Director

Cheryl Lekousi

Cheryl is the teacher for Tiny Hearts Playgroup in Needham. She opened Tiny Hearts Playgroup in 1984 after being an aide, teacher and then head teacher in the Needham YMCA preschool for six years. With a background in special needs and development, Cheryl has an inclusive childcare program. Cheryl started training with Hearts & Noses in 1999, became Executive Director in 2007 and served as Interim Artistic Director 2008-2016. Her clown, Tic Toc, regularly makes pediatric visits to five Boston area hospitals and many events for ill and disabled children. In addition, Cheryl was a driving force behind the Troupe’s expansion to elder clowning, where her clown Miss Millie regularly visits NewBridge on the Charles. Cheryl feels that illness, disability, and trauma can dim the natural wonder of childhood. Through clowning, she sees that spark return: the connection and love shared in those moments are a gift first to the child, and then to the family and clown alike.

Artistic Director

Kenny Raskin

For over 40 years, Kenny has been a leading physical comedian both in the United States and Europe. He performed as the lead clown with Cirque du Soleil and originated the role of Lefou in the Broadway production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Kenny has taught clowning and physical comedy as an adjunct faculty member in the theater departments of Boston University, Emerson College, Emory University and Ringling Brothers Clown College. For eight years he was a member of the Big Apple Clown Care Unit. In 2016, Kenny took the reins as Artistic Director and has helped increase the artistry of the Troupe. He also led the Troupe into clowning for people living with dementia, which is an area near and dear to his heart.


Treasurer; Clerk

Steve French, CPA, MSA

Steve is a Principal with the accounting firm of CliftonLarsenAllen, LLP, one of the largest accounting firms in the United States. Steve primarily works on financial statement audits, reviews and compilations of privately held companies in many industries including logistics, manufacturing, distribution, retail, construction, nonprofits and more. Steve joined the board of Hearts & Noses in 2019, where he focuses on maintaining the Troupe’s budget, financial analysis and financial reporting. Steve had the privilege of visiting Tufts Children Hospital to witness first-hand the clowns in action.

Medical Director

Michael Agus, MD

Michael is Division Chief of Medical Critical Care at Boston Children’s Hospital, pediatric intensivist and endocrinologist, recipient of NIH grants, a teacher and a researcher. He is the Constantine Anast Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Since 1999, he has served as Medical Director on the board of Hearts & Noses. He was a co-author of the Troupe’s The Art & Joy of Hospital Clowning, published in 2005. He has also served as past leader of the Newton Center Minyan, President of the Board of Trustees of Kehillah Schechter Academy, and on the Board of Camp Ramah New England. He traveled to Haiti shortly after the earthquake in 2010 under the aegis of Partners in Health, and continues to serve on a specialty medical team as part of the US National Disaster Medical System. He is married to Elisa and has three children, one of whom was a direct and grateful beneficiary of the services provided by Hearts & Noses.

Associate Director; Clown Representative

Katy Bland-Brooks

Katy has long had a desire to work with children and moved to Boston in the early 2000s to study Child Development and volunteer at Boston Children’s Hospital. Katy intended to complete Wheelock’s postgraduate program to become a Certified Child Life Specialist but life intervened and Katy married and parented three children. As they grew older, Katy embraced her natural aptitude for physical comedy and fell in love with clowning. She eventually took the Troupe’s Intro to Hospital Clowning workshop. From there, Katy quickly came on board as a clown and then added administrator to her stack of hats. Recently, Katy was happily promoted to her current role as Associate Director and looks forward to continuing to help guide the Troupe in its growth and mission, as well as clowning as often as she can.

Andrew Arvedon

For over 30 years, Andrew has been in the wholesale footwear import business in many capacities, such as product development, sales, marketing, and overseas sourcing. His last 12 years have been in the slipper business focused on licensed brands and private label sourcing. The look of happiness when consumers put on a pair of slippers hopefully mirrors the happiness that Hearts & Noses beneficiaries feel when they are visited by one of our amazing clowns! Andrew has been a board member since 2021 and loves to make the personal connections between the needs of the board and those who can help achieve those goals.  Andrew lives in Needham with his wife Robyn, teenage son Jack, and Mini Golden Doodle Rudy.

Christopher Boyce

Chris is currently a Development Manager for a local real estate development company focused on creating community-oriented spaces that people want to be. After spending nearly 15 years of his career in architecture and urban planning working on projects around the country, his focus shifted to the long-term life cycle strategy behind always evolving assets. Chris is also co-founder and partner at Lakeland PM, LLC where he focuses on family-oriented residential rental properties in the Greater Boston area. Chris joined the board of Hearts & Noses in 2022 to help focus on new relationship building and is incredibly excited to witness the joy that the clowns bring to children and families when it is needed most.

Justin Florence

Justin is Co-Founder and Legal Director of Protect Democracy, a non-partisan non-profit working to prevent our democracy from declining into a more authoritarian form of government. Before then he most recently served as counsel in Ropes & Gray’s business & securities litigation practice group, where his practice focused on appellate and Supreme Court matters. He has represented clients in the Supreme Court and federal courts of appeals, as well as at the trial level. He has previously served in the Office of the White House Counsel as Special Assistant to the President and Associate Counsel to the President. Justin also worked for Senator Sheldon Whitehouse as Senior Counsel on the staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Bayla Shepley, BSN, RN, CPN

Bayla is a pediatric nurse with experience in a wide variety of subspecialties. She currently works as a clinical research nurse supporting the development and execution of hematologic malignancy clinical trials at Dana Farber and Boston Children’s Hospital. Prior to her current role, she worked at Tufts Medical Center, Franciscan Children’s, and Boston Children’s hospitals in the inpatient setting where she had the privilege of experiencing firsthand the Hearts & Noses clowns in action. Bayla also brings a personal passion to her role on the board; her father has been a volunteer clown for the Troupe for over 20 years. She joined the board in 2022 to provide a medical and patient care perspective.

Clown Representative 

Pete Sperber