Donald Kramer, Chairman
Donald Kramer has a long history in the insurance and reinsurance business. The founder and former chairman of Ariel Re Holdings Ltd., Mr. Kramer was the Vice Chairman of ACE Limited following its acquisition of Tempest Re, a company he founded. He has an impressive body of knowledge built on a successful career in investment banking and securities analysis. He previously served as founder, Chairman and initial CEO of NAC Re, a company he developed from an inactive shell. Mr. Kramer has also held numerous senior executive positions in insurance, banking and investments, as CEO, president, chairman or general partner. A snapshot of his career includes: Chairman & Chief Executive Office of Tempest Re (1993-96), Past President of Kramer Capital Corporation (1995-99), Vice Chairman/President of Carteret Federal Savings Bank (1991- March 1993), Former Chairman of the Board and Founder of NAC Re Corporation (1985-1993) and Past Chairman of the Board and Chief Financial Officers KCP Holding Company and its affiliate National American Insurance Company of California (1986-1991).He holds an Honorary PhD in Humane Letters from Brooklyn College, an MBA in Economics and Investments, New York University and a BA in Economics from Brooklyn College. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst. He is also a trustee for the Brooklyn College Foundation and a director of the National Benefit Life Insurance Company of New York, (a subsidiary of Citigroup).
Penny Cox Ray
Penny Cox Ray first came to Bermuda in 1972 while working as an air stewardess for British Airways but shortly afterwards secured a post as a physiotherapist at King Edward Memorial Hospital where she worked for nine years. She made a major career shift in the early eighties and joined the corporate world as an administrator with the law firm Smith, Barnard & Diel and now serves as corporate secretary with one of its successor firms, Wakefield Quin. Ray started dancing at age 3 and more than 50 years later, she is reputed to be the “oldest” student of tap at the Jackson School of Dance. She has been active in local theatre, both on the stage and behind the scenes. She has worked on the Bermuda Festival since its conception. She is a member of the Daylesford Singers and is a Past President of the Bermuda Ballet Association.
Mary Faulkenberry
Former Houston Ballet dancer Mary Faulkenberry currently teaches at Bermuda High School for Girls (BHS) as a dance and fitness teacher and is also Coordinator of BHS’s Round Square programme.
Faulkenberry’s professional dance career included national and international tours with Maryland Ballet, Ballet Internacionale de Caracas, and Houston Ballet. She studied with legendary teachers Ben Stevenson, Frederick Franklin, Mary Day, Elena Tchernichova and Hector Zaraspe and had the privilege to dance the choreography of John Butler, Nicholas Beriosoff, Anton Dolin, Jiri Kylian, Alvin Ailey, Ben Stevenson, George Balanchine and Glen Tetley to name but a few.
In 1987 the United States Gymnastics Federation selected Faulkenberry to be the dance coach for the Women’s National team, which won the gold medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta . During her tenure with USGF she co-authored a dance syllabus for the Junior Olympic Program of US Gymnastics. Faulkenberry has also acted as a consultant for the United States Diving National Team.
Faulkenberry danced the role of Kitri in the Bermuda Civic Ballet’s production of “Don Quixote” in 1987 and subsequently became involved with the National Dance Theatre and the Bermuda Ballet Association in 1988. She holds the B.S. and M.S. in ballet from Indiana University School of Music, and is certified by the Physical Mind Institute as a Pilates standing and mat instructor.
After dancing professionally with the Royal Ballet, Sadler’s Wells and BBC TV in London, Sallie Singleton taught ballet in Bermuda with the School of Russian Ballet and was a founder member of the Bermuda Ballet Association.
Moving to Hong Kong, she headed two ballet schools there in addition to one in the former Portuguese territory of Macau. With dancers being persecuted and escaping to Hong Kong because of the Cultural Revolution in China, she founded Hong Kong’s first professional ballet company, Hong Kong Ballet For All, in order that these dancers would have a way to survive. She is currently Chair of the National Dance Foundation’s Scholarship Committee involved and is a member of the Bermuda Tourism Board.
