Tom Hixson is a fifth generation native Californian who grew up on his family’s walnut and almond ranch in Butte County. Following his education at UC Berkeley, Tom taught English at several colleges in the US as well as overseas before moving to a career in commercial real estate. Since 1987, Tom has provided real estate acquisition services for the federal government, first as a GSA employee in San Francisco, and later as a commercial broker for Carpenter/Robbins headquartered in San Ramon.
Tom has been actively involved in volunteer work most of his life, starting with a stint in the Peace Corps in Colombia followed by multiple Habitat for Humanity projects in places such as Vietnam, Armenia, Romania, and Nepal ; in addition, he has devoted considerable energy to projects involving poverty alleviation and support of pet adoption services. Tom and his husband, Kevin, moved from San Francisco to Napa in 2018 and are currently in the process of renovating an 1871 Victorian.
John Alexander has devoted himself to museum work for 25+ years. Between the Museum of Modern Art, Morgan Library & Museum in New York and more recently at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA), he has worked extensively on a variety of exhibitions as well as collection stewardship topics. John has worked on exhibitions with the world’s most renowned museums including the Getty, LACMA, the Louvre, Tate, Alberina and Uffizi.
He has done freelance curating and lectured on museum subjects at universities in New York, Connecticut and Valladolid, Spain and participated in museum-related symposiums in Boston, Houston, Madrid and London. John holds BA in Art History from the University of Texas at Austin and pursued graduate studies also in Art History at the City University of New York., Hunter College.
Josephine is the director of Arader Galleries in St. Helena where she specializes in historically important maps of Westward Expansion and 16th -19th Century natural history artwork.
She believes that the watercolors, color plate books, and cartographic works which were produced by natural historians from the 16th – 19th centuries, can give us a poignant understanding of the times from which they originate as they bring the past into the present with vivid power.
She has acted as the Treasurer of the Antiques Dealers Assoc. of California and is regularly called upon to vet works on paper at Antique Shows. She has also served as a judge for botanical art shows.
Donna Drago is a retired educator who spent her entire career working with young children in Napa. She taught elementary school for 20 years and served as an Elementary School Principal for more than 20 years. During her tenure Donna was awarded Napa County’s Teacher of the Year as well as ANCSA’s Elementary School Principal of the Year. She was also the recipient of the New Tech Network’s Susan Schilling Legacy Award.
Although she valued her time in the work of education, Ms. Drago is thoroughly enjoying her retirement and favorite pastimes. As a certified Master Gardener it is not hard to imagine how much time is spent outdoors with the flowers, trees and pollinators. She is also an avid urban hiker and enjoys volunteer work with the Napa County Historical Society.
Susan is a proud 4th generation San Franciscan and 5th generation native Californian and has happily called St. Helena her home for the past 22 years.
Susan currently produces live events in the Napa Valley as well as around the country. She is currently serves on the board of UpValley Family Center and the White Barn.
Susan did a 5-year, part time stint with the St. Helena Chamber of Commerce, producing Chamber Events and the Weekly newsletter as well as conducting member outreach. Simultaneously she has been a project manager for Wine, Women & Shoes.
For 12 years Susan served as Director of Creative Services for ASE Group, a boutique and branding company. She also ran Dureya Floral Designs and Events. She earned a BA in Theater Arts from San Francisco State University.
Jason Daniels is an Associate Professor of History at California State University, East Bay. His research focuses primarily on the eighteenth-century Anglophone Atlantic world. His current research project examines the socio-economic and cultural histories of the Dickinson family estates in America, England, and Jamaica during the long eighteenth century. He has published articles in a variety of academic journals.
His most recent book, Jonathan Dickinson’s or God’s Protecting Providence: An Early American Castaway Narrative, examines shipwreck and captivity in the American Southeast during the late seventeenth century. As a resident of St. Helena, he is pleased to bring his academic experience to the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum.
Vanessa McMahon was born in San Diego, California. A first generation American with parents from Canada and Scotland, she grew up living between southern California, Canada and Scotland. She holds a graduate in Letters (English and Brazilian Portuguese) from UCLA and post-graduate in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway University, London. Since university, she spent nine years living in four countries in Europe and seven years in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It was during her life in Europe that she was bit by the fine wine bug.
Vanessa’s obsession with wine began in Italy twelve years ago where she lived and worked seasonally in the Italian wine industry. She dove deeper into wine when she embarked on the writing and directing of her documentary “Purple Gold” (2021), a history of the California wine industry. She has conducted over a decade of research relating to the history of wine from the New World and Europe, visited hundreds of wineries around the world, interviewed and filmed dozens of various significant characters in the California wine business and is currently a wine educator and marketing director for Vault Wines + Artifacts in Calistoga, CA.
Prior to working in the wine industry, she has held a career in the international film industry as a writer, film producer and film professional consultant. As a writer, she is a published novelist (The Road to Tataouine, A California Girl, Bosphorus), journalist for online daily news site Filmfestivals.com and a screenwriter with a TV series and wine documentary in the works.
John grew up in St. Helena but also has family roots in Calistoga, Pope Valley, and Conn Valley. He is currently an employee of the United States Postal Service, and serves on the board of the St. Helena Cemetery Association and on the finance committee of Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish in Calistoga. An avid reader and book collector, he credits Stevenson Museum founder Norman Strouse with inspiring him.
Mario Sculatti has been a lifelong resident of the Napa Valley. Growing up with his family in St. Helena and Calistoga, he has striven to make this community great. With his wife Katie and new son, Leo, Mario has continued to build on the family industry with ROAM Antiques & Design in Calistoga and his new wine venture, Mario Sculatti Wine Consulting. In addition to his business ventures, Mario has also served as a member of St. Helena City Council. A graduate of Economics and Architecture from the University of Virginia, Mario brings a great passion for history and the Valley to the Board of Trustees.
Bio coming soon…
The Robert Louis Stevenson Museum is open
Tuesday – Saturday from 12 to 4 PM
The Robert Louis Stevenson Museum depends on many sources to support our mission to preserve and promote the legacy of RLS
1490 Library Lane
P.O. Box 23
St. Helena, CA 94574
Tuesday 12 PM – 4 PM
Wednesday 12 PM – 4 PM
Thursday 12 PM – 4 PM
Friday 12 PM – 4 PM
Saturday 12 PM – 4 PM