Scott Nilsson

Biography

 

Ballet and the Theatre     Scott grew up a theatre kid - the son of John Bitterman-Barricks, a stage theatre director and Executive Director of the state art's agencies in Indiana and Georgia - and Assistant Director in South Carolina, and Elisabeth Nelson-Bitterman, an artist, lyricist, author and arts educator.  Moving south from metropolitan New York at eleven, Scott got involved in the family business, receiving rave reviews for performances in stage musicals - most notably as the Artful Dodger in Oliver!.  Dancing in Oliver! led to a career-passion for ballet under Ann Brodie at the Columbia City Ballet, and her Ballet Mistress Fina Suarez, formerly Ballet Mistress for Alicia Alonzo with the National Ballet of Cuba.  Scott's efforts were rewarded with a Ford Foundation Grant, awarded by Violette Verdy, then Principal Dancer at New York City Ballet.  Scott's studies included School of American Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Harkness House, Indiana University and New York University - under teachers ranging from Michael Lland (Ballet Master, American Ballet Theatre), and Denise Jefferson (School Director, Alvin Ailey), to Colin Russell (former Ballet Master at Sadler's Wells Ballet, later the Royal Ballet in London - now an international guest teacher based near San Francisco).  Scott studied Tae Kwon Do, fencing, African dance, modern dance, jazz, and tap - with Donna Drake, of the original Broadway cast of The Chorus Line, and now a Broadway Director.  To enhance the start of his professional career, Scott also studied privately, six days a week, for eighteen months with Mr. Russell, until a plantar wart ended his dance career: he had danced with the Columbia City Ballet for four years, and performed with the Indianapolis Ballet and toured with the Atlanta Ballet - as well as for the IU Ballet Department for three years and at NYU, in addition to pickup dance companies in Manhattan.  More information on Scott's dancing is available at Dancing Scott.  Scott graduated with High Distinction from Indiana University, with additional studies at New York University.

 

Studio 54 - A Memorable College Job     Starting while a student at NYU, Scott worked for nearly two years at Studio 54, the renowned Manhattan nightspot - first as busboy, then as Assistant Manager as well as at the front.  He also ran the third-shift crew during the first renovation of the club and created the VIP area in the basement of the club, decorating parties for Bianca Jagger, Halston, Liza Minnelli and Baryshnikov; it was so successful that Ian Schrager, one of the three club owner's, formalized the area as a new addition to the nightclub.  It was an exciting time to be twenty-one in New York: Scott was Liza's guest backstage at her Broadway show - The Act, received regular complimentary passes to the Metropolitan Opera, and worked very long nights.  Unfortunately, there were voids: the work held little meaning.  Scott left in late 1979.

 

Atlanta    After licensing in realty and designing commercial real estate brochures, Scott joined his brother, Eric - who was working his way through business school at a small nonprofit retirement community: Briarcliff Oaks,  a senior housing ministry of Clairmont Oaks, Inc. and the First Baptist Church of Decatur.  For the next twenty-four years, Scott worked between Briarcliff Oaks and sister-community Clairmont Oaks, becoming a nationally recognized resource on everything from facility management and operations to the fathomless morass of state and federal regulations governing everything from HUD-affiliated housing to all aspects of business operations... in the service of thousands of seniors for many years.  That was the true reward and the meaning he had so missed in life: the relationship with his "ladies" (and gentlemen) - Scott's residents, and the many thousands of hugs he got to share with them while they shared the stories of their lives.

 

Skating     Though working with seniors brought the meaning back to life, it was many years until he discovered a physical challenge he would enjoy as much.  Through endless hours of skating laps around the lake in Piedmont Park, commuting through urban rush-hour Atlanta traffic and on the open roads of the Georgia countryside, inline marathon speed skating matched the pleasure and the challenge that ballet had provided.  Scott also volunteered for eleven years with the ultra-marathon road skate, Athens-to-Atlanta, eventually as co-organizer and founder of a new nonprofit parent organization, the Georgia International Road Skating Association.  The last three years of his involvement as co-organizer, Athens-to-Atlanta partnered with Team-in-Training to raise nearly $1.5 million dollars for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society for the fight against cancer.

 

A new path in life.     In January 2005, Scott was invited to pursue a start-up business venture in partnership with his brother, a Senior CPA for ten years at a "big-four" public accounting firm, and a former senior financial executive for a multi-billion dollar corporation.  Having made a full time commitment, Scott resigned his position as Executive Director at Briarcliff Oaks, a senior housing ministry of Clairmont Oaks, Inc., and concurrently resigned positions on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of Georgia Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (GAHSA.org) – where Scott represented Georgia in the House of Delegates, providing adjunct governance support to the Board of Directors of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA.org) in Washington, DC.  It was a distinct honor and privilege to serve the needs of the larger community of seniors through GAHSA and AAHSA in a variety of capacities over the past several years.   Scott had worked for Clairmont Oaks Inc since April 1981.  At then end of January 2005, Scott's residents, staff and Board of Directors joined to celebrate his nearly twenty-four years of service to Clairmont Oaks Inc. and to the field of nonprofit affordable senior housing and services (and in January 2006, Scott and Kristy returned to join with the residents, staff and Board of Directors in celebrating the 25th anniversary of Briarcliff Oaks).

          Scott and his brother ended operations in February 2006.  They enjoyed their labors together, and regret the loss of what they looked forward to creating, but due to a variety of circumstances beyond the control of the principals, including promotion of his brother/partner's spouse to Senior Vice President of a four billion dollar multinational based in Ohio - which precluded a planned return to Atlanta, it was determined after a year of start-up operations that the logistical complexity of initiating and conducting operations interstate was insurmountable.  During that intervening year, they completed a successful joint-venture in Ohio, and Scott served as consulting-designer for the physical space for a new business that opened in metropolitan Atlanta in May 2006.  Well-wishes of family and friends were for the endeavor were greatly appreciated, and they were most sorry that they were not able to return that support with services that would have enhanced the lives of others, as was their intent.

 

Scott consults on a pro-bono basis for selected nonprofit organizations and artists in several areas of business operations, including: operations systems analysis and improvement; risk management; information technology; web site content and efficacy; marketing and public relations; special event development, organization and execution; staff and organizational development; and, creative problem solving.  Scott brings twenty-years experience working with a nonprofit Board of Directors, and has strong business and creative writing skills.

 

In 2006, Scott co-authored a coming-of-age comedy that is currently in preparation with industry editors for promotion to production companies; a second script is in progress and additional projects are in development. Scott enjoys contract work and providing pro-bono consulting support and writing services to select nonprofits and charitable organizations while getting ready for the next phase.

 

Scott maintains support pages for Athens-to-Atlanta, the international road skating ultra marathon at MySpace.com/AthensToAtlanta with the A2A Group at Groups.MySpace.com/AthensToAtlanta - and Scott and Kristy together maintain a profile myspace.com/2nilssons.

 

Scott's LinkedIn profile is at linkedin.com/in/scottnilsson also online at scottnilsson.zaadz.com