Overview

Russ Perlich, winner of the 2015 Piper Trust Encore Career Prize, is the founder of Act One, a nonprofit that creatively addresses inequity in public schools. Perlich and his wife Linda (known as “Mac”) established Act One in 2011, after 35 years leading Arizona-based engineering firm Quadna, in order to address “not only the quality of education, but the equality of education.” Perlich has dedicated his encore career to ensuring underserved students receive arts education and exposure to the performing arts.