CJC - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Operations
Job Titles:
- Director and CFO ) Attorney at Law
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Marketing Associate
- Marketing Associate / Interim Marketing Associate
Arbella is a dynamic communications professional who excels in crafting impactful digital narratives and developing strategies for multi-platform promotional campaigns. Arbella is an Indigenous Middle Eastern woman who is fluent in Assyrian and proficient in Arabic, adding a multicultural dimension to her skillset. She is an avid cyclist.
Former Vice President, Associate General Counsel, Corporate Law, and Assistant Secretary at Hewlett-Packard Company and Apple Inc.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director, the Recording Academy San Francisco Chapter
Executive Director, Recording Academy San Francisco Chapter. Christen and the San Francisco Chapter team serve Recording Academy voting, professional, and student members in Northern California, Northern Nevada, Utah, and Colorado. Christen has spent nearly 30 years building professional and creative development programs and events that educate, activate, and celebrate success in the field of music. Prior to joining the Academy staff, Christen was Director of Marketing and Events at Guitar Player, Bass Player, Electronic Musician, Mix, and Remix magazines, where she oversaw audience marketing, media, and live events for music creators and gear makers worldwide.
Job Titles:
- Administrator
- Fundraising Consultant
- Managing Director, Freight and Salvage
Clayton Shelvin is a performing arts administrator and fundraising professional with over 10 years of experience in driving organizational change in the non-profit sector. Clayton's work is rooted in equity, community partnership, and social justice.
He is currently the Managing Director of Freight & Salvage, a 55-year-old music venue and non-profit in Berkeley, CA that is dedicated to preserving and presenting roots and folk music from around the world., Clayton also served as Director of Development at Alonzo King LINES Ballet and previously in the same role at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley during its major leadership transition and the COVID-19 pandemic. Before moving to the Bay Area, he served as Director of Performing Arts at the Acadiana Center for the Arts where he booked and developed a season of music, theatre, dance, and film, along with created music-based programming like AcA NXT, a program geared towards mentoring and promoting up-and-coming local musicians. He also worked as Associate Producer at Le Petit Theatre, in New Orleans.
Clayton has worked as a fundraising consultant for several organizations across the country, focusing on rebuilding and designing fundraising strategies, implementing a culture of philanthropy throughout their day-to-day work, and refocusing their foundation and corporate strategies. In addition to his work as an arts administrator, he has worked over the past 15 years as a freelance theatre director and choreographer and is currently writing his first full-length stage musical.
Clayton resides with his husband and 5-year-old daughter in San Francisco and continues to be involved in music and theatre in various ways across the country.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Director / President, Brown Radio and Audio Solutions
President, Dansun Productions, Vice-President Bill Graham Presents, retired
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Director of Finance
Deborah joined the California Jazz Conservatory in December 2022 as the Director of Finance. She brings an abundance of experience as a business entrepreneur, project manager and audit professional across multiple industries, spanning manufacturing, financial services, and higher education. Deborah received both her Masters of Business Administration in Accounting & Finance and Bachelors of Arts in East Asian Studies from UC Berkeley. She currently volunteers with the Friends of the Berkeley Public Library and the UC Botanical Gardens, and has previously served as a board member and treasurer for various Berkeley Unified School District affiliated organizations.
Partner, Abrams-Millikan Design Construction Development
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Chairman of the Academic Senate
- Diversity Consultant
Woods is the ninth woman to be elected to serve as senate chair and the only chair to become chair mid-term without having had previous senate chair experience.
Dr. Amy Kweskin shares insights into the business of art through her consulting and coaching practice Artsightful. Working collaboratively with her clients, Amy specializes in developing inspiring and accomplishable strategic plans utilizing methodologies she developed in her work as a professor at Golden Gate University, St. Mary's College of California, Oklahoma University, and previously as a full-time faculty member at The Art Institute of California-San Francisco. Her strategic tools are shared in the Center for Cultural Innovation publication, Business of Art: An Artist's Guide to Profitable Self-Employment. Additionally, Amy is Director of Professional Development at Intersection for the Arts where she presents business of art workshops and cohort training programs to artists and administrators of fiscally sponsored projects.
Amy earned her Doctor of Business Administration degree from Golden Gate University and conducted her dissertation research into the Exploration of California worker status law compliance on arts fiscal sponsors and fiscally sponsored arts projects: A case study. Previously, Amy earned a Master's in Arts Administration from Golden Gate University and Bachelor's degrees in Cinema/Photography and English from Ithaca College. To bring a balance of emotional intelligence and mindfulness into her offerings, Amy earned a diploma in Neurolinguistic Programming and is a Certified Leadership and Career Coach. Additionally, she incorporates somatic practice into her lifework as a 500-hour certified yoga instructor.
Composer, percussionist, ethnomusicologist, Guggenheim and Ford Fellow, Smithsonian Associate Scholar, and GRAMMY nominee Dr. Anthony Brown has collaborated with Max Roach, Cecil Taylor, Zakir Hussain, Pharoah Sanders, Steve Lacy, David Murray, Anthony Davis and the San Francisco Symphony. Dr. Brown holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in music (ethnomusicology) from UC Berkeley, and a Master of Music degree in jazz performance from Rutgers University. He Received the Distinguished Alumnus Award in Music from the University of Oregon in 2017. Dr. Brown has served as a Visiting Professor of Music at UC Berkeley, an adviser and consultant for The Exploratorium, and previously was Curator of American Musical Culture and Founding Director of the Jazz Oral History Program at the Smithsonian Institution. He is currently Artistic Director of Fifth Stream Music, and the internationally acclaimed Asian American Orchestra. He has contributed chapters to "John Coltrane and Black America's Quest For Freedom" (Oxford U. Press), "The Cambridge Companion to Duke Ellington" (Cambridge U. Press), and his book, "GIVE THE DRUMMER SOME! The Development of Modern Jazz Drumming" is forthcoming on California Jazz Conservatory Press.
Jaz Sawyer (with one "Z") began playing drums at an early age in the Haight Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Several of Jaz's early mentors and teachers include Eddie Marshall, John Santos, Ed Kelly, Mondre Moffatt, and Raymond Froehlich (SF Symphony). Jaz's musical studies have taken him through music programs at the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, San Franscico Conservatory of Music, Stanford Jazz Workshop, Michael Carvin School of Drumming, and The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music.
Dr. Sawyer possesses an eclectic and refined personal style of drumming that stems from his deep roots with musical training in classical, jazz, and Afro-Caribbean styles. Jaz has worked with many notable artists, including Wynton Marsalis, Abbey Lincoln, George Benson, Bobby Hutcherson, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Randy Weston, Phil Lesh & Friends, Herb Alpert, and M'Lumbo, in the world's premier concert venues such as Carnegie Hall, Blue Note, Kennedy Center, Sydney Opera House, The Concertgebouw, and Lincoln Center.
Job Titles:
- Program Staff Member
- Associate Professor, Part - Time
- Director, Jazzschool Young Musicians Program Trumpet
Erik Jekabson is a freelance trumpet player, composer, arranger and educator who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is equally busy playing and composing for different bands, leading his own groups, (the Erik Jekabson Sextet, the String-tet and the Electric Squeezebox Orchestra) teaching a wide variety of students and running the Young Musicians Program at the California Jazz Conservatory.
He's spent time on the road with Illinois Jacquet, John Mayer, Galactic, and the Howard Fishman Quartet, and has performed at such notable venues as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Algonquin Room, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Madison Square Garden, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with David Letterman.
As an arranger and composer, he's arranged for both vocalists (Madeleine Peyroux, Ani DiFranco, Jane Krakowski, Jackie Ryan, Kenny Washington, Madeline Eastman, Kellye Gray, Kalil Wilson, Sandy Cressman, Raz Kennedy, Rachel Efron and the spoken word artist Avotcja) and instrumental ensembles. (San Francisco Symphony, the BBC Radio Orchestra, Utah Symphony, the Daggerboard Collective, Throttle Elevator Music, and his own Electric Squeezebox Orchestra, which holds a monthly residency at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Director / Director, the Ward and Florence Beecher Foundations Founder, Erle 's Solano Club Member, National Ski Patrol
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board
- Chairman of the Board / Chief Financial Officer, FinancialForce
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Director / Founder and CEO, Another Planet Entertainment
Branch Manager, University Branch Center, Wells Fargo
Job Titles:
- VP Programming, Jazz at Lincoln Center
Job Titles:
- Program Staff Member
- Dean of Instruction, CJC Double and Electric Bass Chair, Bass Department
Jeff Denson has released 16 albums as a leader or co-leader and toured extensively throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe with both his own groups and others at some of the world's most prestigious venues and festivals such as the Village Vanguard, Birdland, The Kennedy Center, JVC Jazz Festival Paris, Montreal Jazz Festival, Berlin Jazz Festival, and SFJazz to name a few. Jeff has worked with some of jazz's finest artists such as Brian Blade, Joe Lovano, Chris Potter, Billy Childs, Jane Ira Bloom, Dave Douglas, Walter Smith III, Kendrick Scott, Rachel Z, Omar Hakim, Gerald Cleaver, Warren Wolf, Leo Genovese, Edward Simon, Paul McCandless, Cuong Vu, Ralph Alessi, Dan Weiss, Lionel Loueke, Romain Pilon, and Mimi Fox, among many others and had an ongoing relationship with the legendary Lee Konitz for over a decade until his passing in 2020. Jeff has been ranked in the DownBeat Rising Star Critic's Poll ten times in the Bass, Electric Bass and Male Vocalist categories, and was voted #1 Rising Star Electric Bassist in 2021. Jeff is the Founder and Artistic Director of Ridgeway Arts, Inc., a 501c3 arts nonprofit organization and the Dean of Instruction at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Director / Principal, Zygote Ventures
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Director / Software Development Engineer, Microsoft Corp., Retired
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Secretary
- Secretary of the Board of Directors
- Secretary General Counsel, OwnBackup Former Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Commercial, Salesforce
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Administration and Operations Associate
Jonathan joined CJC in September 2019, following a 30+ year career as a Public Relations executive at PR/Marketing companies in New York and San Francisco. During his career, Jonathan was responsible for launching consumer and consumer technology companies, as well as serving as a broadcast media specialist. Among the companies and products he helped launch was Oakland-based Savage Beast Technologies, which later became the music streaming company Pandora. Prior to public relations, Jonathan was a program analyst at NBC in NYC. In addition to his PR background, Jonathan is a well-established Bay Area-based singer, who has performed throughout the US and in Europe. He has released two CDs, "A Lot Of Living To Do" and "At Last…Songs for Elena," both on the Pacific Coast Jazz label.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- House Manager
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- VP of Administration & Operations
An experienced administrator and systems analyst with a long career in non-profits, education and the arts, Julie has conversational fluency in eight languages and is an avid folk musician and aficionado of the tenor guitar and button accordion. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her two daughters.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Director
- Director, Financial Aid
Karen joined CJC as the director of financial aid in the spring of 2016. She began her career as a financial aid administrator in 1985. Experience includes 18 years as a Director of Financial Aid at private universities in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a private financial aid consultant, she served as Interim Director for various colleges and state universities, providing assistance in the areas of office management, program review, auditing federal compliance and computer software implementation for financial aid departments. She strives to provide students financial aid funds, assisting them along the way through the application process.
Job Titles:
- Director Emeritus, Music Industry Studies ( University of the Pacific ) . Author, Educator, and Music Industry Consultant
Arriving in California as a teenager in the summer of 1965, Keith Hatschek used his birthday money to make a down payment on a red Orpheus electric guitar (with whammy bar) and 4-watt Kay amplifier. His passion for music and technology has continued unabated over his four decades in music. After fourteen formative years of musical performing, recording and songwriting, he built his own commercial recording studio, Bayshore Studios. Four years later, he joined one of the leading recording studios in the U.S., Music Annex, Inc.
During his twelve-year stint with Music Annex, Hatschek worked as recording engineer, producer, project manager, Director of Client Services, and Vice President of Sales and Marketing. He also produced albums, music for award-winning radio and television advertisements, and the soundtrack for Apple Computer's first CD-ROM. He led Music Annex's diversification efforts from traditional recording services into duplication and digital audio post production. During this same time, Music Annex grew from 10 to 75 employees and into multi-million dollar annual revenues.
From 1995 to 2001, he headed Keith Hatschek & Associates, a San Francisco-based marketing and public relations firm serving the entertainment and media technology industries. Agency clientele included an international list of firms in the broadcast, post production, music, recording and consumer electronics industries.
Hatschek began teaching part time in 1994 at San Francisco State University and found the work both challenging and rewarding. In 2001, he accepted a full time appointment as Director of the Music Management program at University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. During his time leading the program, it has evolved to offer an innovative mix of coursework that features experiential learning throughout all four years of studies. Many of his former students have become successful music executives and entrepreneurs, helping manage the music business operations at firms such as Apple Music, Universal Music, Capitol Records, Another Planet Entertainment, Live Nation, Spotify, Warner Music Group, and more. Upon his retirement from full time teaching in 2021, he was recognized by University of the Pacific with its highest honor, The Order of Pacific, and joined the ranks of Pacific's Emeriti Faculty.
Hatschek is also an award-winning author whose most recent book, The Real Ambassadors: Dave and Iola Brubeck and Louis Armstrong Challenge Segregation was selected for the ASCAP Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Outstanding Book Award in Popular Music for 2023. Hatschek's other books include: How to Get a Job in the Music Industry (3rd Ed.), a required textbook at many music business programs, The Golden Moment: Recording Secrets from the Pros, The Historical Dictionary of the Music Industry, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the New Music Industry, a collection of more than 70 of his online articles which offer common sense, easy-to-apply artistic and business guidance for the DIY musician. He has presented his research at academic conferences and major jazz festivals across the U.S. as well as Canada, England, and Poland.
Hatschek has taught online classes at Berkleemusic.com in music industry PR and career development, and from 1995 to 2018 he contributed a regular column with advice and tips for performing and recording artists in the popular DiscMakers music blog. Hatschek continues to contribute to the education community as a member of the editorial review panel for the Journal of the Music and Entertainment Industry Educators Association (MEIEA), as well as serving on advisory boards at the University of Pacific Conservatory of Music, Las Positas Community College, and the California Jazz Conservatory.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Director / President and CEO of Whitman Development Company and Whitman Capital
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Technician
- Associate Professor, Part - Time
- Sound Technician
Lyz Luke is a futuristic leader with over 15 years of dedicated work amplifying the intersection between arts, culture, and community empowerment. Lyz currently serves as the Executive Director of Living Jazz in Oakland, CA. Luke has presented concerts and events throughout the Bay Area and has worked with over 150 diverse local bands and over 2,000 local musicians. Her passion is building a stronger community through music and the arts. Luke's performance management, production, and development background is bolstered by extensive experience in nonprofit fundraising, event planning, and public relations. Lyz is known for founding the award winning series UnderCover Presents in 2010 and has since released 15 studio-recorded albums and showcases as part of the series. She has also worked with Oakland Symphony, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), Embodiment Project, Red Poppy Art House, ArtSpan (SF Open Studios), AIDS Walk, The San Francisco Marathon, and others. Lyz Luke achievements include being a certified mediator, serving on the board of Californians for the Arts/Californian Arts Advocates, former three-term Governor on the SF Board of the Recording Academy (GRAMMYs); Leadership Oakland Class of 2017, serving as an Oakland Rotarian, 2017's YBCA 100 List; East Bay Express "Best of", SF Weekly's "Best of" (2x), and SF Guardian "Best of", Grants Panelist for Oakland Cultural Funding Program and City of Denver Music Advancement Fund, 3 Oakland Mayoral Proclamations presented at UnderCover shows to Sly & The Family Stone, Phife Dawg of A Tribe Called Quest, and Green Day, B.S. in Economics from St. John's University, NCAA Championship ring in fencing.
CFA, CFP, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, New York, NY
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Operations
Marshall Williams, a third generation bay area native, comes from a musical family with members in San Francisco and Boston Symphonies. He has over 15 years of professional experience in performing, recording, and teaching. Marshall received a Bachelors of Music in Jazz Studies from the California Jazz Conservatory in 2021 and is often listening to music that is not jazz, constantly looking for new artists and production styles to listen to and check out. He has become a DJ and producer in recent years as a creative outlet for his obsessive exploration.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Director, Operations
Born and raised in Concord, NH, Max graduated Berklee College of Music, was a recording studio owner and activist in Brooklyn, NY, and has been directing operations at CJC since 2017. In his spare time he plays guitar and sings in Vannon, a doomed heavy metal band.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- House Manager
Melina Berkov-Rojas has worked in TV & Film production for over 20 years now, in a variety of roles and production types. She is passionate about storytelling, creative problem-solving, and most of all connecting with the community in meaningful ways. She grew up surrounded by music, rhythm, and dance. Hailing Costa Rican roots on her mother's side, she grew up dancing salsa, cumbia and merengue. Her father, a professional Flamenco guitarist and luthier, brought the beautifully complex art of Flamenco into her home and her heart.
She has studied with many renowned Flamenco artists here in the Bay Area, in the Los Angeles area, and in Sevilla, Spain. In addition, she has studied salsa cante and clave rhythm with Josh Jones, one of CJC's music professors. She has performed salsa and Flamenco cante and dance throughout the Los Angeles and Bay Areas with a variety of artists. She currently performs in a monthly Flamenco show at The Ocean Ale House in San Francisco.
She has worked at CJC as a House Manager for close to a year now, and greatly enjoys the community of the Jazz Conservatory, and all of the wonderful things that CJC has to offer. She is thrilled to serve the students, performers, and clientele that come to enjoy the wonderful shows offered at CJC.
Vice President/Senior Investment Manager Wells Fargo
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Treasurer, Finance Committee Chair
- Treasurer, Finance Committee Chair / Founding Partner, Symphony Asset Management LLC ( Retired ) Director and Treasurer of the Marin Agricultural Land Trust
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- President
- Program Staff Member
- Employee at Concord Music Group
- Second President of the Pioneering
For more than three decades, Nick Phillips has been an ever-present, creative force in the world of jazz: a GRAMMY®-recognized record producer; a jazz consultant to artists, record labels, and the music industry; an educator, panelist, and workshop leader; a hands-on coach of award-winning artists; a playlist curator for major online music distributors; a critically acclaimed, Billboard-charting, jazz recording artist; and now, President of the California Jazz Conservatory, the only accredited, independent music conservatory in the country solely devoted to jazz.
Nick Phillips has been featured as a jazz and recording industry panelist and workshop leader at numerous conferences and events around the country, including NEA Open World Project, Jazz Education Network, Jazz Connect, the International Association for Jazz Education, the Jazz Composers' Symposium (University of South Florida), JazzTimes, GRAMMY® Career Day, GRAMMY® in the Schools, West Coast Songwriters, the California Jazz Conservatory, Loyola University, and the University of the Pacific.
He has developed and taught several courses and workshops at the University of the Pacific, and, through Nick's board service with the Recording Academy and the University of the Pacific, he has mentored numerous students over his many years of educational service.
Multi-GRAMMY® Award nominee Nnenna Freelon is known worldwide as a compelling and captivating live performer.
Accolades, honors, and awards have abounded, including performances at The White House; headlining the Asia Pacific Economic Summit for three hundred presidents, premiers and heads of state; receiving the YWCA of North Carolina's inaugural "Legend Award" for her outstanding artistry and her dedication to education; and so much more. Nnenna also starred in the critically acclaimed show Georgia on My Mind: Celebrating the Music of Ray Charles. No stranger to the music of the master singer, she toured with Ray Charles, as well as many other great jazz artists, including Ellis Marsalis, Al Jarreau, George Benson, Earl Klugh, Take 6, and others.
Educating young people, both musicians and non-musicians, and students of all ages has propelled her advocacy, Nnenna toured the United States as the National Spokesperson for Partners in Education. Her master classes and workshops, from "Sound Sculpture" to the ground-breaking "Babysong," instruct adults and children that you too can change the world-even one person at a time-with her anthem "One Child at a Time," found on her Soulcall (Concord Jazz) recording. From Partners in Education to the United Way, Freelon has been a tireless advocate and fundraiser for education and arts causes.
Amid a burgeoning activity schedule, 2019 and 2020 also brought profound challenges and loss. In 2019, Nnenna's husband for 40 years, renowned architect Phil Freelon, passed away after his battle with ALS. Within six months, Nnenna's sister, Dr. Debbie Pierce, passed away from cancer.
In her efforts to find her voice amidst these challenges, Nnenna re-emerged with new ways to share her feelings and express her experiences, including launching an award-winning podcast called Great Grief and releasing a new album, Time Traveler, which received a GRAMMY nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album and found Nnenna co-hosting and performing at the 2023 GRAMMY Premiere Ceremony.
Her follow-up 2023 album, Ancestors-a recording collaboration with her son, Pierce Freelon-resulted in a GRAMMY® nomination for Best Children's Music Album, making Nnenna a seven-time GRAMMY® nominee.
Job Titles:
- Fundraising Consultant
- Registered Fundraising Counsel
Phil Kohlmetz is a registered Fundraising Counsel in the State of California. He has spent his entire 35+ year career working to strengthen not-for-profit, public benefit organizations, most notably as Executive Director of the Napa Valley Museum, Development Director of the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Executive Director of the Western Railway Museum, and as a long-time Board Member and Past President of the California Association of Museums.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Design
Job Titles:
- Director of Education, SFJAZZ. Author and Latin GRAMMY - Nominated Artist / Producer
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Vice Chairperson of the Board, Audit Committee Chair
- Vice Chairperson of the Board, Audit Committee Chair / Partner, Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean, LLP, Attorneys at Law
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Program Staff Member
- Director, Jazzschool
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Piano Technician
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Operations
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Marketing Director, Business of Music - Marketing
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Development Committee
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Administrative Staff Member
- Registrar and Custodian of Records
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors