Board of Directors
Judy Heck, President
Judy Heck has retired from careers in Telecommunications Marketing and Sales Training, Marketing Consulting, and unused Copper cable recovery and recycling. She enjoys writing autobiographical short stories, painting, singing and songwriting, along with golf, hiking and bicycling. She has been an intermittent student and member of CSM’s Board since 2006, and is a great believer in the value of music in our lives, having studied the research on human performance and engagement with music. In 2008, she recorded a CD of ballads and old jazz standards with a group of Bend’s great musicians ~ Michael Scott, David Ingraham, and Michelle Van Handel. In 2011, she wrote and recorded 8 original songs and recorded with Michael Scott, Andy Armer and Georges Bouhey, with the assistance of Michelle Van Handel in arranging and producing. This would not have been possible without CSM! She is committed to helping to helping CSM’s incredible and professional staff and Board to bring music making to everyone who desires it.
Kip Gladder, Vice President
Kip Gladder received his B.A. in Education at Washington State University, his M.S in School Administration at Portland State University, and his Ph.D in Educational Leadership at the University of Oregon. After teaching for 7 years he was an elementary school principal for 24 years. He has also taught graduate level classes in Educational Administration at PSU, Lewis & Clark, UO and initiated and chaired a Masters in School Administration program with the University of Phoenix. Having worked in schools that had strong string and band programs for young people, Kip is dedicated to helping promote those experiences for Bend area youth. He has taken beginning classes at Cascade School of Music and is a fledgling guitar student.
Christian Malone, Treasurer
Christian picked up the guitar in high school and has enjoyed the continuous pursuit to grow from mere player to musician ever since. He enjoys all types of music, but is especially fond of electric blues and old school rock 'n' roll. Christian moved to Bend in 2008 for its quality of life and outdoor recreational amenities. In addition to enjoying music, Christian and his family like to hike, snowshoe, and mountain bike the local trails. Christian obtained his law degree from Willamette University and focuses his local practice on civil and criminal litigation.
Melissa Barnes-Dholakia, Secretary
Melissa Barnes Dholakia is founder of MBD Partners, supporting new and existing charter schools and small districts in the areas of school design, goal setting, monitoring, and performance reporting. She works with new schools to design their educational program, mission-based business plan, and accountability measures. She also works with existing schools and small districts in refining their work in each of these areas. Prior to this, Melissa helped to build Lighthouse Community Charter Public Schools in East Oakland, where she served as co-Director for ten years. LCCPS operates two K-12 schools, supporting traditionally underserved students in achieving the college and career of their choice. Melissa earned her BA from Whitman College, MA from University of Oregon, and was a 2002 New Leaders for New Schools Fellow.
Jeremy Davidson
Jeremy is a software developer with 15+ years dedicated to crafting solutions to complex functional requirements with self-explanatory user experiences and fluent, well-tested, maintainable code. His path started with music and programming hobbies from the age fingers could first reach a piano or computer keyboard. His passion for music was ignited by his Mother, Joy Davidson, mezzo-soprano, who performed internationally in many of the world's great opera houses. Jeremy and Joy performed the first real-life mother-son productions of Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors, which was attended by the composer.
Once his voice broke, Jeremy became better suited for the wind instrument section. He performed oboe and highland bagpipes in high school, studied Physics and Music Composition in college, and plays in the Deschutes Caledonian Pipe Band today. As he continues to develop skills ranging from the newest Javascript frameworks, to snow and trail sports, to many other world music instruments, Jeremy identifies most importantly as a lifelong learner.
Renee Gonzalez
Renee Gonzalez grew up in Los Angeles and Orange County, California. She studied in Colima, Mexico, and then completed a bilingual cross-cultural language internship through California State University Fullerton. She taught elementary school in Santa Ana, on the Pala reservation, and in a dual language program in San Clemente. In 2007, Renee and her family moved to Bend and she began teaching English language development and mainstream classes at Jewell. She also taught in the dual immersion program at Bear Creek Elementary for six years. Now Renee is inspired to develop a culturally responsive arts-integrated curriculum for LCA’s Raices program and Amiguitos summer club. She studied Intercultural Communications at Humboldt State University in Arcata, Calif., and Arts Integration into the Curriculum through Lesley University.
Laura Heck
Laura Heck is a mom, a wife, a dog walker, an entrepreneur, an aspiring chef and an endurance sport enthusiast. Professionally, Laura is a licensed marriage and family therapist in private practice, co-host of marriage therapy radio, author, speaker and teacher to clinicians around the world. Her son, Holden has been playing piano with CSM since he was five years old.
Elisa Humphrey
Elisa advises leaders on brand development and strategy as a principal with a boutique consultancy. Her professional background includes 20+ years of experience as a marketing leader with global companies including Frito-Lay, Hotwire/Expedia, Amazon, and Precor. Elisa holds an MBA from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, and a BA in Economics from Vassar College. She is mom to three teens; two are currently students at Cascade School of Music (violin and guitar, and drums). Elisa is thankful for the opportunity to support the school’s continued growth and success.
Rich McPherson
Music has been a staple of life for Rich since discovering his parents’ John Denver 8-tracks in the mid 70’s. But it wasn’t until the late 80’s that his music-making journey started. Having been in some form of a band since age 14, Rich knows the positive effects that music can have on a person’s mental health. It saved his life and he’s more than ecstatic to give back to the community of Central Oregon by being involved with CSM.
Rich was born in Hawaii, raised in the Portland-metro area and has called Bend his home since 2020. When he’s not putting his BA in English to use as a Digital Content Producer for CareOregon, he’s either a) enjoying nature somewhere with his wife and two young children, b) putting miles on his running shoes, skis or mountain bike, or c) trying to find time to write that ever-elusive hit song.
Rick Stilson
Rick Stilson is the father to six awesome little musicians and spends many weekends at drum and piano performances for Cascade School of Music. He has a degree in Economics from UC Davis and over sixteen years of experience in commercial and custom home construction. He is currently the President of Stilson Builders, Inc. He is passionate about family time and has coached over twenty five youth teams over the years. Rick loves ultra trail running and gets many of his miles in while running with his wife or chasing his kids on their mountain bikes. His other passions include snowboarding, craft coffee, and the lofty idea that he would have enough free time in his week to grab a beer with a buddy.
Advisory Committee
Kurt Alexander
Kurt has an abiding passion for understanding cities and buildings, including the communities and people that inhabit them. Alongside Kurt’s passion for a built environment, Kurt comes with strong guiding principles which are underpinned by his Americorps social work background working with At-Risk Youth in Inner Baltimore City. As founder and owner of Petrich Properties, Kurt focuses on leading his business strategy to build meaningful relationships, guiding his business to fully manifest Petrich Properties' purpose, which is to create a positive impact in Bend’s Core for the generations to come.
Kurt serves as Chair for the City of Bend’s Core Area Advisory Committee, Founder and President of the Bend Central District Business Association, Founding Board member of the Bend Central District Visionary Board, and serves on the Advisory Boards for both the Children’s Museum of Central Oregon and Central Oregon Center for the Arts. Kurt was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, moving to Bend, Oregon, in 2010, where he lives with his wife and two young sons.
David Bourke
Dave served as a Founding Board Member of Cascade School of Music, shifting to the Advisory Board when he moved to Austin, Texas. He is the President of Bourke & Company, a management consulting firm specializing in market research and organizational effectiveness. In Austin, he is a high-level supporter of HAAM 2005, nonprofit organization that provides over 52,000 healthcare appointments for area musicians.
Chris Cochran
Chris is a founder and partner in The Mortgage Professionals of Central Oregon for 12 years, developed, owned and managed commercial real estate in Bend for 12 years and in 2011, he became a partner at Fratzke Property Management with Brian Fratzke. Chris was a long time Board Member prior to shifting to the Advisory Board.
Bob Dickey
Former President & CEO of Gannett media company. Prior to that Bob was President of Gannett's local publishing division prior to the company's split, from 2008 -- 2015. In that role, he oversaw 92 daily news brands along with approximately 400 non-daily products.
Christy Lanfri
Cristy is an advocate for arts organizations, children's organizations, and environmental organizations throughout Oregon.
Lori Nelson-King
Lori is a Marketing Writer, Editor and Social Media Manager who centers her work around creating compelling brand identities via creative, customer-centric content. As a B2B copywriter, she helps companies clearly communicate complex information, while attracting high-quality leads and turning those prospects into customers.
Sally Russell
Sally was the former Executive Director of Cascade Festival of Music 2001-2006, Broken Top Ltd partnership 1998-2000, Cascade Cycling Classic 1991-1994. Longtime member of Friends of Columbia Gorge. Community supporter of many of the nonprofits in Central Oregon, including Tower Theater, Caldera and XC Oregon.
Don Stevens
Don previously served on the CSM Board of Directors. His other non-profit board experiences in Central Oregon include the Ronald McDonald House, Mt. Bachelor Rotary Club and the City Club of Central Oregon. Don received a BS in Architecture from the University of Cincinnati, a Masters in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania and spent a year as a Fulbright Scholar in Denmark researching Danish school design. Following the Fulbright year, Don returned to his Alma Mater, U of Cincinnati, where he taught architectural design for 15 years as a tenured Associate Professor. This teaching experience included, among other duties, lecturing on architectural acoustics. This knowledge of acoustics was basic in his practice as an architect in his designs for theaters and schools with music departments. The most recent success was the design of the Madras Performing Arts Center.
Lorri Taylor
Lori is Vice President of Taylor NW LLC, where her focus is in the Land Development division overseeing projects including the recently completed Shevlin Health and Wellness Center. Lorri and her husband, Todd, have supported multiple community projects and nonprofits across our communities in Central Oregon.
Louann Thomas
Louann holds a BS from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington and initially worked as a Medical Technologist/Clinical Chemist. Later she joined the healthcare computer industry and was Vice President of Customer Service and Strategic Planning. She enjoys music of all kinds and as a child played the violin and piano but now prefers to listen and enjoy. She and her husband moved to Bend in 1996 and have seen quite a change in the community over the years. Louann has been involved in many of Bend’s community activities: Chair of the Bend Development Board, Central Oregon Symphony Board in various positions, Arts Central Board, President of the local chapter of Quota International, tournament chair of the Three Sisters Open Golf tournament, President of Awbrey Glen Women’s Golf Association, and an active member of Grace First Lutheran Church serving as Chair of Capital Funding and Endowments. To relax, she enjoys a friendly game of golf, travelling the world, duplicate bridge, Mah Jongg, hiking in the Cascades and making pine needle baskets incorporating artifacts into her baskets found while hiking. Louann has been a long-time supporter of the Cascade School of Music and is delighted to be a part of this vibrant organization that plays such an important role in our community for musicians of all ages.
Jim D. Wetherbee
Jim is a retired NASA Astronaut. Over his twenty-year career, he flew six times on the Space Shuttle. The five-time commander flew two missions to the Russian Space Station, Mir, and two missions to the International Space Station. With thirty-five years of experience in high-hazard operational environments, Jim is passionate about helping leaders and operators in dangerous endeavors with critical mission objectives. He is a lecturer, author, and musician.