I am an entrepreneur with a passion for connecting people with live music. My experiences starting companies, performing music, innovating in tech, and teaching people have all taken me to this special place of leading major symphony orchestras.I frequently encounter people who have never heard an orchestra live, especially not in a concert hall. The symphony orchestra is capable of expressing and eliciting an enormous range of emotion. As human beings, we are hard-wired to enjoy this music as the sonorities and harmonies resonate with our lived experiences and memories. I am moved not only by the music itself, but by others' experience of that music. It is a thrill to see someone experience a mighty Mahler symphony for the first time - to witness their reactions to the physical forces encompassing every part of their being and their newfound awareness of something grander than the everyday. These things bring about an irrepressible energy in me. I did not know that I would have a career in orchestra management; I frankly did not know that was even a thing. But in this work, I have found my calling. Over the last 20 years I have worked to advance music in different ways. I was a music educator in public schools. I was freelance musician, traveling around the southeastern US performing on the trombone with orchestras and ensembles. (A highlight was swinging in the stage band for the Temptations!) I supported my musical training and ambitions through launching and running technology companies immediately following the dot-com boom, and through this work I was invited to join the board of directors of a regional orchestra. My work as a volunteer board member eventually led me to accept a full-time position as an orchestra CEO, and with this I found all of my energies aligned.Today, I lead one of the top 30 symphony orchestras in America. I have an incredible team, a supportive board, and enormous community support. With these partners and friends, I hope to make symphonic music desirable and available to more of the community than ever before. We are patiently bringing the experience of orchestra concerts into the 21st century. We will perform and present music to the best of our abilities. We will tell stories and immerse audiences in sound and sight, and we will create experiences that leave lasting emotional souvenirs of each and every concert.These are my aspirations for our field, and with the talents and passions of many, we will bring along more people than ever to this music.