Chesapeake Music Welcomes New Leadership Team

Chesapeake Music is pleased to announce that Kae Dakin is the newly elected Chair and Lisa Connors is the newly elected Vice Chair of the Chesapeake Music Board of Directors. Both women bring a wealth of valuable experience to these roles.

Kae holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Vermont, and two master’s degrees—one in clinical psychology from Yeshiva University in New York City, and another in nonprofit management from the University of Maryland Global Campus. When living in London, Kae was a learning disabilities practitioner with College Bound USA. Her other former positions include CEO of Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers, and President of her own consulting firm called Dakin Associates Consulting, where Kae served as a strategic consultant and coach to executives, and governing boards of nonprofits, associations, and nongovernmental organizations. Kae has been a Board member of Chesapeake Music for three years and is currently on the Board of the Oxford Museum.

Lisa Connors holds an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. Her former positions include Financial Analyst at Chemical Bank, Assistant Treasurer for The Seagram Company, and Chief Financial Officer at World Education Services.

Both Kae and Lisa host musicians at their homes during Chesapeake Music’s competitions, festivals, and Interlude concerts. They found getting to know these rising stars to be such an incredibly rewarding experience that they wanted to become more involved with the organization.

One of their main goals for Chesapeake Music in these leadership positions is to heighten the awareness of the many aspects of music that Chesapeake Music brings to the Eastern Shore. “The quality and breadth of our offerings are truly amazing,” Kae proclaimed. “We want to be sure that as many people as possible take advantage of all that we offer—that includes education for our youth, competitions, a two-week festival every June with rising stars and performers with incredible depth and experience, and various other concerts throughout the year.”

The Board will embark on a strategic planning process next month to discuss how Chesapeake Music can best provide the community with offerings that will generate excitement and resonate with concert goers.

“We want to get the word out to ensure that the next generation of concert goers will value Chesapeake Music as much as we do,” explained Lisa. “We also want to ensure that our offerings are appealing and of interest to the new generation.”

Kae and Lisa also wanted to remind the community that volunteer opportunities abound at Chesapeake Music and include working on various committees, assisting at concerts, becoming host families for musicians, and, of course, fundraising.

Mariana Lesher, outgoing Chair, served on the Chesapeake Music Board for nine years. Mariana describes her time on the Board as, “rewarding and exciting, particularly over my final two years, as Chesapeake Music celebrated 40 years of the Festival and hired its first full-time Executive Director, David Faleris.”

Dave is a seasoned arts administrator with more than 15 years of experience at internationally renowned institutions, such as Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Berklee College of Music, and Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

The co-Artistic Directors of Chesapeake Music are Marcy Rosen, a professor of cello at the Aaron Copland Schol of Music at Queens College, and Catherine Cho, a faculty member at The Juilliard School. Both Marcy and Catherine are highly sought-after performers in their own right and have appeared worldwide with many orchestras and chamber ensembles.

For more information about Chesapeake Music and to check out upcoming concerts, be sure to go to Chesapeakemusic.org.