Virginia, an assistant professor of music at Simpson College, is a soprano who has performed with numerous orchestras across North America, including Cincinnati, Detroit, Milwaukee, Minnesota, Winnipeg, Houston and Utah as well as the St. Louis Symphony under the direction of Leonard Slatkin. Carnegie Hall audiences have heard her in Fauré’s Requiem with the New Jersey Symphony. Equally at home on the opera stage, Croskery Lauridsen has received critical acclaim in such works as Cosí fan Tutte (Dorabella).

Sara Danielson is a K-5 music teacher in Des Moines Public Schools at Walnut Street School, an International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program school. She received Bachelor of Music degrees in music education and performance (flute) in 2003 from the University of Northern Iowa, and a Master of Arts degree with a music education concentration in 2018 from Eastern Illinois University.
Sara also has a small private flute studio, is in her second term as the Xi B Province Officer for Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity, and holds the piccolo positions with the Cedar Rapids Municipal Band and Central Iowa Wind Ensemble. She resides in Ankeny with her husband, Jason, and their three sons, Carter, Maxwell, and Isaac.

David Ertl was born and raised in Connecticut.He received his B.S. in Agronomy from theUniversity of Connecticut and hisM.S. and Ph.D. in Plant Breeding fromIowa State University.His professional experience includes 23 years at Pioneer Hi-Bred, where he was a corn breeder and research director. For the past 8 years David has worked for the Iowa CornGrowers Association, conducting corn research. David serves on two professional boards, one a start-up company (Virgin Plants Inc) and one involved in academic research (NorthAmerican Plant Phenotyping Network).

He is the author of 4 books on cycling and owns Cyclesport Coaching, a cycling coaching business.David is married to Angie Ertl, a Physical Therapist and owner of her own business in Des Moines (Third Power PT). They have two twin sons–Alex majoring in trombone performance at DePaul, andChristian majoring in Jazz Studies at Temple. His volunteer work has almost entirely been with the cycling community.

Joel Fortney is a Des Moines native and a life-long (private) musician. Joel’s childhood was greatly enriched by public school music education programs, which led him to become a traveling vocal jazz singer while studying at the University of Iowa. Joel returned to Des Moines to become an investment management career and spent the next 16 years at Principal Global Investors. Along the way, Joel completed graduate studies at the University of Chicago (Booth School of Business) and earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. In his prior role as CMA Finance Committee Chair, he contributed to the CMA endowment modernization project.
Joel and his wife China own a real estate investment company (AJC Capital), a luxury salon company (Salon Spa W), and are actively forming a private investment management company. They actively and passionately work with a number of non-profit organizations to provide tailored support to our community, including programs in partnership with Central Iowa Shelter & Services, Big Brothers & Big Sisters, Blank Park Zoo, Iowa Center for Economic Success, Ballet Des Moines, Women Helping Women, 65 Roses Gala, Global Green Grants, Audubon Mississippi Water Ways.

Dick attained a B.A. from Cornell College and an M.A. from the University of Iowa. Though not a musician himself, he has throughout his life loved all kinds of music and attended and supported music events and organizations. He returned to Des Moines from Iowa City in the summer of 2012 after spending 11 years of retirement enjoying country living and community/area culture in Iowa City. The desire to downsize from a country home to a condominium within walking access to cultural venues, outdoor recreational activities and lifelong friends brought him to downtown Des Moines.

Karen recently retired from Wells Fargo, after a 30-year career as a banking attorney. She is enjoying retirement by biking, cooking, reading, traveling, volunteering and music.

Todd is the Research Director for the Crop Genome Engineering group at DuPont Pioneer, leading teams located in Johnston, IA and Hayward, CA. The Crop Genome Engineering (CGE) group provides genetic modification services in support of all Pioneer biotech trait programs. Todd joined Pioneer in December 2010 after 7 years with BASF Plant Science in Research Triangle Park, NC, as the Tech Center Leader for Cell Biology.

Jeff has over 20 years of experience in sales and relationship management and is currently Client Development Manager for Live Nation/Ticketmaster for the Central U.S. Region. He grew up listening to old jazz albums his grandfather would play when he lived with him. By the age of 11, Jeff was fronting his own New Orleans Band. He continued leading jazz groups in high school, and as a music student at the University of Northern Iowa, where he performed with a national award-winning group New Orleans combo.

Chuck is the president and owner of Iowa Diamond in Des Moines. Prior to entering the diamond business, Chuck was employed as an account executive with a major Midwest advertising agency, as publisher of Performing Arts magazine, general director of the Lyric Opera of Dallas, director of marketing and communications of The Dallas Opera, assistant executive director for institutional advancement of the Asolo Center for Performing Arts, and as director of marketing for the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra.

Anthony has been a CMA subscriber since 2006 and one of its biggest fans. His passion for jazz music began at an early age as he grew up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Anthony’s cousin was part of a group of investors that opened one of the pre-eminent jazz clubs (All That Jazz) in the 80s.

Julia McCormick and her husband and two children are proud residents of Urbandale, IA. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Viola Performance from University of Iowa and a Master’s Degree in Viola Performance from Rice University. As a Retirement Income Certified Professional® and Certified Financial PlannerTM with LW Advisors, she works with individuals and small business owners helping them reach their retirement, accumulation, and business goals through formulating and implementing financial plans. In addition to her work as a financial planner, she is a board member of the Des Moines Leadership Network and the UnityPoint-Des Moines Young Advisory Board, and a violist in the Des Moines Symphony.

James is the owner of Bottles and Botega, a wine and painting studio located in downtown Des Moines. Before launching Bottles and Botega, James worked at John Deere in a number of key technology roles, delivering effective IT solutions to help John Deere achieve its business goals. Prior to joining John Deere in 2004, James was an IT Analyst at Principal Residential Mortgage.

Clarence is a Professor of Music (clarinet) at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, where he also has served as past Music Department Chair. He has been a regular member of the Des Moines Symphony since 2000, and served as the Acting Principal Clarinet for the 2010-11 Concert Season. Mr. Padilla has performed with a highly varied group of artists, including Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Sarah Chang, Midori, Ray Charles, and Kristin Chenoweth.

A Des Moines native, Stephen returned one year ago to live in a locally-famed brick roundhouse and is Director of Implementation at Proving Ground, an architecture consulting company based in Omaha. In his work, Stephen has focused on Early Childhood Development Centers and higher education projects across the nation, including the Stevanovich Institute on the Formation of Knowledge at the University of Chicago. His desires for environmentally-regenerating and aesthetically pleasing designs are thoughtfully present in the work he does.

For over twenty-five years, Käri has been an active member of the Des Moines community supporting entrepreneurism, arts, culture and community development by helping organizations and individuals design and implement strategies to creatively and sustainably engage audiences. As a Sustainable Workplace Solutions specialist at Baker Group, one of the nation’s premier specialty contractors, she helps organizational leaders preserve and renew building assets. Käri is also Vice President of LW Advisors, an investment management boutique and former owner of Schaffer’s Bridal.

Lucreia “Lu” Smith is a Chicago native who grew up with an artistic father and enjoyed tagging along with him to various art shows and musical events. Lu secretly wishes she could sing, play an instrument or draw and because she was not gifted in these capacities, she takes great joy in supporting the arts.
For over 20 years, Lu has worked in various leadership roles for top carriers in the Insurance Industry. Currently she has the honor of helping prepare, support and assist people in making organizational change as the Director of Change Management at EMC Insurance.

Sarah Sullivan grew up in Pella where marching band and jazz were as important to the culture of the high school and community as the football team. Sarah has always had a love of music and while she dabbled in instruments, she has been singing all her life. She and her husband, Nick Bigelow, are church musicians at St. Augustin and enjoy helping the younger students become comfortable cantoring.