Board of Directors

2023-2024 Season

No organization can function without effective leadership and behind-the-scenes efforts. A ten-member Board of Directors governs the Choir and manages its business; directors are elected by the membership to three-year terms of office. In order to be eligible for election, a member must have been active in the choir for at least two calendar years. Nominations for open board positions are made by choir members during the election process each fall.

The board plans and implements our day-to-day operations. With the exception of the conductor and pianist, all board members sing in the choir and pay the same dues as everyone else. The Board takes care of financial obligations, contracts, fundraising, concert scheduling, etc. Our bylaws and budget are available for review upon request.

Kelly brings more than four decades of choral and instrumental conducting experience to The Colorado Choir. Throughout her successful career, she served as Chair of the Performing Arts Department at Arapahoe High School in Littleton, Colorado. She earned her Master of Education from Lesley University and a Bachelor of Arts from Adams State University. Kelly has been active in the American Choral Directors Association and the Colorado Music Educators National Conference. Kelly is a well-recognized, professional member of the Denver music community, and her groups have performed at such diverse venues as the U.S. Capitol and Pentagon in Washington, D.C., Carnegie Hall in New York, and Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. She joined The Colorado Choir in 1980 and sang as a soprano soloist prior to being selected in 2009 as the choir’s 2nd conductor.

Jim joined the choir in January 2019 and was able to sing in three concerts before COVID shut things down for over a year. The Colorado Choir is the first choir, besides church choirs, that he has sung with since college, and he’s thoroughly enjoying learning and singing beautiful and challenging music. He and his wife, Linda, moved to Denver to be close to their daughter and three grandchildren (oh, and also their son-in-law).

Kaitlin has a B.A. in Vocal Music, Baldwin Wallace University. She sang in the BW University Choir and Motet Choir and stage managed her senior year opera production “Albert Herring” by Benjamin Britten. She’s been a member of The Colorado Choir since 2010.

A Colorado native, Kaleigh attended Regis University where she earned a B.S. in Accounting with a minor in Human Resource Management. Before founding Canavan Financial Group in 2013, she spent several years as an Account Manager for a local accounting firm in Littleton, CO. In August of 2017, Canavan Financial became Canavan, Syddall & Associates. In 2022, she founded King Street Creative, where she enjoys working with business owners to grow and improve their own companies.

Prior to her career in accounting and small business, she worked for 6 years for a Denver concert promoter. Working within the ticketing department, production, merch sales, and behind the bar, she gained in-depth knowledge of customer service and the inner workings of the music industry. She also has experience with retail management and sales training, as well as customer service across many industries.

Besides serving as The Colorado Choir’s treasurer, she enjoys spending time with her family, cooking, and playing video games.

Siivi joined the choir in 2012, began assisting with the choir library in 2016, and became choir librarian in 2019. Siivi has been singing since she was three years old and has enjoyed music in some form or other all her life. She has a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the University of Colorado at Denver. She lives with her husband and son in Centennial and in her spare time enjoys sewing, crocheting, reading, and a good walk now and then. She is excited to continue to be a part of The Colorado Choir community as a member of the board.

Chris joined The Colorado Choir in 1999 as a Baritone at the urging of his newlywed wife (and former member), and he has been a member of the Board since 2018. For his day job, Chris does IT Support for Enerplus Resources in downtown Denver. He lives in Golden with his wife and two dogs. Choir holds a special place in his life since he met his wife singing in a choir at Augustana College in Illinois. He is happy to have brought two fellow singers into the world, his adult children, who have sung for their high school choirs and love to perform. Thankfully, his dogs have accepted his constant singing around the house and no longer howl and bark when he does.

Emily has been a member of The Colorado Choir since 2018 as a second soprano. She has been singing in choirs for more than 30 years and has had some wonderful fun and opportunities because of that. On the board she is responsible for grants, primarily through SCFD. She is also our uniform master and helps to keep those organized and assigned. Big things in her life are her recent marriage and her work as a surgical nurse. She has no human children yet, but one fur child, a cat named Rey.

Jacob graduated from Arapahoe High School in 2017. He treasures spending time with three sisters and singing in the Chancel Choir at First Presbyterian Church of Littleton. Jacob has been a member of The Colorado Choir since 2018.

Liam joined the choir in the fall of 2019. Liam sang with the Knox College Choir while completing a BA in Music, and has sung with several choirs as he moved around before returning to his hometown of Denver in 2017. In addition to The Colorado Choir, he also sings with the Metropolitan Choral Festival during the summers. Additionally, he studies organ with Dr. Cindy Lindeen-Martin and recently successfully passed the examination for the Service Playing Certification (SPC) from the American Guild of Organists. Liam works as the acquisitions manager for the University of Denver Libraries.

Mindee joined The Colorado Choir in 2014 after moving to Denver from Costa Rica with her husband and two kids, where they lived for a few years and learned Spanish. She’s the Choir’s website designer, video editor, and works with Kelly to create the season’s posters and programs. She does similar things in her day job as the owner of Mezzo Forte Digital. In her previous life, she was an assistant director in Hollywood. Outside of the choir she loves to travel and is working towards earning her 2nd-degree black belt in taekwondo.