President & Founder: Narada Michael Walden
Treasurer: Sandy Monticelli
Secretary: Merl Saunders Jr.
ADVISORS:
Lucy Mercer
Carlos Santana
Rita Gentry
SPONSORS:
KFOG
KBLX
Soma Magazine
PARTNERS:
Performing Stars of Marin
Marin School of Arts
BIOS:
Narada Michael Walden - President and Founder
www.naradamichaelwalden.com
Marin County-based Narada Michael Walden, drummer (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jeff Beck, Weather Report), songwriter, producer, performer, Three time Grammy Winner, Emmy Winner has produced countless number-one hits with legendary artists such as Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey, and Whitney Houston. He is credited with launching the careers of Houston and Mariah Carey, and the list of his collaborators reads like a Who's Who of popular music - Sting, Stevie Wonder, Al Green, Ray Charles, Al Jareau, Diana Ross, Steve Winwood, Clarence Clemons, Gladys Knight and Barbara Striesand. He also produced soundtracks for popular films including: The Bodyguard, James Bond's Licence to Kill, and 9 ˝ Weeks.
Mr. Walden has a long history of commitment to philanthropic causes. For seven straight years he has served as Music Director for the Rain Forest Concert at Carnegie Hall, a benefit spearheaded by Sting and Trudie Styler that has featured such marquee names as Elton John, Billy Joel, Sheryl Crow, James Taylor, Brian Wilson, Ravi Shankar, Nina Simone and, of course, Sting himself.
Sandy Monticelli - Treasurer
Sandy has had a long career in financial and operational positions. She was the Chief Operating Officer and a partner of Seneca Capital Management for 12 years until her retirement in 2005. Prior to joining Seneca she spent 4 years as the Director of Finance for the San Francisco Newspaper Agency (SF Chronicle and Examiner) and was a Senior Audit Manager at Ernst & Young for 9 years prior to joining the newspaper. She is a Certified Public Accountant. Sandy graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.S. degree in accounting in 1981.
Merl Saunders Jr. - Secretary
Music was a birthright for this San Francisco native. The namesake of
legendary keyboardist Merl Saunders, he grew up at the heart of the
vital Bay Area music scene with other well known "music families" like
the Grateful Dead and Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Gospel
Hawkins family. Performing with the San Francisco Youth Symphony in his
teens was just the start of his lifetime career in the industry. From
his first tour with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band to subsequent gigs
with Michael Jackson, Robert Cray, David Crosby and Frank Zappa, Merl's
experiences only heightened his spirit to excel in the business. As
Director of Marketing and Artist Relations at Gibson Guitars, and as
Senior Marketing Coordinator and Artist Relations with Dean Markley
Strings, he led creative teams to produce successful campaigns and
endorsements for many top GRAMMY® winners.
In 1994, the calling for charitable work led him to produce Gibson's
100th Anniversary Celebration at the historic Fillmore Auditorium as a
benefit for San Francisco's Glide Memorial Church. Pulling together
talent that had created the soundtrack of his childhood, he brought to
the stage emcee Wavy Gravy and a host of musical heavy hitters: Country
Joe and the Fish, Little Feat, Greg Kihn, Gregg Allman, Narada Michael
Walden, Elvin Bishop, Hot Tuna, Moby Grape, and Bob Weir, as well as
Merl Sr.
Merl's community service resume doesn't end there. With the assistance
of local musicians, he founded Glide Memorial's "Music for the People"
program, which teaches and encourages at-risk youth to explore music as
an outlet, utilizing the Bay Area's talent pool as instructors. He also
sits on the board of directors for Music In Schools Today (MUST), Bread
and Roses, Blue Bear School of Music and the Taylor Family Foundation,
which supports Northern California's children with AIDS and other
life-threatening diseases.
In July 2000, Merl was named as Executive Director of the San Francisco
Chapter of the Recording Academy. Under his leadership, the 30-year-old
chapter realized a 10 percent increase in membership annually,
continued to reach a broader audience of music business professionals
every year of his tenure. He has strengthened ties with the classical
music community, and the participation of his high-profile friends in
the industry help to increase awareness of his mission to promote
public music and arts education. He departed as Senior Executive
Director after a list of accomplishments that transcended his role. He
implemented scholarships for under privileged students from the
northern California, produced an annual Gala fundraiser celebrating the
western region music community, including Metallica, Green Day, The San
Francisco Symphony, The Hawkins Family, The Whispers, Doobie Brothers,
while raising funds for the chapter outreach.
Merl continues to lead workshops as a senior member on the global music
community. He lectures in colleges and music conferences world wide
discussing leading trends, the business of music with an emphasis on
developing musicians in the new internet landscape.