Jerome H. Kern
Co-chair of the Board of Trustees
Jerome H. Kern has been the President of Kern Consulting, LLC since 2002. Kern joined Nomura Securities International in August 2010 as a senior advisor to the America’s Investment Banking Division with a specific mandate to develop technology, media and telecommunications opportunities. Prior to that, Kern served as interim Chairman and CEO of Playboy Enterprises, Inc.; was the managing partner in Enki Strategic Advisors, consultants to the broadband and mobile industry from 2007-2009; and the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of On Command Corporation. An acknowledged media veteran and mega-deal maker in complicated, multi-party transactions, Kern served as Vice Chairman and a member of the board of directors of Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI). He was the architect of the AT&T/TCI merger, and TCI’s representative in a number of other high-profile mergers and acquisitions, including the Time Warner/Turner Broadcasting merger. Prior to TCI, Kern was a senior partner at Baker & Botts, L.L.P., where he was the senior corporate lawyer in the New York office. For more than twenty years, he was the principal outside legal counsel to TCI and Liberty Media.
Kern graduated from the New York University School of Law (L.L.B., 1960, cum laude) where he was a Root Tilden Scholar and Managing Editor of the New York University Law Review (1959-60), and was named to the Order of the Coif. He also holds a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University (A.B. 1957). Kern is a member of the Board of Trustees of the New York University Law Center Foundation, Volunteers of America (Colorado Chapter), the Institute for Children’s Mental Disorders and Co-chair of Colorado Symphony Association.
Mary Rossick Kern
Co-chair of the Board of Trustees
Mary Rossick Kern has more than twenty years experience working in the non-profit sector. She was Membership Director for KRMA television until 1989, when she became the Colorado Symphony Orchestra’s first Director of Development. In addition, she was Vice President of Development for Volunteers of America in Colorado, and she and her husband Jerry served as Co-chairs of the Board of Trustees from 2001 to 2006. Mary holds a PhD in Medieval Literature from Birmingham University, England, and her interests include reading, writing, scuba diving and her dog Mikey.
Susan Bowles
Secretary
Susan joined the Colorado Symphony in 1980 after receiving her Bachelor and Master of Music Performance degrees from the University of Oregon School of Music under J. Robert Hladky. A member of the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra since 1975, her recordings with the Oregon Bach Festival include J.S. Bach Brandenburg Concertos, Bach Orchestral Suites, Handel Messiah and the Grammy® Award winning Penderecki’s Credo. Susan’s talents aren’t all in the musical arena. A 2003 National Champion Athena in the 40+ category at the USA Triathlon Nationals, she is a USA Triathlon coach, a certified ChiRunning (technique combining the inner focuses of T’ai Chi and the movement of running) instructor and a USA Triathlon official. Susan is a breast cancer survivor.
Gene Sobczak
President and CEO
Over the past nine years, Gene Sobczak has led two of the region’s largest arts organizations – the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities – to unprecedented growth in a time when local and national arts groups have been experiencing reductions in attendance, donations, salaries and operations. Sobczak’s 25 years’ experience in transition management across a range of industries and budgets has been brought to bear as a change agent in the performing arts. Under his direction, the $11 million Arvada Center has achieved prominence and distinction as the hub and catalyst of a growing network of cultural, commercial and civic organizations – extending from Fort Collins to Pueblo and west to Creede – that have generated new market and economic opportunities for participating organizations. The Center’s summer concert series: CenterFest – which Sobczak developed in 2010 – features thirteen consecutive weeks of programming by the area’s leading cultural organizations, including the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Ballet, Denver Brass, Colorado Children’s Chorale and Colorado Shakespeare Festival.
Sobczak's focus on institutional advancement at the Center – as well as the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, where he served as Executive Vice President for five years – was realized with a corresponding commitment to fiscal planning and management. He has over 25 years of private sector and non-profit management experience in the arts, consumer goods, finance, real estate and marketing. During his fourteen years in Los Angeles, his appointments included Director of Marketing for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and in 1990-2000 senior executive for Sunrider International, during which time he managed, trained and advised the company's offices in Australia, Canada, China, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, Taiwan, Thailand and the United Kingdom.
As an executive member of the region's cultural community, Sobczak has been actively engaged with the General Consul of Mexico and the Mexican Cultural Center in the development of cultural initiatives and programs, including exhibitions of contemporary Mexican and Chicano art and the consulate’s annual celebration of Mexico’s independence. In 2011, Sobczak was appointed by Governor John Hickenlooper to serve on the state’s Mexican Ambassador Program. Sobczak has a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and English from Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Frank Delmonte
Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Frank Delmonte is a CPA and joined the Colorado Symphony in August 2009. He has more than twenty years of financial experience in corporate finance, accounting and taxation, including nine years in not-for-profit organizations and high technology companies, as well as a large financial institution. In addition, he served for many years with the “Big Eight” accounting firm Deloitte, Haskins + Sells and a local firm in audit and tax functions. Delmonte most recently worked as a Business Finance & Operations Consultant/CFO for Water For People, an organization which helps people in developing countries improve their quality of life by supporting the development of locally sustainable drinking water resources, sanitation facilities and health and hygiene education programs. The program has a significant presence in Bolivia, Guatemala, India, Honduras, Malawi, Uganda, Rwanda, Peru and Canada. Before that, Delmonte was the Corporate Finance/CFO at Newdea, Inc., an organization which drives impact-based philanthropy through increased awareness and alignment of the nonprofit’s goals with the vision of the donors. He has extensive knowledge of information systems, corporate finance and taxation, and human resource management. Frank has a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting (graduated with honors, 1985) and a Master of Science in Business (emphasis in Taxation, 1990) from the California State University, Northridge. Frank is married and has two children. He began studying piano as an adult and has continued his studies with Howard Pancoast. Time and weather permitting, Frank is an avid road cyclist and has participated in over eight century-length rides.
Anthony Pierce
Vice President of Artistic Administration
Tony Pierce joined the Colorado Symphony on September 6, 2010 as Vice President of Artistic Operations. As the Director of Artistic Operations for the Charleston (South Carolina) Symphony Orchestra for the past six seasons, Tony was responsible for all aspects of artistic planning, concert production and orchestral operations. He is known for having energized the Charleston musicians in a collaborative way with the music director and the board. A trained cellist, Tony began his professional career as a CPA with a “Big Four” accounting firm, an experience that has enhanced his understanding of orchestral operations, resulting in a particular expertise in budget origination and expense management. Additionally, he gained significant staff management experience while working to create an environment of innovation and creativity.