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Reba Cafarelli was recently named General Manager of Third Coast Percussion after serving for 4 years as the organization’s Managing Director. As a result of her work to help the organization navigate challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, she was named a 2022 Top Professional of the Year by Musical America. She previously served as Manager of the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition at the University of Chicago, and assistant to world-renowned composer Augusta Read Thomas. She was Manager of the 2016 Ear Taxi Chicago Festival of New Music and Executive Director of Ensemble Dal Niente in addition to working extensively in the Chicago area as a freelance project manager with an array of arts organizations including the Chinese Fine Arts Society, the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, and Shattered Globe Theatre Company. Reba was the Director of Production and Education for University of Chicago Presents from 2007–2013, where she produced classical, jazz, and contemporary music performances and managed a range of educational programs. She led the organization as Interim Executive Director in its 2011–2012 season. She holds degrees in Bassoon Performance from the Eastman School of Music and Cleveland Institute of Music, and performed with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago before launching her arts administration career at the Grant Park Music Festival in 2005.
A trained percussionist, Colin Campbell spent over a decade performing and/ or recording with artists such as Arlo Guthrie, Maya Beiser, On Fillmore and Radiolab Live: Apocalyptic. His playing can be heard on the score for the documentary “Maidentrip.”
Since his retirement from performing, he has continued to be an active member of the Lyon & Healy/ Salvi Harp Technicians’ Guild, serving harpists worldwide, including Opera Australia, the National Symphony and National Opera of México and many others. He is also a woodworking and restoration specialist at Century Mallet Instrument Service in Chicago.
When he’s not working, Campbell enjoys advancing his woodworking skills, smoking various meats, and sitting quietly with a glass of bourbon.
Rebecca McDaniel is passionate about sharing music with others and about supporting the creativity of young musicians. Relying on music as a unifying force, Rebecca seeks to share curiosity and joy as a performer, educator, and arts administrator. She is the Development Manager for the GRAMMY® Award-winning quartet Third Coast Percussion, working closely with the ensemble in support of its performance, education, and collaborative programs. She is also an active chamber percussionist in the Chicagoland area, collaborating most frequently with violin and percussion duo Hot Second and interdisciplinary percussion ensemble Beyond This Point. As an educator, she serves on the faculty at the Merit School of Music.
Rebecca attended Furman University (B.A. Music, B.A. Earth and Environmental Sciences) and the University of Missouri-Columbia (M.M., Percussion Performance). When she isn’t playing or supporting performances, she is most likely found hiking, biking, or otherwise outdoors.
A writer with a lifelong passion for the performing arts, Amanda Cantlin works as a freelance marketing and communications consultant with nonprofit arts organizations around the country. Her areas of expertise span communications planning & content development to advertising, performance analysis, and project management, with past and current clients including La Jolla Playhouse, the Midwest Clinic, ACT Contemporary Theatre, Third Coast Percussion, and more.
Amanda attended the University of Chicago, receiving a B.A. in English Language & Literature and an MBA with concentrations in Marketing, Entrepreneurship, General Management, Organizational Behavior, and Operations. She founded her freelance business in 2020 after working in-house at the University of Chicago, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and Victory Gardens Theater. In her free time, Amanda can be found tending to her garden, whipping up a dessert to share, or exploring Chicago’s many unique nooks and crannies.
Nolan Ehlers is a Chicago-based percussionist specializing in new music, improvisation, and chamber music. He has commissioned and premiered works from composers such as Michael Gordon, David Fennessy, John Supko, and Molly Joyce. He is a co-founding member of the new music/improvisation trio Else, if Else and the artist collective Inland Ocean. Nolan has performed with Aiyun Huang, Wynton Marsalis, Ensemble Modern, Beyond This Point, and others. In 2025, Nolan will work with students of Kunstacademie Deinze in Belgium to present collaborative multidisciplinary performances alongside members of Inland Ocean.
Nolan has studied Afro-Cuban drumming with the acclaimed rumba group Los Muñequitos de Matanzas. He directed Lawrence University’s Afro-Cuban ensemble Tambo Toké, and he received a 2020 Downbeat Student Music Award for a collaborative performance with the Lawrence University Jazz Band.
Nolan is the Operations Assistant for the GRAMMY® Award-winning quartet Third Coast Percussion, and Orchestra Manager and Librarian for the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra. He received an M.M. in Percussion Performance and Chamber Music, as well as a Certificate in World Performance Studies, from The University of Michigan. He received a B.M. in Percussion Performance from Lawrence University. Aside from music, Nolan is passionate about coffee and enjoys watching the English Premier League.
Ethelbert Williams, President | Head of Retail Media Search & DTC Marketing, PepsiCo
Beth I. Davis, Vice-President | Senior Vice President of Real Estate (retired), Spencer Stuart
Mary K. Woolever, Secretary | Art and Architecture Archivist (retired), Art Institute of Chicago
Daniel Knaus, Treasurer | Member, ShiftCo LLC
Jim Barasa, Member | Managing Director, CIBC Private Wealth Management
Sara Coffou, Member | President (retired), Coffou Partners, Inc.
Robert Dillon, Member | Ensemble Member and Development Director, Third Coast Percussion
Nimish Dixit, Member | Vice President for Portfolio Operations, Marblegate Asset Management
André Dowell, Member | Chief Programming Officer, Sphinx Organization
Jamie Jung, Member | Owner, Provence Consulting LLC
Samir Mayekar, Member | Managing Director, Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at UChicago; Former Deputy Mayor, City of Chicago
Sarah Forbes Orwig , Member | Executive Editor, ABA Publishing at American Bar Association
Louise K. Smith*, Member | Management Consultant
Catharine Fox Walby, Member | Director of Development, Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra; Founder, Assai Arts Management
Martin Bresnick, Charles T. Wilson Professor in the Practice of Music Composition, Yale School of Music
Michael Burritt, Professor of Percussion, Eastman School of Music
Matthew Duvall, Percussionist, Eighth Blackbird
Charles Katzenmeyer, Vice President, Institutional Advancement, The Field Museum
Jennifer Kim-Matsuzawa, Board Advisor and Strategy Consultant
Marc Miller , Vice President, Chief Development and Marketing Officer (retired),Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum/Chicago Academy of Sciences
Bruce Oltman, Fellow of Technical Staff (retired), Motorola Solutions, Inc.
Shauna Quill, President and CEO, Music Academy of the West
Augusta Read Thomas, University Professor of Music, University of Chicago
Thomas M. Welsh, Performing Arts Professional
John Bierbusse | Vice President and Manager, Research Administration (Retired), A.G. Edwards
Julio Desir, Jr. | Executive Creative Director, DesirCreative
Sidney Robinson | Emeritus Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago and School of Architecture at Taliesin
* Leave of Absence