Karl Bunker, President 

Mr. Bunker is a retired Naval Officer with over 30 years of business experience including serving as Senior Program Manager for Raytheon, a leading Aerospace and Defense company from which he retired in 2013.  He received his B.S. from the US Naval Academy in 1980 and his MBA from National University in 1986.  He brings experience in project planning and organization as well as budgeting and execution.  Since retiring, he has spent much of his time volunteering with organizations that share his ideals.  He is passionate about education, music and helping students achieve their life goals.  Mr. Bunker loves to travel with his wife Leslie and sings in the choir at First United Methodist Church of Chula Vista.

  

Leslie Conner, Treasurer 

Leslie Conner is retired and spends much of her time playing golf, singing, traveling, and volunteering. Ms. Conner started her working years as a classroom teacher in grades 4-6, and then left the profession to pursue an accounting career. She worked for five years as an auditor for Ernst & Young in their San Francisco and San Diego offices, and then worked in San Diego for various local public and private companies as their Controller or Vice President of Finance. In addition to this varied accounting experience, she has expertise in creating and executing corporate budgets, internal control and process design. Ms. Conner has a BS degree in Education and an MS degree in Curriculum and Instruction, from the University of Oregon. She also has an MBA in Accounting from San Francisco State University, where she earned Outstanding Graduate Student honors. She grew up in a musical family in Ohio, and in those years sang in choirs and played in bands and orchestras. She continued singing in church choirs throughout her life and is a member of the Chancel Choir of the Village Community Presbyterian Church, in Rancho Santa Fe, California.

  

Linda Kewin, Secretary

About the time Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon Linda Kewin set foot in California. Eventually San Bernardino became home and its schools the places where she established her career in education.  After acquiring a California teaching credential, Master’s Degree and Administration Credential, Ms. Kewin taught middle school, was a middle school and high school vice principal, and the District Coordinator for Language Arts and Social Studies. She was also highly involved in school reform efforts at local, state, and international levels. As an associate of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), she led over thirty accreditation teams that evaluated schools in California, Hawaii, South Korea, and the Mariana Islands.  She also provided training sessions for potential WASC team members. Ms. Kewin graduated from St. Olaf College where she was fortunate to sing under the direction of Dr. Kenneth Jennings.  Since then, she has been happily ensconced in the soprano sections of numerous church choirs and grown in her appreciation for choral music; hence the draw to SACRA/PROFANA.

 

Cole Andrade

Cole Andrade is a percussionist, composer, and music educator from the °City of Champions'' Brockton, Massachusetts. While at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, Cole studied with Nancy Zeltsman, Vessela Stoyanova, Richard Flanagan, Gustavo Agatiello, and Thomas Schmidt among other fabulous Berklee professors. He performed regularly with the Berklee Percussion Ensemble, Berklee Film Scoring Orchestra, Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra, and Harvard Bach Society along with countless professional ensembles. He, then traveled across the country to pursue a Masters in Composition from the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. After graduating, he moved to New York City where he served as the music teacher at the Bronx Charter School for Excellence, launching the school's music program. Cole serves as the Advanced Ensemble Coordinator for the San Diego Youth Symphony. Andrade is thrilled that his career has brought him to San Diego and looks forward to sharing his love of music with his community.

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Jan Farley

Jan Farley is a newly retired Presbyterian minister having served over three decades in the Presbytery of San Diego.  Her service to the church included working closely with music and worship  ministries.  She did her undergraduate work at UCSB and then pursued degrees in theology, divinity and a doctorate in missional presence.  She has experienced a wide variety of sacred music in the context of church life and ministry.  She has helped to bridge knowledge with action in the life of the service with both local and global faith communities.  She originally experienced SACRA/PROFANA in 2012 and has enthusiastically embraced this creative and unconventional choral music.  Beginning in 2015, Jan had the privilege of working with Juan Carlos Acosta, Director of Worship at the Village Church, which also served to heighten her interest in SACRA/PROFANA.  Jan lives with her husband, oldest child, mother-in-law and two “wild about you” dogs in the community of Bird Rock. She enjoys hiking and walking, reading, conversations and community.  She is seriously contemplating taking up fencing in her new season of life.

Glenda McKibben

Glenda McKibben with husband Rob retired to Chula Vista in 2013 after thirty years teaching general music in elementary schools and directing church choirs in Portland, Oregon. She has a BM in Vocal Performance and an MAT in music.  She sang and soloed with the Choral Arts Ensemble of Portland and the Portland Symphonic Choir. She was a member of the Oregon Bach Festival Choir for ten years under the direction of Helmut Rilling and with that choir sang in two performances at the Hollywood Bowl and another at a National Convention of ACDA. She also was invited to sing the Britten War Requiem at Carnegie Hall conducted by Robert Shaw.  She knew she had found the right church in Chula Vista after attending one rehearsal with Juan Carlos Acosta. At present she sings with the Sanctuary Choir and Sisters in Song at First United Methodist Church Chula Vista as well as The Serenity Singers, a group of six women whose ministry is singing for those who are hospitalized, in senior residences or nursing facilities, homebound, or just needing a lift.  She also delivers for Meals on Wheels and volunteers in the Clothes Closet for Reyo de Esperanza Family Resource Center.

 

Barbara Mortkowitz

Raised in Silicon Valley, Barbara was exposed to her parents’ love of music, from attending the San Jose Symphony to the San Francisco Opera.  She is now the proud owner of her parents’ music collection from vinyl records to piano sheet music.  She studied and played classical piano through her first year of college, after which she decided to pursue careers in commercial interior design, space planning and project management, to non-profit arts management and community outreach with the music department at Stanford University. At Dominican University, where she received her Master’s Degree in Humanities, her research included a paper on the Jewish Cantorial tradition as well as Dimitri Shostokovich under Stalin’s Communism. Since moving to San Diego, she has been a member of UCSD Osher Lifelong Learning, where she has been involved with musical bookings for Live Music Friday, as well as giving presentations on Arthur Rubinstein and Dimitri Shostokovich’s opera, The Nose.  She is also the set and prop designer for Osher’s Theatre World. Her hobbies include attending theatre and music performances, museum and gallery openings, and an occasional trip abroad.

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Krishan Oberoi, Founding Artistic Director and Principal Guest Conductor 

Please see Krishan's Biography on our Staff page.

 

Brian White

Mr. White is an experienced business and real estate attorney and a partner in the law firm Daspin & Aument, LLP. Mr. White has formed, advised and sat on the board of several local charitable corporations and foundations. Brian lives in Vista, California, with his wife Megan and their daughter Niamh.

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​Bill Simmons

Music has been an important endeavor for most of  Bill’s life. As a child and even in college he took piano lessons. In high school he sang in the chorus and played percussion (mostly timpani) in the band. He majored in music composition at Grinnell College where he continued timpani but not singing. A few years after military service and law school he started singing again - in church choirs and community groups. The latter included the choruses of the Oakland and La Jolla symphonies. His voice gave out a few years ago, but of course he continues attending choral concerts, especially SACRA/PROFANA and touring ensembles, such as Chanticleer. He loves the outdoors, was a backpacker, and is still hiking. Bill has had careers in general law, environmental law - administration (San Diego County Air Pollution Control Officer and Executive Officer of the California Air Resources Board), independent environmental consulting, and real estate brokerage.