Santa Rosa Symphony Announces New Board President And New Board Members

News Release Contact:

Sara Obuchowski, (707) 546-7097 ext 218

July 12, 2006

(Santa Rosa, CA) — The Santa Rosa Symphony recently announced four new board of director appointments. They are Sara Kozel of Healdsburg, Wendy Lalanne (Symphony League representative) and Dr. Barry Silberg of Santa Rosa and Stacey Pelinka (orchestra representative) of San Francisco.

Newly-named board president, Sam Brown, noted, "In this pivotal year, we welcome our new music director, Bruno Ferrandis, and observe construction beginning on the Green Music Center, the Symphony's new performing home. I am very pleased and grateful for the influx of talent and influence represented by our new board members. We have a strong, committed group of people well-suited to addressing the opportunities offered by this moment in Santa Rosa Symphony's history."

In addition to Brown, the following officers will guide the implementation of the Symphony's vision and mission in the coming year: Vice-President Jay Abbe, Treasurer Art Matney, Secretary Peggy Elliott and Immediate Past-President Anne Benedetti.

Officer And New Board Biographies

SRS Board President Sam Brown, a Sonoma County native and Stanford graduate, served as president of United Way and during the 1980s was chair of the capital campaign for the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts. Active in the community and in commercial banking for many years, Sam is currently Executive Vice-President for Wealth and Management at Exchange Bank. He and his wife Ginger have been married 35 years and have 3 sons and a grandson.

SRS Board Vice-President Charles Jay Abbe has been president, COO and director of JDS Uniphase Corporation, spent six years at Raychem Corp. in Menlo Park, and has served as a consultant in a wide range of technology-driven and natural resource-based business in North America, Europe and Asia. Currently he serves as director of CoSine Communications, Inc. and non-executive chairman of Nova Crystals, Inc. a venture-backed optical components company, and a director of Nova-Sol, an engineering firm serving the aerospace and defense markets.

SRS Board Treasurer Art Matney worked for Merrill Lynch for 35 years, and held posts in several cities in the Northeast before moving, with his wife Lynda, to Santa Rosa in 1998. He was manager of the Santa Rosa Merrill Lynch office until he retired in 2002 and continues to serve with distinction on boards and committees of various civic and cultural institutions.

SRS Board Secretary Peggy Elliott is a partner in the law firm of Anderson, Zeigler, Disharoon, Gallagher & Gray in Santa Rosa. Her practice areas include: Estate Planning, Probate, Business Law and Trademark. Since 1993 she has served as adjunct faculty for SSU Attorney Assistant Program and the Estate Planning and Gift Taxation faculty at Empire College School of Law.

Immediate Past-President Anne Benedetti, has served the Symphony board for more than 10 years in many capacities. She and her husband Dan have raised a family and grown a prominent community business, Clover-Stornetta Farms. Benedetti has a degree in music and has taught music in both public and private schools. She is now looking forward to spending more time with her four grandchildren.

Newly-appointed board member Sara Kozel spent her professional career at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, Sun Microsystems and Interop, where she specialized in general management and technology education for high tech/Internet companies. She has loved music since childhood, studying piano and voice and singing in various choirs including the Baroque Choral Guild. Her passions include developing and supporting classical music appreciation and education for adults and children, making classical music interesting, exciting and accessible to a large audience. Sara lives in Healdsburg with her husband, Ed, the CEO of a private technology company in Mountain View, and her three teen-aged children.

After retiring in 1982, Wendy Lalanne started her own interior design business and is currently president of the Santa Rosa Symphony League. She is a member of The Junior League of San Francisco and Children's Theatre Association of San Francisco and has served on the boards of the Childrenâs Theatre Association, Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Association Auxiliary, Junior League of San Francisco, United Way, Campfire Girls, and was captain of the Women's Golf Section at the Olympic Club and the Oakmont Golf Club. She enjoys golf, painting, travel and her grandchildren. Her husband, Cal, is a retired CPA who is active in various clubs in Oakmont, including the Cal Alumni Club.

Dr. Barry Silberg arrived in Santa Rosa in 1979 having been the first chief resident in plastic surgery and instructor at University of California, Davis. While being chief of plastic surgery at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, he has served on the board of directors of the Rotary Club of Santa Rosa, the YMCA, and the Sonoma County Arts Council. Dr. Silberg has developed several medical devices that are used worldwide. His Tissue Preparation System is used not only in plastic surgery, but also in other fields such as cardiac surgery. He has 5 children. His fiancé, Michele Brulé, has been on the board of directors of Interfaith Shelter Network and is presently on the board of LifeWorks. He and Michele enjoy skiing, diving, gardening, hiking, and traveling. Dr. Silberg also enjoys playing the piano and playing chamber music on his clarinet.

Stacey Pelinka plays second flute in the Santa Rosa Symphony and the Midsummer Mozart Festival, is principal flute with the San Francisco Opera's Merola productions, and plays chamber music with the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, the Blueprint Festival, and the Worn Chamber Ensemble.

From 1995 to 1999, Stacey served as principal flute with the Napa Valley Symphony and spent two seasons playing piccolo with the Sarasota Opera in Florida. Last summer Stacey completed a four-year training program to certify her as a practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method of movement education, and has a private practice teaching the method. She is also a student of aikido, a Japanese martial art, and enjoys skiing, traveling, and backpacking.

A complete list of SRS board members can be obtained by visiting its website.