Marcia Capparela, President
Marcia Capparela is a retired elementary school administrator whose career in education began in 1976 at Wildwood School where she served as business and facilities managers, admission director, and assistant head. Her experience includes serving on the board of trustees at Wildwood, contributing to the development of strategic plans, governance, health and safety practices, finance, and diversity, equity, and inclusion work at both Wildwood and later at Westland School. Marcia holds an M.A. in Human Development from Pacific Oaks College.
Marcia is a harpist who has studied with Marjorie Call and Marcia Dickstein. She is also a pianist and organist whose early years included singing with and accompanying school and church choirs. Music runs deep in Marcia’s family, and she is grateful to her parents for providing piano lessons at age five which led to many opportunities in her life.
Marcia is a 51-year resident of Santa Monica where her daughter, Tehya, graduated from SAMOHI. Marcia and her husband of 27 years, classical radio announcer Rich Capparela, are strong supporters of the arts and dedicated to the growth of young musicians through Elemental Music. Marcia has served on the board of Elemental Music since 2015, was president from 2016-18, and secretary from 2018-21. She is proud to return to the president role starting in June 2022.
Brenda Benson, secretary
Brenda Benson recently retired from Santa Monica College having worked over 35 years as both a counselor and senior administrator in the division of Student Affairs. She is known as a strong student advocate and is deeply passionate about the importance of higher education. While at SMC, she provided leadership in the areas academic and personal counseling, transfer services, career education, mental health, veterans’ services, and crisis prevention among others. She is still active at SMC, volunteering when she can at the weekly pop-up food pantry.
Brenda received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Scripps College in Claremont and her master’s degree in education from UCLA. She is married with one son, Riley, who will graduate from college as an Aerospace Engineer in May 2021. Riley participated in Elemental Strings as an elementary school student and enjoyed being in the SMMUSD orchestral program through his senior year in high school.
Brenda is a music enthusiast, and is eager to join the Elemental Music program as a Board member!
Gigi Decavalles-Hughes, Treasurer
Gigi Decavalles-Hughes recently retired from the City of Santa Monica, where she worked for 26 years, the last 12 years as Director of Finance and Treasurer. In this position, Gigi oversaw budget development, financial operations, business and revenue operations, investment portfolio management, and risk management. Gigi also has many years of experience in the administration of Santa Monica’s community and youth programs, grant programs, affordable housing programs, and economic development.
Gigi holds a Master in Urban Planning from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in History from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania.
Gigi is a strong proponent of youth music education, from her own early days playing the cello to supporting her son and daughter as they developed their own love of playing in orchestras, to watching her son grow from Elemental Strings violinist to aspiring musician.
Kenneth Burgomaster
Kenneth Burgomaster is a film/TV composer and keyboardist with credits ranging from Disney sitcoms to studio feature films. He’s worked with some of the top names in the music industry including Danny Elfman, Miley Cyrus and Herbie Hancock. Raised in a musical family in Indianapolis, IN (his father is an organist/choirmaster and mother is an organist and music teacher), he’s passionate about music education and attributes much of his success to his music teachers. He holds a B.A. in Music from Kenyon College in Ohio, where he performed Liszt’s Totentanz with the Knox County Symphony, and attended graduate school at USC and UCLA Extension. A longtime Santa Monica resident, his daughter Audrey went to SMASH elementary school and wife April works at the RAND Corporation.
janie docter
Janie Docter is the mother of two students, Jordan and Ethan, in the SMMUSD. In addition to being a member of the Brentwood/Westwood Symphony as an amateur violinist, Janie is an active volunteer for Elemental Strings. In her former life, she was the lead financial analyst for Opto-electronics Group at UCLA and managed over $50M/year overseeing all aspects of the research projects in the Electrical Engineering Department. Currently, a consummate volunteer, she serves the community in many ways from sitting as a board member/executive officer for numerous nonprofit organizations, to assistant teaching viola and cello at Grant Elementary School where she is also the resident pianist.
Victor Komlos
Victor Komlos is a sales director and 27 year veteran in the wine and spirits industry. He is the father of three children in SMMUSD schools and has been married to his wife, Tristan, for over 25 years. He was born in Mexico City and grew up in Houston, TX where he participated in an orchestra and accelerated music program beginning in elementary school. He studied violin, piano, and drums as a child. His family moved from Houston to Los Angeles in 2003. He has volunteered in various capacities in Santa Monica, including the Edison Elementary PTA as a former board member and Assistant Regional Commissioner of the Santa Monica AYSO. He values the positive effect music education gives young students and the enrichment the Elemental Music program provides.
OMAR LOVE
Omar Love is a senior vice president at Capital Group where he is responsible for managing relationships with large domestic and global institutional investment consultants. Omar first discovered an appreciation for music at age 11 through an in-school music program where he explored different instruments and ultimately learned to play alto saxophone. He was a member of concert and marching bands throughout secondary education, and he values the camaraderie and academic benefits of music education programs. Omar was introduced to Elemental Music through the Riordan Leadership Institute, an eight-month nonprofit board training and matching program.
Kay Tidwell
Kay currently serves as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Risk Officer at Hudson Pacific Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HPP), a publicly traded commercial real estate company based in Los Angeles. Prior to HPP, Kay was a corporate lawyer at the global law firm Latham & Watkins LLP in its Los Angeles and German offices, where her practice focused on public company representation, capital markets, M&A and securities law matters. Kay is a member of the Women’s Leadership Council of Los Angeles, and also serves on the board of directors of RF Industries (NASDAQ:RFIL), and is a member of its compensation committee and chair of its nominating and corporate governance committee.
Kay earned her bachelor’s degree from Yale and her law degree from Yale Law School. During her time at Yale, she studied piano performance with Elizabeth Sawyer Parisot at the Yale School of Music. Prior to attending Yale, Kay also studied violin with Elizabeth Baker. Kay lives in Santa Monica with her husband, a Naval Aviator, and her two school-aged children. Her daughter is a violinist and has participated in Elemental Strings since the third grade, and her son plays the guitar. Kay is a fierce proponent of music education, having benefited from it herself since childhood, from private lessons to group class to school chamber orchestra to all-state honor orchestras, through conservatory. One of her greatest joys has been watching her daughter grow through the experience of Elemental Music, which – even in the early days of the pandemic, and despite being conducted entirely online – was somehow able to achieve a sense of community and engagement for children through musical collaboration.
ALLISON VAN ETTEN
Allison Van Etten is a public relations executive with a focus in classical music. She is currently vice president at 8VA Music Consultancy, heading the Los Angeles office. Prior to joining 8VA, Allison was founding principal at the Los Angeles based Ravenscroft Public Relations, where her clients included Anthony McGill, Michael Repper, Tiempo Libre, and Rachel Barton Pine.
Her early career began at Linda Dozoretz Communications, where she was the lead publicist for Burt Bacharach, working on his GRAMMY-winning campaign for his album At This Time. She was the account executive for the American Film Institute, Universal Studios Hollywood (theme park), and Music Theatre International, where she and the LDC team launched the Broadway Junior library of titles for student performers and the Junior Theater Festival.