Our Leadership Team
As a Christian ministry, our program is run first and foremost under the direction of the one God, as described in the Bible. This program was His idea, and He is the one who has carefully crafted it over the years into what it is today. Our leadership team serves under His direction, seeking His will in all things.
We would also like to generally acknowledge and thank everyone who has advised our leaders as we developed this program, and those who spent months working with us to create our business plan for our first phase of operations as a non-profit. This team of advisors includes people with a diverse array of experiences and backgrounds, including decades of experience in youth education, youth ministry, the arts, business, legal work, government entities, and more. Without these advisors, our program would not be what it is today.
With all of that being said, here is our current leadership team:
We would also like to generally acknowledge and thank everyone who has advised our leaders as we developed this program, and those who spent months working with us to create our business plan for our first phase of operations as a non-profit. This team of advisors includes people with a diverse array of experiences and backgrounds, including decades of experience in youth education, youth ministry, the arts, business, legal work, government entities, and more. Without these advisors, our program would not be what it is today.
With all of that being said, here is our current leadership team:
Board Of DirectorsAmy Trayer
Lisa Harmon Steven Brown We are always open to adding new board members! Contact us if you are interested in potentially serving on our board. |
OfficersPresident: Steven Brown
Treasurer/Secretary: Larry Brown |
Staff
Chief Vision Officer: Steven Brown
Business Manager: This role is currently available as a volunteer position.
Education Director: This role is currently available as a volunteer position.
Business Manager: This role is currently available as a volunteer position.
Education Director: This role is currently available as a volunteer position.
Prayer Team Leader: This role is currently available as a volunteer position.
A Word About Our Staff Structure: Up to this point, our organization has mostly been a volunteer-run organization, with all of the behind-the-scenes business work being done on a volunteer basis. This is truly a labor of love for us, and we have been happy to serve in this capacity. However, as our business grows, we are planning to hire a full-time staff as soon as our student base and/or donor base grows large enough to consistently support a full-time staff with all of the legally-required wages, benefits, etc.
As we move towards a more official full-time staff and potentially a huge amount of expansion in our programming, we believe it is important to clarify the structure and overall vision of our staffing. We hope that Chrysalis grows beyond what our initial leaders can handle on their own, and that it outlasts their time of service here. As such, we want to be clear from the very beginning about how our program is run.
We have built our staff structure around the idea of a team of people with different skillsets all working together, starting with a "Chief Vision Officer (CVO)".
The Chief Vision Officer needs to be a creative visionary type of person, somebody who looks not just at what is but what could be. A famous example of this type of person would be Walt Disney. When challenges come, this person looks to the possibilities more than the problems, seeking to reimagine and refocus and possibly even expand. This person must constantly be thinking about how a program can grow and evolve and better fulfill its purposes. Since our organization is a Christian one, this person also needs to have a strong relationship with God, and be relentlessly and selflessly dedicated to seeking God's will above all else. This person needs to have the faith to follow God's lead, even when the whole picture isn't clear yet, even when it's risky, and even when it might temporarily upset some people or make the CVO or the organization look bad. It is ultimately the CVO's responsibility to determine which risks are truly important to take, and which ones are potential traps.
The Business Manager needs to be a business-minded person, somebody who is gifted with taking big ideas and making them possible. This person should be collaborative but also able to stand firm when needed, balancing out the big visions of the the CVO so that any risks that are taken are at least structured in such a way as to limit the potential long-term damage to Chrysalis if the worst should happen. This person should be good at structuring projects and dreams in ways that are financially and logistically possible, including strategically negotiating details with all different types of people and businesses. When challenges come, this person is really good at figuring out how to trim away unnecessary expenses, assets, and operations to keep the program afloat without compromising the things that are most important to it. A famous example of this type of person would be Roy Disney, who helped make his brother Walt's dreams a reality and kept the business going through turbulent times.
The Education Director is responsible for working with the CVO to help us best serve students of all different types, fulfilling all legal requirements and best practices for healthy student development. This person would be responsible for researching, consulting, and conducting all work necessary for these purposes, including learning how best to serve students with disabilities, students with health challenges, students of all different backgrounds and beliefs, etc. This staff member will be more and more important as we serve more and more students, and particularly as we develop Chrysalis Arts Adventures, which will potentially serve students at medical care facilities, juvenile detention centers, etc. This staff member will also be a leader in our dream of creating a ground-breaking full-time learning program like no other.
The Prayer Team Leader will likely always be a volunteer position, but it is vitally important to our program. This leader is responsible for developing and maintaining a prayer team to support our program, including scheduling and leading regular times prayer times to pray for this program and its leaders and participants. Prayer is a huge part of how this program is run. If you ever want a good example of why prayer is so important to this program, we recommend reading a book called "Quest For Excellence", which was written by Dr. Clifford Daugherty about his experience of following God's lead in transforming Valley Christian Schools from one of the worst schools in the Silicon Valley into one of the best in the country. That book is a powerful and inspiring testimony of what is possible when you walk by faith, seeking God's will through prayer in all things.
As we move towards a more official full-time staff and potentially a huge amount of expansion in our programming, we believe it is important to clarify the structure and overall vision of our staffing. We hope that Chrysalis grows beyond what our initial leaders can handle on their own, and that it outlasts their time of service here. As such, we want to be clear from the very beginning about how our program is run.
We have built our staff structure around the idea of a team of people with different skillsets all working together, starting with a "Chief Vision Officer (CVO)".
The Chief Vision Officer needs to be a creative visionary type of person, somebody who looks not just at what is but what could be. A famous example of this type of person would be Walt Disney. When challenges come, this person looks to the possibilities more than the problems, seeking to reimagine and refocus and possibly even expand. This person must constantly be thinking about how a program can grow and evolve and better fulfill its purposes. Since our organization is a Christian one, this person also needs to have a strong relationship with God, and be relentlessly and selflessly dedicated to seeking God's will above all else. This person needs to have the faith to follow God's lead, even when the whole picture isn't clear yet, even when it's risky, and even when it might temporarily upset some people or make the CVO or the organization look bad. It is ultimately the CVO's responsibility to determine which risks are truly important to take, and which ones are potential traps.
The Business Manager needs to be a business-minded person, somebody who is gifted with taking big ideas and making them possible. This person should be collaborative but also able to stand firm when needed, balancing out the big visions of the the CVO so that any risks that are taken are at least structured in such a way as to limit the potential long-term damage to Chrysalis if the worst should happen. This person should be good at structuring projects and dreams in ways that are financially and logistically possible, including strategically negotiating details with all different types of people and businesses. When challenges come, this person is really good at figuring out how to trim away unnecessary expenses, assets, and operations to keep the program afloat without compromising the things that are most important to it. A famous example of this type of person would be Roy Disney, who helped make his brother Walt's dreams a reality and kept the business going through turbulent times.
The Education Director is responsible for working with the CVO to help us best serve students of all different types, fulfilling all legal requirements and best practices for healthy student development. This person would be responsible for researching, consulting, and conducting all work necessary for these purposes, including learning how best to serve students with disabilities, students with health challenges, students of all different backgrounds and beliefs, etc. This staff member will be more and more important as we serve more and more students, and particularly as we develop Chrysalis Arts Adventures, which will potentially serve students at medical care facilities, juvenile detention centers, etc. This staff member will also be a leader in our dream of creating a ground-breaking full-time learning program like no other.
The Prayer Team Leader will likely always be a volunteer position, but it is vitally important to our program. This leader is responsible for developing and maintaining a prayer team to support our program, including scheduling and leading regular times prayer times to pray for this program and its leaders and participants. Prayer is a huge part of how this program is run. If you ever want a good example of why prayer is so important to this program, we recommend reading a book called "Quest For Excellence", which was written by Dr. Clifford Daugherty about his experience of following God's lead in transforming Valley Christian Schools from one of the worst schools in the Silicon Valley into one of the best in the country. That book is a powerful and inspiring testimony of what is possible when you walk by faith, seeking God's will through prayer in all things.
Associate Teaching Artists
We are thrilled to sometimes bring in guest teaching artists to partner with our full-time staff for specific purposes like costuming, choreography, acting instruction, dance instruction, vocal instruction, orchestra conducting, etc.
Here are a few of the teaching artists we have partnered with in previous years:
Here are a few of the teaching artists we have partnered with in previous years:
Carlin Truong
Lauren Meyer
Melissa Brown
Laura Brown
Andrea Pulliam
Emma Feeney
Grace O’Malley
Melanie Mascarenhas
Travis Philipsen
Thomas Times
Emelynn Collado
Kevin Jasper
Caroline Moore
Rachel Bratt
Zoey Lytle
Nicole Adams
Gosia Hoot
Helen LaRoche
Sharon Kaye
Lauren Meyer
Melissa Brown
Laura Brown
Andrea Pulliam
Emma Feeney
Grace O’Malley
Melanie Mascarenhas
Travis Philipsen
Thomas Times
Emelynn Collado
Kevin Jasper
Caroline Moore
Rachel Bratt
Zoey Lytle
Nicole Adams
Gosia Hoot
Helen LaRoche
Sharon Kaye