Board of Directors

Welcome to the newly formed Children’s Music Foundation, where we have assembled some of the most passionate people and best minds to create a standards based music program for kindergartners and first graders across the country!

CMF Board of Directors

Rourke O’Brien (ex-officio)
Executive Director/Founder - Children’s Music Foundation

Rourke is the Executive Director and Founder of  The Children’s Music Foundation (CMF). Prior to founding CMF in 2009, he was President of America’s Foundation for Chess. Rourke has spent much of his career in financial services beginning in 1978 with ten years in the securities industry as Vice President – Investments with both Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co., and Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc. before opening his own securities brokerage operation in 1986. He later founded State Street Mortgage in 1993, which became Qpoint Home Mortgage Loans in 1994, where he held the position of Director, President and CEO through 1998. Rourke holds a B.A. in Finance from the University of Notre Dame.

Steve Leahy
Board Chairman

Steve Leahy is the former President & CEO of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, a position he has held since early 2002. Steve previously served as the Chamber’s Executive Vice President since 1992. During his tenure at the Chamber he has overseen the organization’s marketing, membership, administrative and financial operations, as well as its public affairs and community development programs and its relationships with regional, state, and federal leaders.

Twenty years ago Steve worked with others to launch both the Leadership Tomorrow and Business Volunteers for the Arts programs and served as Executive Director of both programs from 1982-86. Prior to joining the Chamber in 1979, Steve taught high school English, journalism and religious studies in the Chicago and Detroit areas. He now resides in the Seattle area with his wife, Janet, son Patrick (20), and daughter Erin (16).

In addition to his involvement with United Way of King County, Steve has served as board chair of both Family Services and the Seattle Children’s Museum. He currently serves on the boards of the Association of Washington Business, the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle, Leadership Tomorrow, the EDC of Seattle & King County, the Seattle-King County Workforce Development Council, and the Washington Chamber of Commerce Executives association.
Steve received his M.B.A. from the University of Puget Sound, his Masters in English from the University of Notre Dame, and his B.A. in Religious Studies from Lewis University (Illinois).

Laura Kohn
Executive Director – New Schools Foundation

Laura Kohn currently serves as the Executive Director and President of The New School Foundation (www.newschoolfoundation.org), an organization that supports a public school initiative serving low income students and their families. Prior to that, Laura served for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as an education policy advocate for education reform in Washington State, as well as working for the Washington State Office of the Governor as an executive policy advisor for K-12 education. Ms. Kohn has been a Director in the Office for Education for the City of Seattle, a Program Manager for the Alliance for Education (www.alliance4ed.org), a research associate for the Center for Reinventing Public Education, and a research assistant for the RAND Corporation (http://www.rand.org). Laura holds a Bachelors Degree in economics from Yale University and a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the University of Washington.

Lisa Fitzhugh
Partner, Creative Ground

Senator Rosemary McAuliffe was first elected to the Washington State Senate in 1992 serving the 1st District. Prior to that, she served 14 years on the Northshore School Board, where she formed 1st District Youth Advisory Council, giving students the opportunity to interact in the legislative process. Rosemary currently chairs the Early Learning K-12 & Higher Education Committee, and serves on the Human Services & Corrections, and Higher Education & Workforce Development Committee’s.

She has received numerous awards and recognitions for her work in the local community as well the State of Washington including the Association of Washington School Principals President’s Award, the Washington Association for Career and Technical Education Legislator of the Year and the YMCAs of Washington Strong Kids, Families and Communities Award. She is also co-founder and Chairperson of the Music Project Foundation (http://www.musicprojectfoundation.org).

A graduate of Seattle University, Rosemary is owner and manager, Hollywood School House, a wedding, banquet and conference facility.

Kathy Fahlman Dewalt
Children’s Author, Music Instructor, Executive Producer ‘Ten Grands’

Kathy Fahlman Dewalt is a music educator (voted top teachers of the year in Issaquah district in 2006), children’s author, creator of children’s music TV programming and most recently Executive Producer of the annual Ten Grands/Snowman Foundation musical education benefit concert. She received her undergraduate training from Oregon State University, Masters in Arts of Teaching-Music Education from Lewis and Clark and received another post graduate degree from City University in Principal/Administrative Leadership.

Kathy created the top selling video series  WEE SING TOGETHER which has sold over 4 million videos, she has written several children’s books with Price/Stern/Sloan, Golden Song Books and Tapes and Western Publishing. She developed a 13 week children’s music series with the Disney Channel. Kathy has taught private piano since she was 16 and plans to teach until she is 102. Most recently has brought the Ten Grands program from Portland to Seattle and will be continuing on to Sun Valley and beyond in the near future. Recently, she and her husband, Bellevue Rotarian Steve Dewalt, were awarded the KOMO Brotherton Community Champion for their volunteer work in the community associated with Ten Grands and the Snowman Foundation.

Kathy’s passion is giving every child the opportunity to have music in their life. Her motto in which she lives by is : “Life is a celebration and music is a celebration of life”!

Dee Dickinson
Founder, New Horizons for Learning

Dee Dickinson is the retired CEO and founder of New Horizons for Learning, a non-profit, education network based in Seattle. She has been a school administrator and has taught on all levels from elementary school through university, has produced several series for educational television, including nine international conferences on education.  She is an internationally recognized speaker, author, and has been a consultant to educational systems and organizations, community colleges and universities, policy-making groups, and corporations including Motorola, IBM, and Prudential. She has also worked as a consultant to software companies including Microsoft, Disney Interactive, Word Perfect, and Sierra/Bright Star.           

Formerly, she was vice-president of the International Accelerative Learning Association, based at the University of Rio de Janeiro, and director of the Seattle Creative Activities Center.  She founded the Northwest Art Project, and currently serves on a number of local, national, and international boards, including the University of Washington College of Education, KCTS TV, the Institute for Research on Learning, Child Research Net  (Japan), the Learning Forum/SuperCamp. and formerly the Whitehouse Task Force on Learning, the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education, the International Association for Accelerative Learning (Brazil), the European Lifespan Learning Initiative (Belgium), and the National Inventive Thinking Association (U.S. Patent Office).

She has been the recipient of the Maverick Award by the Washington Governor’s Leadership Institute, the Annual Leadership Award by the Citizens Education Center, and the Dorothy Stimson Bullitt Award for Community Service. She has also received the prestigious International Junior Leagues Mary Harriman Award for Leadership.

Her report Positive Trends in Learning: Meeting the Needs of a Rapidly Changing World was commissioned and published by IBM in 1991, and her book Creating the Future: Perspectives on Educational Change was published by Accelerated Learning Systems in England also in 1991, and is co-author of Teaching and Learning Through Multiple Intelligences.  Since her retirement, the New Horizons website has been transferred to Johns Hopkins University’s Graduate School of Education and their Neuro-Education Initiative. She is now a member of the Johns Hopkins University Interdisciplinary Studies in Education Advisory Board.

Mulugheta Abraham
Product Manager, The Boeing Company

Mulugheta Abraham is currently a product manager at The Boeing Company. Prior to moving to the US, Mulugheta lived in the Netherlands and worked for Fokker Aircraft Company as an aeronautical engineer.

In addition to his full time work at Boeing, Mulugheta is a manager of the EriAm Sisters (www.eriamsisters.com), a young singing group who became semi-finalists on the popular NBC show America’s Got Talent and also happen to be his own daughters. Mulugheta has successfully groomed the talented trio to become icons for purity and incredible singing talent with a multi-cultural dimension. A musician and multi-instrument player himself, Mulugheta in his teenage years was a member of a band in his native country Eritrea. During his years as a freedom fighter in Eritrea, he used his passion for music to heal the pain and suffering that war brought to him and his fellow fighters.

In 1984, Mulugheta moved to Holland as a refugee and pursued his musical career playing lead guitar and keyboard. His musical talent there attracted the attention of several Eritrean musicians. On several occasions, he performed with renowned musicians like Ghideon Beraki and Ogbay Mesfun in Europe. Furthermore, Mulugheta played all the instruments in Ghideon’s CD release, “Tewofainetna,” and a previous release, “Gar Nebsi.”

In addition to his musical career, Mulugheta was very much dedicated to his academic education. In 1991, he earned a Bachelors degree in Aeronautical Engineering.

Scott Sadler
VP, Chief Development Officer, YMCA Snohomish County

Scott Sadler is currently the VP, Chief Development Officer for the YMCA of Snohomish County, WA. His career has spanned nearly 20 years with the YMCA in various positions including Executive Directorships, Branch Director and Senior Program Director.

In addition, Scott has been responsible for fund raising at various levels with the YMCA including the Annual Partners with Youth Campaign, the Branch Endowment Program which he created, and most notably, the $30 million Eastside capital development program resulting in the construction of 2 full service YMCA facilities. Alongside his ‘Y’ accomplishments, Scott is involved in a variety of community activities including Rotary, the Chamber of Commerce, various leadership groups and youth baseball.

Scott holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Whitworth College and several training certifications relating to his work with the YMCA.

Leo Muller
Executive Director – Choices

Leo Muller is Executive Director of CHOICES Education Group, provider of the nationally distributed CHOICES workshop for middle and high school students. Muller helped found CEG in 1985, and became its director in 1996. He is a member of the Nordstrom Diversity Scholarship Selection Committee and a judge and coach for the Seattle Pacific University Social Venture Plan Competition. He has served on the Board of the Washington Association of Partners in Education, and has been a member of the National Alliance of Business Task Force on Teacher Quality, the Washington State Partnership for Family Involvement in Education, and the Alliance for Education School-To-Work Community Planning Group.

John Mullin
President and CEO – TeachFirst

John has been responsible for overall organizational management since company inception, maintiaining alignment between TeachFirst’s shared education and business missions from original product concept through TeachFirst’s suite of products and services. John has overseen TeachFirst’s growth from the first basement office in Seattle to its’current level of operations with offices in 5 states.

Prior to TeachFirst, John spent 12 years in various management roles in start up and early stage technology companies, including roles as Vice President of Product Management and Marketing in the streaming media and wireless industries. John has served on the Steering Committee of the Infotech Infusion public/private partnership creating technology academies within Seattle high schools, as Board Chair for Washington Literacy, and on the Building Leadership Team for the John Stanford International School.

John received a B.A. from Brown University and an MBA from the University of Washington.

Dr. Joseph Castleberry
President – Northwest University

Dr. Castleberry earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Evangel University in 1983, a Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1988, and a Doctor of Education degree in International Educational Development from Columbia University in 1999. He is an ordained minister in the Assemblies of God, the university’s sponsoring denomination. He has lived and served extensively in Central and South America.

Dr. Castleberry served as academic dean at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary from January 2003 to July 2007. He has wide experience as an educator, missionary, and pastor. He also has written and spoken globally on a wide variety of subjects. As a missionary, he served as academic dean of the Assemblies of God Biblical Seminary in Quito, Ecuador (1997-2001) while also serving as the pastor of Centro Cristiano del Norte, which planted four “daughter” churches under his leadership.
He is also founder of the Freedom Valley Project, a community development ministry among the African-American people of Ecuador’s Chota Valley Region. Before his ministry in Ecuador, he served as associate dean for Latin America at Global University, as a missionary in El Salvador and as the Assemblies of God chaplain at Princeton University. His publications include articles in Rev. Magazine, Enrichment, Encounter,, The Encyclopedia of Protestantism, the Encyclopedia of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity, and Pneuma. He has also written two New Testament Greek self-study textbooks (Global University Press) and a chapter in The Spiritual Gifts in a Postmodern Age. His current research interests include the intersections between globalization and Christian mission and the relationship between Pentecostal and postmodern thought.

Gary A. Wenet Ph.D.
Executive Management Consultant

With a 25 year career advising executives from privately and publicly held companies and with a doctorate in psychology, Gary Wenet brings a breadth and depth of experience in the formation and development of high performance management teams and facilitating large organizational change.  Gary coauthored the book, Leadership as a Habit of Mind (Amacom, 2000), focused on how exemplary leaders leverage the lessons from their lives to shape how they lead their organizations.

Gary has served on the teaching and training faculty at the University of Washington and on the faculty of American Management Association. He has had long standing relationships with companies as diverse as RealNetworks, Amazon, Chiron Corporation, Yellow Mountain Stoneworks, Novartis, FibroGen, Snohomish County P.U.D., and Todd Pacific Shipyards.

 In addition, Gary’s work with a wide range of early stage companies has involved him mobilizing his professional network to recruit executive talent, forge strategic business relationships, and attract investment partners.  He was formerly on the Advisory Board of Stratos Product Development Group and Bungee Technology Labs, and currently serves as an advisor to Auricast, Inc., Fairway Pricing Technologies, Clarity Health Solutions and Eila Corp.

 Lastly, Gary is an avid music lover with a personal passion for children and seeing them experience themselves and others through music and the arts.