Board of Directors
Kara Sakulich, President
Kara has been a member of the Arvada Chorale since 2011. She is a lifelong singer and has sung in church choirs, high school, college, and community choirs. She holds a B.S. in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from Mansfield University in Pennsylvania. Currently, she is a stay at home mom and substitute teacher. She lives in Arvada with her husband and 2 young sons. Kara excited to use her talents and past experience with the chorale to take the organization to new heights.
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Sharon Messbarger, Vice President
Sharon has been singing with the Arvada Chorale since 2019. She worked for many years in the hospitality industry as a server, bartender, and event captain at some of Denver’s nicest hotels and at the Denver Zoo. Since retiring a few years ago, she has worked at the Stock Show. Sharon previously served on the board as the new member representative.
Sue Lindsay, Secretary
Sue has been singing with the Chorale since 2007, and sings with several other groups. A journalist for more than 40 years, she worked for newspapers in Chicago and Denver’s Rocky Mountain News. After the Rocky folded in 2009, she became a private investigator and then a communications director for the Adams County District Attorney’s Office. Music is what kept her sane during all those stressful occupations and she joined the board in 2021 once she retired, hoping to give back to the organization she has loved for so many years.
Chris Varner, Treasurer
Chris Varner has been singing his whole life, from church and school choirs as a kid in Florida to late-night picking sessions at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and karaoke nights on dive trips in the Caribbean. He served in the U.S. Navy, received a degree from the University of Colorado Denver, and spent 35 years at Ball Aerospace in Boulder as an electrical engineer, designing systems for space telescopes and cameras that collect images of the surface of Mars. At one of those campfire singalongs, he was outed as a fine singer with an ear for harmony and joined the Chorale in 2018.
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John-Christian "J.C." Maheu, Member at Large
JC, a baritone, was recruited to the Chorale straight out of Adams State College in Alamosa. He graduated in 2017 with a degree in Theater and has experience stage managing, promoting and directing as well as acting, singing and dancing. Back home in metro Denver, he lives the life of a young creative professional, juggling acting, music and crew gigs with a day job as a medical claims analyst. This is his seventh year in the Arvada Chorale.
Batina Bek, Member at Large
Batina, an alto, has been a member since 2021. She has been singing her whole life, at school, church and in small ensembles.
> A database administrator for a local printing company, she holds an AAS in Health Information Technology from Front Range Community College. As a former member of The National Society of Leadership and Success at FRCC, she is excited to use her talents for the chorale. She lives in Aurora with one of four adult sons and a yellow Labrador named Sassy. Batina is involved in children’s ministry at her church and enjoys crafting and playing the piano.
Jamie Stalker, Member at Large
Jamie has been singing in choirs and playing the piano since she was 5 years old, eventually attending Indiana University Jacobs School of Music for a year. She has a B.S. in Biology from Indiana University, an M.D. from Rush Medical College in Chicago, and is board certified in Internal Medicine. After a respite from choir for career and kids, she resumed signing in 2014 with the University of Chicago Chorus and then the DuPage Chorale. In 2021 she moved from Chicago to Arvada for work and made finding a new choir a priority. She has been an alto with the chorale since January 2022. Jamie currently is a senior medical director for a government health screening program. In addition to singing, she enjoys hiking, cooking, reading, and ceramics.
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Eliana Whitehouse, Community Member at Large
Eliana Whitehouse recently moved to Colorado post graduate school. She has a B.A. in psychology and studio art from Lawrence University in Wisconsin and holds a Masters of Social Work from the University of Michigan. Currently, she works in the field of education equity research and enjoys participating in the arts in her free time. Eliana lends her knowledge of grant writing and social media marketing to help further our goals of reaching a broad and diverse audience.
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Natalie Morrow, Community Member at Large
Natalie sang with the Arvada Chorale for several years. She lives in Arvada with her 2 sons, multiple pets and her Navy veteran spouse of 21 years (her high school sweetheart). Natalie started her own photography business, Good Morrow Photography, to celebrate the lives and interests of families of any and all types. She also founded the Golden chapter of Polka Dot Powerhouse, a networking and support organization for women in business. Natalie lends her passion and expertise in business and marketing to help make the Chorale a successful and savvy organization.
John Hubert, Artistic Director and Ex-Officio Member
John is a conductor, singer, instrumentalist, musical collaborator, teacher, husband, father and lover of life from St. Louis, MO. He believes in the power of musical communities to bring people together and explore themselves through their musical repertoire. John has conducted inspiring performances with his ensembles at the First Universalist Church of Denver, Regis University, and The Spirituals Project. He has been a conducting clinician for many other ensembles in the Denver metro area and beyond. John lives in Lakewood with his beloved wife, Christmas and two children Nick and Naomi.
Deb Morrow, General Manager and Ex-Officio Member
Deb came to the Arvada Chorale in 2019 after retiring from Central City Opera where she was Director of Education and Community Engagement for 27 years. She is a singer herself and has experience in both administration and artistic endeavors.
Most photos courtesy of Good Morrow Photography