Board of Directors

Elaine Durst

Chair

Elaine Durst is a native Portlander whose love of music was fostered in a home filled with music and singing. Her professional career included media and account management in both local and national advertising agencies. She then moved into the television industry where she worked in marketing, advertising and management. She served on the Client Advisory Council of a national marketing research company. Elaine helped establish Oregon’s Ethics In Business Awards; she has also served on several non-profit boards, including Friends of Chamber Music and Metropolitan Family Services. Her radio dial is glued to All Classical Radio.

Isaac Montes

Vice Chair

Isaac Montes is the Founder & Principal of Hyphen Strategies LLC, an independent consultancy helping organizations build stronger, more sustainable businesses. He brings 20+ years’ experience driving business innovation and social impact for Fortune 500 companies (Nike, Warner Music Group), international nonprofits, and the UN. Josh received an MBA and MA in Sustainable Development from The Heller School of Social Policy & Management at Brandeis University. He is a proud first-generation, Cuban–American and currently lives in Portland with his partner Jason and their 2-year old twins. 

Sarah Robinson

Treasurer

Sarah Robinson is a Portland native who has loved the arts since she was a tiny tot. Her love for the arts has continued to blossom over her lifetime and now enjoys being crafty while listening to ICAN with her young son. When she’s not behind a sewing machine or canvas, Sarah is a Wealth Advisor, the Director of Process Improvement and chairs the Leadership Committee for Vista Wealth Management Group, LLC. Prior to their merger with Vista in 2019, Sarah was the Director of Client Service Operations for Hines Warner Wealth Management. As a licensed investment advisor representative and a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional, she specializes in financial planning with an emphasis on retirement income, cash flow analysis and risk management. She believes every successful client relationship is based on trust which is earned through consistent performance and exceeding expectations. In addition to supporting All Classical she currently serves as Trustee of the Albertina Kerr Foundation and member of the Emerging Leaders Advisory Board for the Women’s Center for Leadership.

Susan Nielsen

Secretary

Susan Nielsen is a lifelong Portlander who loves both the cultural city and the natural world around it. She has listened to classical music since childhood when her mother’s collection of 78 rpm records spun on the suitcase record player. These days she lives on a small farm near Beavercreek, Oregon where she has over the years kept chickens, rare breeds of ducks, geese, turkeys, rabbits, and a small flock of Jacob sheep along with llamas and a fine old mule. In between things she is a handspinner and knitter, a hiker, gardener, hobby photographer, hobby painter, and flyfisher. She has served on the boards of Portland’s Storefront Theatre, of Clackamas County’s Library District, and is a current member of the board of Astoria’s Liberty Theatre. Susan also supports Oregon Food Bank. Much as she believes the arts speak for the richness of human life, she knows you cannot learn to be a complete human being if you are hungry. In the challenging times we face today, she is delighted with the opportunity to serve All Classical Radio, one of the city’s enduring gifts to the people.

Greg Arntson

Director

Proudly hailing from Portland, Greg Arntson is the President of his family’s business, Albina Holdings, Inc. (a fourth-generation family business). In the 1980’s, Greg was stationed in Germany as a US Army Specialist. Greg is currently a board member of the international board AEMA (Asphalt Emulsion Manufacturers Association) and lives with his wife Beth on their farm in Brush Prairie, WA.

Nancy Ives

Director

Nancy Ives is Principal Cello of the Oregon Symphony and Instructor of Chamber Music at Lewis & Clark College. In addition to membership in the intrepid new music ensemble fEARnoMUSIC, Nancy and fellow LC faculty members Inés Voglar and Susan Smith have formed the Palatine Trio. With OS Concertmaster Sarah Kwak and PSU professor Susan Chan, she performs as the Rose City Trio, and is a frequent guest of groups such as Chamber Music Northwest, 45th Parallel, Portland Piano International Summer Festival, Third Angle, Pink Martini and Portland Cello Project. Her composition Shard is featured on a recent PCP album, to e.s.. She received a DMA and MM from the Manhattan School of Music and a BM from the University of Kansas. She blogs at nancyives.com and classicalupclose.com.

Nancy is a founder of Classical Up Close, has served on the Board of Directors of the Oregon Symphony and is an active educator as cello teacher, chamber music coach and orchestra section coach. Nancy says, “The importance of All Classical Radio to our community is a bright thread that winds through all of my musical activities. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to work on behalf of this amazing organization, which is truly both world class and vitally local.”

Joan Kingsley

Director

Joan Kingsley is a native Oregonian with a lifelong love of all things classical—in no small part due to the fine work of All Classical Radio. As a founder of the Portland Spirit, she’s been an active member of the Portland business community for more than 30 years. She has served on the boards of the Broadway Rose Theater Company, Planned Parenthood of the Columbia Willamette, and the Community Arts Project of the Oregon North Coast. With a radio dial enthusiastically tuned to 89.9, Joan is particularly interested in engaging a younger generation with the magic of classical music.

Olivia Kingsley

Director

Olivia Kingsley is a writer and creative strategist. While growing up in Portland she studied classical voice, attended the Portland Opera, and performed top-notch theater at Jesuit High School. She attended Wellesley College, where she was a fellow at the Madeleine Korbel Albright Institute for Global Affairs. The experience fostered her interest in building local, progressive arts organizations. As a founding alumni of the San Francisco Neo-Futurists ensemble, she created theater for runs in Edinburgh, Adelaide, New York, London, and San Francisco. Currently, she directs brand strategy at Zendesk, a fast-growing software company based in the Bay Area.

Rick Simpson

Director

Rick has lived all over the eastern US and in Texas, due to growing up in a military family (his father was in the Marine Corps). He has a BA and MEE from Rice University, as well as a PhD from University of Texas at Austin. He worked at IBM for many years, and arrived in Portland in 2012. Now retired, his passions are classical music, photography, and travel – and has been able to combine all three on several of All Classical Radio’s cultural tours! In his spare time, Rick also volunteers for Portland Baroque Orchestra.