Leadership

Staff

Kate Huisentruit (she / her)

Executive Director

Kate Huisentruit is delighted to serve as Executive Director of Puget Soundworks. She is a lifelong performer and producer who loves collaboration and creation. Her most recent role as producer of Art Zone with Nancy Guppy on Seattle Channel gave her a front-row seat to the development and exhibition of many Puget Sound artists from all disciplines. She was awarded a Regional Emmy Award for her work on the show.

Kate has extensive experience in the television and theater industries, having worked in Seattle and New York City for over 20 years. In addition to her behind-the-scenes work, she holds a BFA in Acting from Cornish College of the Arts. Currently, she stars in her most important role to date, as Mama to her two sons.

Kate is very honored to be working with Puget Soundworks as live performance is one of her biggest passions. This group is highly skilled, and they’re using their talents to make a positive difference in the local arts scene, and our world. Kate is excited to be using her experience to forward the mission of Puget Soundworks and help the chorus reach new heights by increasing participation and reach. Please let Kate know if you would like to get involved!

She would like to thank her wife, Janie, for supporting her passion for the arts.

Miriam Anderson (she / they)

Artistic Director

Miriam Anderson has been involved in music her whole life and started studying voice and percussion at the age of 10. She began her studies in both choral and orchestral conducting during her undergraduate years at UC Berkeley. After earning a bachelor’s degree in music and peace and conflict studies, she was hired to assistant direct the UC Berkeley Chamber Chorus, and to play principal timpani and run the percussion section for the UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra. In June 2017 she completed a master’s of music degree in choral conducting from the University of Washington.

Miriam is passionate about using choral music to build community and connection, and as a form of outreach, integrating her backgrounds in music and peace studies. Outside of Puget Soundworks, Miriam currently directs the Seattle Labor Chorus, and the Piccolini and Entrata ensembles of Seattle Girls Choir. She is also a teaching artist at Seattle Opera, teaches private voice lessons, and is the Chorus Manager and a singing member of Choral Arts Northwest. Miriam also frequently gigs in the Seattle area as a percussionist, vocalist, and conductor.

When she is not making music, Miriam enjoys dance, yoga, knitting, cooking, and playing with her cat.

Jina Jansson (she / her)

Director of Operations

Proudly raised here in the Pacific Northwest, Jina has over 20 years of experience in visual & project management. Working with Sur La Table for the past 15 years, she currently manages Operations for the Visual Merchandising department. Musical since birth, Jina has shared her talent with various organizations including the Seattle Women’s Chorus, Sensible Shoes, and the Sing The World Chorus. As the Director of Operations for Puget Soundworks, Jina enjoys keeping all the moving parts and pieces in working order. When she puts down her clipboard, Jina lives at home with her husband, Brian, and their three beloved cats.

Diana Gard (she / her)

Technical Director

Diana realized she was going to have to plan a career around computer technology in the 80s, when she had to spend most of her days trying to make her computer do the things she needed it to do. With a music and theatre background, she spent the next 40 years as a software developer and then added video editing to her skills shortly thereafter. She joined Puget Soundworks at its onset and has since offered all her skills to the organization in whatever way they were needed eventually honing that down to singing tenor and handling the video editing and audio/visual needs. Diana lives in Seattle with her wife, Sylvia and their dog Max. She has now switched her career focus to energy healing and is glad to have an ongoing outlet for her technical skills!

Board of Directors

Christina Wilson (she / her)

President

Christina first served on Puget Soundworks Board in January 2020 as Board Secretary. In mid 2021 she began serving as Vice President, and was then elected to serve as President in 2022.

Christina has over ten years of corporate HR experience. In addition, she is a licensed mental health counselor and has been working in private practice for 14 years.

“I’m thrilled to be serving Puget Soundworks as a singer and board member. I’ve been a singer since Puget Soundworks’ inception, and became a board member shortly after. I’ve seen an increase in quality in our production and performances. Organizationally, the growth and change has been astounding. I believe in the heart of the organization and I’m very excited about our future!”

Christina holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business, with an emphasis in Organizational Development from Sonoma State University and a Master of Science in Systems Counseling from Bastyr University.

Carol Logan (she / her)

Vice President / Treasurer

Carol Logan was elected to the Puget Soundworks Board of Directors in February 2021 and serves as Treasurer and co-chair of the Artistic Director Search Committee. After receiving a Master of Science in Communicative Disorders, she pursued a career in Audiology, blending her interests in health science and caring for people. Carol then switched to the payment processing industry, where she has spent the past two decades applying her technical and people skills in management and training roles. As a proud member of the LGBTQ community who has enjoyed the community-bonding experience of choral singing since the 6th grade, Carol is delighted to contribute to the governance oversight of this invaluable organization. Carol lives in Kent with her husband, David, and enjoys making their dreams of European travel and improving their golf game come true.

Dena Hughes (she / her)

Secretary

Elected to the Board of Directors as Secretary in November, 2021, Dena Hughes is excited to join the Puget Soundworks community. Although her singing talents thrive primarily within the confines of her own home, she shares in the joy of music as both messenger and a communal, healing force. Dena’s professional background includes over 20 years of experience in the field of clinical data management, software configuration, and technical documentation. Prior to embarking on her clinical trials career, she spent 10 years in the field of environmental consulting, often to be found on a trawler out in Puget Sound, working toward a cleaner marine ecosystem for our entire Seattle community. With an endless appetite for travel, coupled with a love of the written word, Dena has blogged many an adventure abroad, with no plans to stop moving any time soon.

Frances Mihulec (they / them)

Board Member

Q & A with Frances:

How did you find out about our chorus? I had only recently moved to Seattle in 2019 when a coworker who was on the chorus at the time invited me to their performances and the show was great. It was a Christmas show that included Cthulhu which amused me to no end. After that, I started making a point to attend when I could after that point. I loved the idea of a diverse and inclusive chorus with a mission to spread kindness and help others.

What have you learned since you’ve been with us? It’s been fantastic to start to get to know more of the history of the chorus as well as the people involved with the organization. I’m also having a lot of fun learning more about the functional differences between a small non-profit and a small-medium business, and how the organization runs. I appreciate that everyone has such an awesome ethic and desire to give back to Puget Soundworks.

What qualifications do you possess that you think have helped you succeed in the roles you’ve held on the committee and then as a board member? I primarily come from a finance/business/administration background in the health and wellness sector. Over the past few years, I’ve admittedly become rather passionate when it comes to writing policy, procedure, and other background materials for operations. I loved the opportunity to take some of my professional knowledge to help Puget Soundworks, a group I really am excited to support. I love music, and not really known for carrying tunes in buckets, but it’s awesome being able to help in other ways.

What do you like to do for fun? I am a huge gamer geek, everything from tabletop roleplaying games to video games. I also love to read and write poetry, and some fiction, primarily speculative fiction (fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and horror). I’m a fairly avid walker, and wouldn’t consider myself a hiker (yet); I’ve got a few trails that are almost calling my name. Small venue concerts and other live events are my favorite and I’d rather be supporting a small band, live podcast, or artist show than almost anything else in the evenings or on weekends.

Founder

Vanessa Grose (she / her)

Vanessa Grose has worked in the technology industry for almost 20 years, including roles in software development, customer engineering, go-to-market strategy, and global sales. She served at IBM for most of her career where she had opportunities to work with an extended global team, helping customers across industries apply technology to solve business problems — especially through cloud, process automation, and AI. In 2019, she received her MBA from the University of Washington Foster School of Business.

In 2020, Vanessa joined Google as a Head of Cloud Customer Engineering for the Pacific Northwest. She has been a people manager for many years and loves building diverse, inclusive teams. She believes it is her responsibility as a leader to empower people to do great things, coach them to continuously grow, and support them in achieving their dreams.

Vanessa founded Puget Soundworks in 2018 and served as the volunteer Executive Director through late 2022. She has a lifelong love of choral music and believes in the power of music to change hearts and lives. She started Puget Soundworks to serve as an inclusive singing community — tearing down gender boundaries in traditional choral music, lifting up marginalized voices, and spreading love and kindness. After stepping down as the Founding Executive Director, Vanessa continues to support the chorus and sing as an alto.