Our Leadership

Orchestra Artistic & Operational Personnel

Corinne Denny | Executive Director

Corinne Denny is known for creating and managing innovative arts experiences. In addition to her role at the Arapahoe Phil, she is the Executive/Artistic Director and Founder of Denver Immersive Opera. Corinne has extensive experience in business administration and arts management, including five years in the financial services industry. As an administrator, she has served as the Production Manager for Boulder Opera Company, Company Manager for Boulder Music Institute, and Live Music and Administrative Coordinator for djMaestro. Ms. Denny has stage directed productions for Denver Immersive Opera, Denver Opera Collective, Boulder Opera Company and Opera on Tap Colorado. Corinne holds a Performer’s Certificate in Voice from the University of Denver, a dual MM in Opera and Musical Theatre Performance from Arizona State University, and a BM in Voice Performance from Middle Tennessee State University.

JoAnn Roos | Administrative Director

Responsible for the office operations, payroll, bookkeeping and concert box office administration, Jo Ann joined the Arapahoe Philharmonic in June 2011. Her work experience in sales, management and accounting span a variety of industries including banking, international trade, automotive and retail. Since receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education and Music, working for the Arapahoe Phil brings full-circle her love of the arts.

Devin Patrick Hughes | Music Director

Our Board

The Arapahoe Philharmonic Board of Directors is made up of both musicians and community members committed to artistic excellence and community outreach. We have a wonderful organization and its growth and success for over 65 years has been remarkable. The board serves the important purpose of ensuring that the orchestra is financially stable so that it can be free to do what it does best.

María del Río, Chair - Chief Client Officer, Purpose Brand

María del Río is a Global Marketing Executive and a General Manager with a strong track record in building local and global brand portfolios in best-in-class consumer companies. Her strategic and operational strengths come from 20+ years of brand-building experience in Blue Chip companies in highly matrixed and cross-functional organizations and startups, such as Molson Coors Brewing Company, Kimberly Clark, The Coca-Cola Company, and Procter & Gamble. Currently, Maria is Chief Client Officer of Purpose Brand, an award Marketing and Strategy Agency in Chicago.

She began her career in Procter & Gamble in several roles throughout Latin America. She joined The Coca-Cola Company in 2001 in the South Latin Business Unit, overseeing seven countries in the Southern Cone. She was transferred to the Mexico Business Unit in 2007, where she managed the entire Sparkling Beverages portfolio. She relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, in July 2010, where she served as the Global Head of Tea and Ready to Drink Coffee and was appointed Vice President and General Manager for the Coca-Cola Keurig Global Venture in 2014. In 2016, she joined Kimberly Clark as the Vice President and General Manager for the Consumer Tissue category in North America before joining the Molson Coors Brewing Company in January of 2018, where she was part of the Global Innovation Team and served as the CEO of the Clearly Kombucha startup. She is currently the Chief Client Officer of Purpose Brand, an award Marketing, Strategy, and PR agency.

Mrs. Del Río holds an MBA from the Catholic University in Caracas, Venezuela, a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, and a Bachelor of Arts in Music, piano performance from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. She also holds a Certificate of Digital Marketing from Cornell, is a member of the CMO Club, and a mentor at TechStars/Launchpad Student Entrepreneurship Network.

She has served in the Arapahoe Philharmonic Board of Directors since May of 2019 and was elected Board Chair starting in September 2020.

Steve Barkmeier, Treasurer - Whipplewood CPAs PC, Director of Tax

Jaimie Stevens, Secretary - Business Systems Administrator, Applied Control

Jaimie Stevens currently works as an engineer with Applied Control Equipment. She began playing violin with the Arapahoe Philharmonic during the 2011–2012 season, which coincided with her freshman year at the Colorado School of Mines. She graduated from CSM in 2015, with a B.S.in Engineering Physics. After college, she continued to play with the Arapahoe Phil, joining the Orchestra Advisory Council as a violin representative,and her most recent involvement is as a member of the board. In her spare time, Jaimie enjoys all things “nerd” –reading, books, board games –you name it!

Laston Charriez - Marketing Consultant, Adjunct Instructor Loyola University & University of Miami

Laston Charriez is the Founder of B+C Consulting. B+C specializes in Marketing Consulting for CPG companies. He is also digital marketing expert and was hired to teach Digital Marketing at Loyola University New Orleans on September 2020. Before that, Laston was the Head of Marketing at Pilgrim’s Pride. In this role Laston was responsible of creating the Marketing Department for this $12 B company. Pilgrim’s is the largest Chicken company in the World. Laston launched the “Who makes your food campaign” that propelled Just Bare to market leadership in Minnesota and St. Louis. He also worked with Amazon and made Just Bare Chicken the #1 chicken on Amazon.

Before that he was Chief Product & Marketing Officer Denver Mattress. Before Denver Mattress, Laston worked for four years as Senior Vice President of Marketing & Product Americas at Western Union. In this role Laston lead all Marketing activities for Western Union U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and the rest of Latin America. Before this role, Laston was VP of Insights & Innovation at Sara Lee North America. In that role Laston oversaw consumer insights, analytics, and platform innovation. His team drove external focus, support the business units with the voice of the consumer and deep analytics, while developing the next innovation platforms across all Sara Lee brands.

He started his professional career in Puerto Rico P&G Marketing Department, and then was promoted to Brand Manager in P&G Central America based in Guatemala. He was later transferred to Mexico and then back to Puerto Rico. In 2000 Laston became the Marketing Director of Charmin & Puffs in North America based in Cincinnati. In this job Laston developed innovative and holistic marketing strategies for Charmin North America including: The Charmin State Fair Program, the Charmin “potty Pollooza” mobile restroom tour, and the first P&G commercial aired in the Superbowl (a Commercial for Charmin).

Laston Charriez has a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from Purdue University, Cum Laude, and a Master’s in Business Administration from Purdue University.

Chief Product & Marketing Officer Denver Mattress?
January 2016- December 2016 Denver, Colorado?
SVP Marketing & Product Americas Western Union??
November 2011- December 2015 Denver, Colorado
VP of Innovation and Consumer & Shopper Activation at Sara Lee
September 2009- October 2011 Chicago, Illinois
North America Marketing Capabilities Director?
August 2005- August? 2009 Cincinnati, Ohio?
Marketing Director, North America Charmin & Puffs
August 2000- July 2005 Cincinnati, Ohio
Marketing Director, Latin America Tissue & Towel
July 1999 ? August 2000 Caracas, Venezuela
Marketing Director/Manager, MBDO Paper & Food /Beverages
January 1996 – June 1999 San Juan, Puerto Rico
Marketing Manager Mexico, Central America & Puerto Rico
July 1987 – December 1995 Mexico City, Guatemala & San Juan

A seasoned senior marketing executive with more than 25 years leading Procter & Gamble globally, in North America, and in Latin America, and leading businesses for Sara Lee, Western Union, and Denver Mattress.
Led businesses from $1 to $2B.?
Fully bilingual (English/Spanish)
Here in Denver and do not have to relocate.?
Over 15+ years of senior level marketing leadership role with a global consumer product, and service business. ?
Master?s degree (MBA from Purdue University)
Demonstrated ability to hire, mentor and lead a team of A players.
Experience with digital market/lead generation techniques including email, social media, chat, SEM/SEO and blogs.
A thought leader for big brand efforts to convey important brand attributes, for example created the Charmin Bear Campaign, the longest lasting currently airing P&G Campaign
Tremendous results-driven with strong ability to analyze quantitative data to determine effectiveness, ROI, forecasting- as reflected by doubling the Charmin Business from $1B to $2B
Obtaining the largest expansion of Distribution for Western Union by launching to all Walgreens in the U.S.A. via converting the Photo Kiosks into WU Kiosks?
Lead Digital innovation strategy, planning & implementation for Sara Lee whole company ($4.5B) across iMedia, eCommerce, eCRM, SEM and site; new Digital agency structure and processes.
An All-Star net-worker and public speaker with over 3600 people connected on LinkedIn and a Social Media Maven
Launched Sleep Animalzzz, Denver Mattress first venture into the Bed In A Box business. Developed a breakthrough Web & digital only mattress algorithm that helps consumers select a customized mattress after only a 7 questions quiz

Wendy Cottingham - Director and Business Ops Mgr Colorado Music Institute

Muriel Lotto, Chief Marketing Officer, Sightline Payments

Over 25 years in International Marketing client and agency side in France, UK, Switzerland and now the US in renowned companies such as Nestle, Unilever, Royal & SunAlliance, Bupa and now Western Union, have sharpened my commercial and marketing competencies and polished my influencing skills, but I am still the same at heart: a maddening level of energy, an overt passion for growth, an infectious enthusiasm, a keen disposition for challenging and acting as a change catalyst, a very direct and very open style.

By joining the Arapahoe Philharmonic Board, I can now combine my passion for music (I started playing the piano at age 5 and was classically trained) and my passion for marketing.

Jason Richard Olney, Professional Musician

Evelyn Rutenburg, Professional Musician & Teacher

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Evelyn Rutenberg emigrated to Denver with her parents at an early age. Starting on accordion, she eventually took up flute while in grade school and continued her education in music after moving to Los Angeles as a teenager. While in Los Angeles, her talent was nurtured by several influential musicians – prominent Hollywood studio flutists Arthur Hoberman and Luella Howard, and George Drexler, Principal Flute of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. She played two seasons at the Santa Barbara Music Festival under Maurice Abravanel – director/conductor of the Utah Symphony. Evelyn also played for several years with the Savoy Arts Orchestra, a Gilbert and Sullivan repertory company as well as the Southeast and Downey Symphony Orchestras under Maestro Louis Palange. While pursuing her BA at UCLA, she was principal flute of the UCLA Symphony Orchestra for several years under the direction of Mehle Mehta (father of Zubin).

Following her Music Performance degree at UCLA, Evelyn married and soon returned to the Denver area. Shortly after returning, she became Principal Flute of the Arapahoe Philharmonic Orchestra in 1981 (then called the Community Arts Symphony under the direction of T. Gordon Parks) where she remains to this date. During the early years she studied towards her Master’s degree in Flute and Classical Accordion at DU with Robert Davine – internationally renowned accordionist – and Paul Hochstad of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. Evelyn has performed several times as a soloist on flute with the orchestra, as well as performing a classical accordion concerto. She also played several seasons with the Colorado Wind Ensemble.

She has played with or accompanied many well-known musicians and groups – such as Leon Bates, Sidney Harth, Ray Charles, Dotsero, and Steve Barta to mention a few. Evelyn has been playing flute professionally in the Metro Denver area for over 45 years – performing in small to large ensembles at weddings and other events, as well as teaching flute privately in her home. Evelyn met New Age composer/performer Louis Colaiannia about 12 years ago and began playing with him on various jobs and helping him to form the core of his current band. She has arranged Louis’ songs for the other band members used in live settings and CD recordings. She also arranged all of the string parts that have been and will be used by high school and middle school students in Louis’ Global Youth Music Project – both live and webcast.

With electronic keyboardist husband Hal, she has been providing live duo entertainment in the Metro Denver area for over 15 years at Independent Living, Assisted Living, Memory Care, and Nursing Home facilities. In her spare time, Evelyn is an avid quilter. Evelyn and Hal, currently residing in Lone Tree, have been married for 49 years and have three grown children and four grandchildren.

Heidi Snyder, Professional Musician & Teacher

My name is Heidi Snyder and I am excited to be your new board member! I have lived in Colorado almost my entire life. I have a wonderful husband, two teenagers and a 20-year-old, two cats and a dog. Our house always feels like there are people and animals coming and going – although it can seem crazy at times, it is just the way we like it.

The highlights of my professional background and experience include being the current Principal Violist with both Stratus Chamber Orchestra and the Arapahoe Philharmonic, and the violist for the New Dawn String Quartet. I perform in a variety of settings that also includes musical theater, church services and chamber recitals. I am the Middle School Strings Specialist for Littleton Public Schools. I also teach five orchestra classes at St, Mary’s Academy. Prior to COVID, I also enjoyed doing a great deal of coaching and judging for high school string programs and honors orchestra programs. As you can tell, I love to perform and also work with students in school settings. As you get to know me, you’ll come to know why I am so passionate about both sides of my musical life.

Scott Tierney - Staffing Manager, Leidos

Scott Tierney is a native of Cobleskill, New York,and currently lives in Aurora, Colorado. He is a 29–year Air Force veteran and is the Senior Enlisted Leader at a National Intelligence Agency. He has been married to his wife D’Egra for 18years and they have two boys, Connor who is 13 and Logan who is 10. Scott received two Associates degrees from the Community College of the Air Force in Aerospace Ground Equipment Technology and Communications Technology. He has a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Political Science from Troy University. Scott received his MBA from Oklahoma State University in December 2018. He has lived overseas in Italy, Turkey,and Greece and has deployed in support of Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm and multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. He is the recipient of several military honors and decorations including three Bronze Star Medals.

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Our Leadership

Orchestra Artistic & Operational Personnel

Our Board