Meet The Board Members

Fran White

President

A resident of Cape Ann for more than 40 years, Fran is a clinical microbiologist, who in 1989 founded MDC Associates, a consulting company located in Beverly, MA, and serving the Medical Diagnostic industry. As President of MDC, she has grown the company and currently employs 40 people. She has been very active in a variety of professional groups including: American Society of Microbiology, American Associate of Clinical Chemistry and International Congress of Antimicrobial and Chemotherapy. As a successful business woman, she brings additional business perspective to the board. An avid reader she belongs to the Magnolia Book Club. As a lover of music she has been a season ticket holder of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for many years and now of the Cape Ann Symphony.

Thomas (Tom) Mannle

Treasurer

Thomas (Tom) Mannle first attended the Cape Ann Symphony when he lived with his family in Gloucester from 1981 to 1993. During that time, Tom's son Ryan was a saxaphone student of David Benjamin, the former CAS Business Manager, at O’Maley Middle School.

The Mannles moved to the Washington, DC area in 1993, but always returned to Cape Ann for some part of the summer and for the Christmas holidays. Because Tom's consulting work can be done anywhere, they planned to move back to Cape Ann (truly "home"). Shortly after moving back in 2009, Tom joined the Cape Ann Symphony Board. Tom and Ann both enjoy all varieties of music, including classical.

Tom is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, the Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University, and has been a health care consultant, particularly focused on the unique planning requirements of the federal Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, since the early 1990s.

John Bjorlie

Secretary

John Bjorlie is a transplanted mid-westerner who was born and raised in Minnesota. One of six children, he learned to play the piano and trombone so that he could join in the family orchestra. He recalls attending concerts of the Minneapolis Symphony from an early age. Since moving to Gloucester some forty years ago, he has been active in a variety of civic and cultural organizations, such as The Gloucester Civic and Garden Council, the Waterways Board of the City of Gloucester and three terms on the City Council. He is a lawyer with offices in Gloucester and specializes in litigation, real estate and probate work. He has been on the Board of the Symphony for some years, including four years as President, and is currently the Secretary of the organization. In addition, he is a member of the Cape Ann Symphony Chorus.

Robert Y. Ellis

Vice President of Marketing

Bob Ellis holds a degree in economics from Swarthmore College and a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He was a journalist with the Christian Science Monitor, editor of Skating Magazine and Executive Secretary of the United States Figure Skating Association. He and his wife Barbara owned and operated the Yankee Clipper Inn in Rockport for 35 years until they sold it in 2001. Ellis is the author of the home improvement book How To Buy and Install Floor Covering, Scribner’s, 1980. He also is the author of a memoir, A Collision of Truths: A Life in Conflict With A Cherished Faith, and An Act of God, a novel published by iUniverse. Ellis has had a lifelong love of music, especially bluegrass, jazz and classical. He has served many years on the CAS board and is a member of the Cape Ann Symphony Chorus and Chorus North Shore. He also is chairman of the Symphony’s Artistic Committee.

Susan Wisser

Director of Development

Susan is a two year member of the Gloucester community. Her love of music stems from a life-long relationship with her clarinet. She has played “forever,” and is presently happy to be a member of three community bands along the North Shore. She has served on the Board of the Cape Ann Symphony since her arrival on Cape Ann in 2021.

Susan is a nurse, now retired, and holds both a Masters in Nursing and an MBA. Years ago she worked in Boston as a nurse leader at Beth Israel Hospital. She practiced in various roles including intensive care, neurology, brain injury, rehabilitation, case management, and was on the faculty of Villanova University. The past twenty years were spent as the Patient Relations Manager in a large teaching hospital. She remains involved with End-of-Life issues.

Henry (Hank) Betts

Chair, House Committee

Hank has always enjoyed many types of music but became intimately involved with classical music when he married his wife, Wendy. She is a classically trained singer, as well as a trained organist and pianist and Hank has supported her efforts throughout their five relocations with the Dupont Company where Hank was a manufacturing manager. Born in Gloucester and raised in Beverly, they moved to Rockport 20 years ago, developing a vigorous music-filled life including formation of the musical group Share the Music through whose efforts monies are raised for various local charities, as well as for the Cape Ann Symphony. Hank provides business and back stage support for these efforts. Wendy is the director of The Cape Ann Symphony Chorus who perform at the Holiday Concert. Hank continues to be a consultant for Dupont, helping major global businesses learn how to manage their work forces in a way which prevents personal injuries as well as how to analyze and prevent process malfunctions thus avoiding catastrophic incidents.

Barbara Cox

Director of Marketing

A Third Culture Kid and Army brat since birth, Barbara Cox has lived in Europe for 12 years, both as a child and as an adult, serving as a social work contractor for the United States Air Force. Barbara holds a Masters of Social Work from Salem State University, and a Masters degree from Wartburg Theological Seminary.

Barbara calls Massachusetts home and has lived in the North Shore/Cape Ann area for decades, returning recently from Germany. She has sung in choirs since childhood, from churches to community choirs, including one season with the BSO Holiday Pops, the Wiener Jeunesse-Chor, the Kammerchor Landstuhl, Cappellla Nuova Sindelfingen (Stuttgart), The Paul Madore Chorale, Wellesley Choral Society, and the Cape Ann Symphony Chorus.

Barbara has been a social worker in Boston, Lawrence, Lynn, throughout the Commonwealth with the Massachusetts National Guard, and currently teaches social work at Salem State University. She has marketed her Bible study podcast and serves on the social work marketing committee at SSU.

Barbara enjoys travel, photography, scrapbooking, reading and music.

Richard Einhorn, MD

Born and raised in Montreal, Richard Einhorn was a music major at Yale and a piano major in Yale's Graduate School of Music before he entered Tufts Medical School and became a doctor. He served in private practice on the staff of Beverly Hospital as a gastroenterologist for 34 years, retiring in 2018. He was always active in his music career, being an active board member of the Boston Piano Amateurs Association, which holds monthly soirees and a biennial international piano competition for amateurs every 2 years - which he won in 2003. Since retirement, he has been more active in all things musical - taking masterclasses at New England Conservatory, playing classical music at the Boston Symphony Orchestra cafe before concerts, and joined the Cape Ann Symphony as a board member in 2019.

Lynne M. Khambaty

Chair, Celebrations Committee

Lynne and her late husband, Abdullah, (Ab) have been dedicated and enthusiastic supporters of the Cape Ann Symphony since the 1970s. Lynne has served on the symphony Board of Directors for many years and is a past president. Although she took a break from service, she is happy to be back.

A 1957 graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in Painting, she was a knitwear/textile designer for Health-Tex in Providence and Alamac Knitting Mills in New York. Switching careers, she earned a master's degree in Moderate Special Needs and became a teacher and Case Manager at the Ralph B. O'Maley School in Gloucester for 17 years. 

All her life, Lynne has used her voice as her special instrument. She met her husband in a church choir and has sung with the Chorus North Shore for over fifty years. She also is a singer in the Cape Ann Symphony Chorus.

Lynne is chairman of the Celebrations/Musicians Unleashed committee and serves on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee.

Ann Morrison

Ann is a long time resident of Gloucester after moving from California some 40 years ago. She has been richly rewarded by a career in nursing, serving our beloved community while working with Visiting Nurses for the past 25 years.

As a child she learned a deep appreciation of classical music while waltzing on her father’s shoes. He dreamed of conducting a symphony. Ann played piano during her school years and enjoyed singing in both church and school choirs. She was thrilled to have performed Handel’s Messiah with Chorus North Shore in the past.

Ann and her family have become tremendous fans of our incredible Cape Ann Symphony. They have enjoyed concerts as season ticket holders for many years, and remain so grateful for the gift of music in their lives.

Jodi Nedrow-Counihan

Jodi was born in Illinois, received her BS from Indiana University School of Business and her MBA from DePaul University, Chicago. She has over 30 years of international consumer marketing experience working for companies such as General Mills, Unilever, Quaker Oats and Gorton’s Seafood. Currently she is teaching Marketing at Endicott College in Beverly. She is delighted to bring her passion for building brands and businesses to the Cape Ann Symphony. Jodi grew up playing the piano and singing in the choir all through school, loves classical music and finds tinkering away at the piano a great form of relaxation. Jodi and her husband Brad have three children and live in Wenham.

Stephanie Stathos

Jonathan Stringer

Jonathan (Jon) is a retired Senior Counsel for Siemens Corporation having also served as General Counsel of the Lighting Business for Osram Sylvania in Danvers. He and his wife Linda reside in Newburyport and share a lifelong love of classical music. Jon received his B.A. at Rutgers University and his law degree at Case Western Reserve University where he enjoyed Lorin Maazel conducting the Cleveland Orchestra. In addition to serving on the board of Cape Ann Symphony since 2020, Jon also serves as a Judge in the National Appellate Advocacy Competition held annually by the ABA.

John Todd

John’s love of classical music dates back to his childhood when he first heard the Nutcracker Suite played by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Since then, he has enjoyed attending the symphonies in Boston, New York, and Washington D.C. as well as concerts in Eastern Europe. John and his wife, Christine, recently retired from their professions in the Washington D.C. area and moved back to the North Shore.  Shortly after their return, John and Christine attended their first Cape Ann Symphony performance; they were enthralled. They immediately became season ticket holders. Seeing that the symphony offered the Cape Ann community a truly wonderful treasure, John sought ways to support it. He responded to a call for volunteers and joined the Board in 2017. He currently serves on the Development Committee. John also supports of the work of the Alzheimer’s Association and was an active volunteer at the association’s Greater Capital Area Chapter before moving back to Massachusetts. John is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys skiing and sailing.

Lisa Watt-Bucci

Lisa Watt-Bucci is a 13 year resident of beautiful Cape Ann, choosing to move from Medford, MA and now residing with her wife Hope in Manchester By-the-Sea. Lisa recently retired after 33 years of service at John Hancock and is committed to community service, serving on the Manchester 9-1-1 Dispatch Committee, the Manchester Cultural Council, the Fourth of July Committee and North Shore Pride, a non-profit organization providing education and advocacy on behalf of LGBTQ  persons on the North Shore. Lisa aspired to join the board of Cape Ann Symphony due to her love for the North Shore and her life-long love of classical music. Lisa is a residential and commercial real estate agent, part of the Hope & Lisa Team for Coldwell Banker, serving Cape Ann, North Shore and beyond.

Robert K. (Bob) Whitmarsh, Jr.

Bob grew up in Gloucester and graduated from Gloucester High School where he played the baritone horn in the ROTC Band. Continuing his interest in music, Bob played with the Gloucester and Rockport Legion Bands, the Gloucester Community Band, and the GHS ROTC Alumni Band. Bob graduated from Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology and Northeastern University with Associate and BS Degrees in Electrical Engineering.

In his early work career, Bob wrote and administrated US Department of Labor Jobs Programs for Action, Inc. in Gloucester. After over a decade of engineering work at Sylvania, General Electric, and United Shoe Machinery, Bob took over the family locksmith business, Whitmarsh Lock & Safe. He was the Chairman of the Massachusetts Locksmiths Association’s Education Program. Bob was an instructor at the Yankee Security Convention. He is a member of the Associated Locksmiths of America where he received a rating of Certified Professional Locksmith. Bob’s interest in Gloucester’s history and architecture led him to attend the Boston Architectural College where he received a Certification in Historic Preservation. He is a member of the Cape Ann Museum, Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce, City of Gloucester Downtown Development and Historical Commissions. The fondest memories Bob has from his years at Gloucester High School are when he practiced with the Gloucester High Band in the High School Auditorium on the same night as the Cape Ann Symphony, which had an important effect in shaping Bob’s interest in classical music.