Board of Directors

Thomas F. Cooke II – President and Chairman of the Board

Mr. Cooke is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Chicago Law School. He has served as a Partner in the law firms of Baker & Hostetler (Cleveland, Ohio) and Jenner & Block (Chicago, Illinois). Mr. Cooke has also served as Executive Vice President for Tellabs, Inc. (Naperville, Illinois). A trained singer and clarinetist, Mr. Cooke sings with Voce, Concora and the Asylum Hill Congregational Church.

David L. Lawton – Secretary

Mr. Lawton is a graduate of Point Loma Nazarene University (‘96), l’Université de Montpellier III (’00) in Montpellier, France, and the University of Connecticut School of Law (‘06), where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Connecticut Journal of International Law. He is currently an associate attorney in the corporate department at Reid and Riege, P.C. Mr. Lawton started and manages a translation business and is active in his local church. David lives with his wife, Hannah, and two children in Bloomfield, Connecticut.

Joseph Groff – Treasurer

Mr. Groff holds a BA in music from Hamilton College. He has held positions as a computer programmer for the past 26 years. Mr. Groff has extensive experience as a singer for nonprofit organizations. He has sung for a number of professional and semi-professional groups including the Woodland Scholars (Hartford, CT). In addition, Mr. Groff has been employed as a section leader in the Immanuel Church choir for the past 20 years.

David Pettyjohn

Mr. Pettyjohn graduated in 1998 from William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, earning his B.A. in Music and Computer Science. He then completed 2 semesters of Master's work in the field of Church Music at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Mr. Pettyjohn works in the computer industry and has held positions with Corporate Community, Inc. (Austin, TX) and COCC (Avon, CT). Mr. Pettyjohn is currently an Application Architect for Hartford Investment Management Company of Hartford, CT. He has served as Webmaster for the Vernon Chorale, a non-profit community choir. In addition to singing for Voce, Mr. Pettyjohn has performed with the Vernon Chorale, the Immanuel Congregational Church Chancel Choir, the Connecticut Chamber Singers, the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Chorus, and the Woodland Scholars.

Bob Willard

Bob spent over thirty years in the Insurance profession. He is a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and a life member of the Million Dollar Round Table. Since moving east from Los Angeles, he has been able to focus his energies on the area of his passion, the performing arts. He has performed in professional choruses for world class conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Eugene Ormandy, Igor Stravinsky, Andre Previn, Michael Tilson Thomas, Bruno Walter, Roger Wagner and Robert Shaw. Immediately after the tragedies of September 11, 2001, Bob became a music consultant to the National Red Cross for the curriculum they created for school age children to help them through 9/11 and other disasters. Bob lives in West Simsbury with his wife, the Rev. Dr. Claire Bamberg.

James A. Grigsby

Mr. Grigsby is currently the Board Chairman of Cytogen Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company located in Princeton, NJ. He led management and the Board through a complex turnaround of the company, driving changes in management, raising capital, establishing a well-defined committee structure, and achieving full compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley requirements.

Previously, Mr. Grigsby served a consultant for Cancer Care Management LLC, and Nachman-Hays Consulting, a nationally recognized turnaround management firm.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Grigsby advanced through senior management roles with Cigna Corporation. He served as President of the International Life and Employee Benefits Division, a 1500-employee division with 20 country and over $1 billion in revenues. He also was President of Employee Benefit Sales, turning around an underperforming national sales organization and driving annual revenues from $600 million to over $1 billion within four years. Previously, as Senior Vice President of the Individual Financial Division, Mr. Grigsby led the development of new business strategies.

Mr. Grigsby has held many non-profit board positions, particularly in the performing arts. He is currently a member of the Board of Chorus America, the national organization for professional and symphonic choruses. Mr. Grigsby has a B.A. in Mathematics from Baylor University and is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries.

David Shaiken

David Shaiken is a graduate of Swarthmore College and the University of Connecticut School of Law. He practices law in Hartford at Reid and Riege, P.C. where he is chair of the firm's Employment and Personnel Law Practice Group, and where he handles a wide variety of business litigation cases. David has served pro bono as general counsel to Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc., a nonprofit organization. David is a James W. Cooper Fellow of the Connecticut Bar Foundation. A trained mediator and arbitrator, he serves as a pro bono mediator at the United States Bankruptcy Court in Hartford, and as an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association. A member of the University of Connecticut School of Law's adjunct faculty, he lives in Storrs, Connecticut.

Nicole Marion

Ms. Marion graduated from University of Connecticut with a BS in Business Management. She has been working with Wachovia Securities in Glastonbury, CT for more than 8 years. Ms. Marion sings with the Vernon Chorale and has performed with Voce. She lives in Coventry with her 3 children.