Two new members approved for Friends board

December 11, 2012

The Friends of the Festival approved Mark Pilkenton and Ron Wakefield as new directors at the December 9 annual meeting.

A Nike employee for over 32 years, Mark Pilkenton is now the Director of Global Event Marketing, overseeing a team that conceives, plans and executes Nike brand experiences at major sports and fitness events. Mark’s previous experience includes positions at KVAL-TV, and as faculty member in Broadcast Journalism for LCC. A 1979 graduate of the School of Journalism at the UO, Mark is married to Eileen Pilkenton and is the proud parent of 19-year-old Nathan.  When not involved with Nike business, Mark serves on the board of the UO Alumni Association and enjoys golf, basketball, music, films and following UO sports teams.

Ron Wakefield was born in Mineola, Texas and has lived in Dearborn, Michigan; Laguna Beach, California; Munich, Germany; and San Diego, where he currently resides. Though an engineer by education and a writer/editor/linguist by profession, he has always pursued musical interests, usually as avocation but also as an organist and choirmaster. After returning from Munich to California, Ron needed a Bach Festival; Martin Bernheimer’s glowing review in the Los Angeles Times in 1980 introduced him to the OBF. The very next year he was here, and he’s attended the entire Festival just about every year since.

In other agenda items: Dave Frosaker, board chair, recognized the current executive committee, which includes Don Harris, vice-chair; Mary Miller, secretary; and at-large member Jim Giustina. Board President John Evans gave an overview of recent Festival news, including the award of a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for the commission of composer James MacMillan in 2016.