BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Sacred and Profane is governed by a board of directors that includes both chorus and community members.

Esther Hulme, Board President

Esther has been singing with Sacred & Profane since January of 2023. She served on the board as a Member at Large for the 2024-2025 season and recently bagan her tenure as Board President. Esther currently works as the CEO of her household, managing finances and schedules and health needs for her 4 children with her husband. For many years Esther has been heavily involved with her church community, serving as the president of the welfare and women’s organizations there. Currently she and her husband lead a church youth choir for teenagers in the Tri-Valley, which two of her children are a part of. As a family, they performed musical concerts at nursing homes in the area and at the LDS temple in Oakland, CA. In addition to music, Esther enjoys running, swimming, and being the most enthusiastic mom cheerleader.

Gretchen Wallacker, Secretary

Gretchen Wallacker has sung with Sacred & Profane for almost two decades and joined the board as Secretary at the start of the 2025-26 season. She served on the San Francisco Bach Choir Board prior to joining Sacred & Profane. Gretchen is a family law mediator and a mom to two wonderful young adults. In addition to singing, Gretchen loves to spend time with her family and friends, swim in the San Francisco Bay, and run on her hilly neighborhood streets.

Andrew Rowberg, Treasurer

Andrew Rowberg has sung with Sacred and Profane since Fall 2022 and joined the board as Treasurer at the start of the 2024-25 season. He has sung in choruses since 2015 after many years as a trumpeter and pianist. Outside of music, he enjoys running, traveling, and competitive bridge playing (yes, your grandmother's favorite card game). As treasurer, Andrew's guiding mission is to free S&P of the pesky scourge of junk fees.

Alex Cook, Member-at-large

Alex joined the Sacred and Profane Board in 2025, bringing deep experience in corporate leadership and nonprofit board service. He is Head of Core Experience Product Management at a Technology company, where he builds high-impact digital products used by millions. A lifelong singer – from the American Boychoir School as a youth to the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus at current – Alex is passionate about community-building through music. His past board service includes Music Crossing Borders, SoMArts, LYRIC.org, and he currently serves as Treasurer on the board of Partnerships for Trauma Recovery. He is committed to advancing S&P’s artistic excellence, growth and impact.

Freddy Hansen, Member-At-Large

Freddy has sung with Sacred & Profane since January, 2023 and joined the board in July, 2025. A baritone with lifelong choral experience, he began singing at age 8 in a renowned boys’ choir that toured internationally. His passion for music continued through university ensembles and most recently the UC Berkeley Alumni Chorus before joining S&P.

Outside of rehearsal, Freddy is a research physicist whose career has orbited everything from plasma physics and astrophysics to nuclear engineering, aerospace, robotics, and medical devices. When he's not solving cosmic mysteries or fine-tuning medical tech, he’s probably somewhere far from home—he’s visited more countries than he’s had birthdays, and intends to keep it that way. He also speaks multiple languages, including Swedish—which conveniently happens to be Sacred & Profane’s most-sung language after English. Freddy also enjoys skiing, tennis, board games, computer games, and books.

Gwen Kaplan, Member-at-large

Following years as an influential marketing executive, Gwen Kaplan joined Sacred and Profane’s Board of Directors in July 2025. As the President of Ace Marketing in San Francisco, Gwen supported countless Bay Area organizations’ messaging in the community, including Sacred and Profane. Ace Marketing and Gwen’s many awards and distinctions include the 2023 University San Francisco Gellert Family Business Award, Adjunct Instructor Direct Marketing at UC Berkeley, Bravo Zulu Fleet Week 2019, San Francisco Green Business of the Year, San Francisco Excellence in Business EBBIE, Woman Entrepreneur of the Year, Small Business Advocate of the Year for California by US Small Business Administration, and Co-Founder 2020 BuildOutCalifornia.org. In her spare time, Gwen loves to travel and attend music and sporting events, and is a strong supporter of her sons, including Sacred and Profane longtime tenor Miles.

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Are you looking to get more involved with a non-profit arts organization? We are actively recruiting for our Board of Directors! Contact us if you’re interested in what our board does and how you can contribute to our community.

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STAFF

Douglas Lilly, Chorus manager

Having previously served as Front-of-House Manager during Sacred & Profane’s 2024/25 season, Douglas presently serves as Chorus Manager for the ensemble. A multidisciplinary arts professional, he brings years of experience in music, stage management, and arts administration to the role. Douglas studied music and writing at West Virginia University and is an avid musician. Before joining Sacred Profane, he worked as Community Developer for Rocksmith, a guitar-learning platform. Most recently from North Carolina, he relocated to the Bay Area in 2018 and remains passionate about fostering creative collaboration in arts and academic spaces.