BOARD BIOGRAPHIES

Kimberly Blattner
A resident of Sonoma since 1982, Kimberly was raised in Oregon and came to California to attend Stanford University where she received a BA in Political Science and was the captain of the women’s varsity swimming team. She received an MA and elementary and secondary teaching credentials from UC Davis and taught high school from 1976-1990. She was the chair of the English Dept at Sonoma Valley High School from 1988-90. In SF, she served on the boards of Presidio Hill School, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, SFMOMA Docent Council and Enterprise for High School Students. In Sonoma, she has served on the boards of the League of Women Voters of Sonoma County, La Luz, SV Museum of Art and Sustainable Sonoma. She currently serves on the city’s Community Services and Environment Commission. She resides in downtown Sonoma in an 1882 historic home, reads voraciously, travels extensively and listens to classical music daily.

Cindi King, Board President
Cindi is a retired corporate attorney, relocated from Mill Valley to Sonoma four years ago. She practiced law in a San Francisco firm for several years specializing in venture capital financing and then in software licensing. She moved to working in-house and consulting for businesses and eventually for non-profit organizations primarily in the public media area. Upon retiring from law practice, she owned and operated an indoor cycling studio in Novato for 4 years. Cindi has served on non-profit boards for many years beginning with arts boards in San Francisco including the Magic Theater and on education boards in Marin County and is currently also serving on the board of the Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance. Her chief avocation is
classical music and I have been singing in classical choral groups in San Francisco for many years, most recently with the San Francisco Choral Society.

Valentina Kimily Jones, Vicepresident
Born and raised in Sonoma, Kim is an internationally experienced professional with a dynamic background in public relations across fashion, art and nonprofit industries. She has spent eight years in senior public relations positions cultivating strong local and international networks. As an expat living and working in Sweden from 2008-2016, she lead public relations for House of Dagmar and The Swedish Academy of Realist Art. Upon returning to Sonoma, she assumed roles at Sonoma Ecology Center in communications, fundraising, and coordinating Sonoma Valley Collaborative, a cross-sector coalition of community leaders. She holds a BA in Psychology with a minor in The History of Art and Visual Culture from UCSC. She plays the piano, and grew up under the influence of her dad’s great love of Romantic and Late Romantic composers.

Lee Baxter
Baxter lives in San Francisco and Sonoma. She graduated from Golden Gate University School of Law and practiced law in San Francisco until she was appointed as a Commissioner to the San Francisco Superior Court. Thereafter, she was appointed to the bench in San Francisco and served as Judge of the San Francisco Superior Court until her retirement. She served on the Board of Trustees of Golden Gate University, where she chaired the Law School Dean’s Advisory Council and established the Baxter Fellowship in Trial Advocacy at Golden Gate School of Law. She is on the Board of Trustees of Smuin Contemporary Ballet in San Francisco, and on the Boards of Directors of the African Environmental Film Foundation and the Tony Fitzjohn/George Adamson African Wildlife Preservation Trust based in Kenya.

Martin Cohn, Founding Board President – Emeritus
During and after a long career in advertising, Martin has served on many non-profit boards, among them: The French American International School; L’Istituto Italiano Scuola, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble and San Francisco Performances. Music, in particular chamber music, is Martin’s greatest passion and helping found the Valley of the Moon Musical Festival is the most gratifying thing he has ever done in the public arena.

Louise Gilbert
Music has always been a significant part of my life. At the age of five, I remember curling up under our grand piano to listen to my mom practice her concert-level repertoire. In addition, family friends from the Los Angeles Philharmonic would come to our home on Sundays to play quartets in our living room. As an adult, I have worked in the field of Social Justice for various Federal Government agencies in Washington and San Francisco; and, as a Program Officer for the Levi Strauss Foundation; as well as a Corporate/Foundation Fundraiser for Mills College. Now retired, I have returned to my deep love for classical chamber music. Currently studying Cello, I have found my natural home on the Board of Directors of the Valley of the Moon Music Festival.