JazzClubsNW is governed by a nine-member volunteer board and not compensated for their board service. Five are working musicians, four are music educators, and four are parents of musicians. Day-to-day operations of our venue and events are managed by dozens and dozens of volunteers - including our board members.
Danny Kolke - Founder & Chairman
Danny Kolke is a jazz pianist, composer, tech-entrepreneur, and educator. He opened Boxley's in North Bend in 2009 and founded the Boxley Music Fund, now JazzClubsNW, the following year. He founded the North Bend Jazz Walk in 2012 and the Blues Walk soon after, and has helped launch jazz nonprofits in Bellingham and Tacoma and chapters of JazzClubsNW in Edmonds/Everett and Snohomish. As a Jazz Musician, he has four albums on Pony Boy Records and is the author of Bebop by the Numbers, an improvisation method for students and music programs. Before turning to music full time in 2021 he spent sixteen years as a technology entrepreneur and holds five patents to his credit. He serves as Chairman of the board and as part-time Artistic Director of JazzClubsNW.
Michael Croan - President
Michael Croan is a working musician and trumpet instructor whose career spans jazz, classical, and commercial performance. After a ten-year hiatus from music, he found his way back to the trumpet in 2014, when he moved to North Bend and found himself within walking distance of Boxley's. That return was fueled and accelerated by JazzClubsNW itself — jam sessions, the Pro-Am Big Band, and local showcases gave him the reps and the community to rebuild his playing from the ground up. That experience shaped a conviction he still holds: the bandstand is the best teacher. It's this philosophy that led him to volunteer his time with JazzClubsNW, where he has served on the board since 2017, working to create more of those same hands-on opportunities for other musicians — especially students.
Thomas Daniels - Treasurer
Thomas Daniels is an amateur drummer and a lifelong jazz fan. He spent more than forty years in the commercial nuclear power industry, where his work centered on regulatory compliance, program and project management, and probabilistic safety assessment, including leading safety-assessment programs at both boiling-water and pressurized-water reactor utilities. He retired from Jensen Hughes, where he had worked since 1997. Earlier in his career, he worked in print journalism, television, and industrial public relations. As Treasurer, he keeps the organization's books and is responsible for local, federal, and state reporting.
Lorraine Thurston - Secretary
Lorraine Thurston is a music educator, performing musician, and longtime advocate for music education in the Snoqualmie Valley. She has taught in the Snoqualmie Valley School District since 2010, first as a band instructor in North Bend and later as a substitute teacher across the district. She is past president of the Snoqualmie Valley Schools Foundation, and serves on the boards of several other music organizations. Community music is her passion.
Patrick Donka
A financial executive with over 30 years of experience, including functioning as both an operating and strategic CFO. Has helped Private Equity investments with growth and turnaround execution. He has extensive experience in evaluation and structuring of investment transactions including Venture Capital, Joint Ventures, Mergers & Acquisition, Post Merger/Acquisition Integrations (PMI), Carve-Outs, M&A, Capitalizations and Restructurings. Experience working with large muti-national corporations as well as early-stage venture back companies in industries such as software, software-as-a-service, banking, telecommunications, healthcare, manufacturing, entertainment, biotech, and not-for-profit.
Linda Grez
Linda Grez is a paralegal in the Antitrust Division of the Washington State Attorney General's Office. She previously served as corporate paralegal at Athira Pharma, handling public-company governance, board records, and regulatory compliance, and spent thirteen years as Vice President of PropEle Electric Motors. She served twelve years as an elected Commissioner of the Si View Metro Park District. Linda is a long-time advocate and supporter of music education and president of the Mount Si High School Band Boosters.
Emily Hurd
Emily Hurd is a freelance music educator, arts administrator, and advocate for the arts and arts education within our communities. After seven years teaching high school band and choir, she pivoted to freelance work and arts administration in order to create broader opportunities for people to learn, collaborate, and develop community through music. Today, she teaches private clarinet lessons, coaches woodwind sections at local schools, adjudicates and clinics at festivals, leads music camps, and directs pit orchestras, bringing her experience to students and organizations throughout the region. Emily believes music is ultimately about people. By investing in musicians of all ages, she hopes to strengthen compassionate, engaged communities. Her work has also taught her that meaningful change is rarely accomplished alone. Whether working with an individual student or organizing large-scale arts events, she believes lasting impact comes through relationships, collaboration, and a shared commitment to our community. In addition to her freelance work, Emily also serves part-time as Events & Development Manager for JazzClubsNW.
Brian Lawrence
Brian Lawrence is a versatile musician specializing in jazz and commercial music. He earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of North Texas, where he was a teaching fellow and a member of the UNT One O’Clock Lab Band. He previously served as Interim Director of Jazz Studies at Central Washington University and taught public school music in the Greater Seattle area. Brian is an active educator, composer/arranger, and performer whose work reflects a commitment to artistic excellence, creativity, and leadership in music and music education.
Bill Stewart
Bill Stewart spent his career in diagnostic imaging — as a product manager for GE Medical Systems working on CT and MRI in Cologne and Tokyo, then for Siemens Healthcare on ultrasound products in Issaquah, and finally as a product privacy and security officer for Philips Healthcare in Bothell. He holds a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Washington and a master's in international business from the University of South Carolina. Now retired, he is a longtime community advocate and one of the organization's most active volunteers with JazzClubsNW.