Artistic Director
Mr. Garrett F. Martin is the choir’s Artistic Director. He holds a Performer’s Certificate in Organ from Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music and a Sacred Music and Organ Performance Degree from Carson-Newman College. He earned a Master of Music degree in Organ Performance and Sacred Music at UT Austin. Garrett is the 2009 American Guild of Organists Performance winner and the 2007 National Keyboard Performer’s Contest winner. He is well versed in classical music, choral music, popular, and contemporary styles. Garrett also serves as Director of Music Ministries and Organist at Highland Park Baptist Church, the new home for the Austin Children’s Choir.
Garrett has a proven track record in developing children’s voices and successful youth choirs in Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, and Texas. His children’s choirs at the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale were regularly featured on the nationally broadcast “The Coral Ridge Hour.”
Assistant Artistic Director
Chris Baker serves as Assistant Artistic Director. He holds a B.A. in Music from Rice University, where he studied voice, conducting and piano. He has also taken graduate courses in music education at Oberlin Conservatory. Chris is a former Texas All-State Choir singer. He has taught choral music, mathematics, and ESL to students in the U.S., Japan, and Switzerland and works as a private tutor and voice teacher in the Austin area. He manages enrollment and communications and assists the artistic director during practices and performances.
Board of Directors
Carron Whittaker is Board President. She is a Public Service Industry Project Manager at Accenture with more than 17 years of service in the industry. Carron holds a BA in Social Welfare from UC Berkeley and an MPAff from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at UT Austin. Carron also serves on the board of the Theatre Action Project and is a member of Agape Christian Ministries, serving in the choir and on the Praise & Worship team.
Ray Schafer serves as Board Vice-President. His daughters were choir members for more than 10 years. He is the founder InQuinox, a data storage company. He is regarded as an authority on data storage, protection, and restoration solutions, and has nearly a quarter century of information technology and data protection industry experience. Schafer holds a BA in Microbiology from UT Austin.
Robin Fagan serves as Treasurer and works as a tax preparer in Taylor, TX. She holds degrees in French and Russian from UT Arlington and has taught English in the Middle East and Dallas. Her daughter sang in the Austin Children’s Choir for five years. Robin serves on the Board because she believes that life without the arts is impossible; the human spirit requires and demands artistic endeavors.
Pam Losefsky serves as Development Chair. She is Director of Communications and Development for the National Trauma Institute, a nonprofit that funds traumatic injury research. Pam has served on the boards of the Travis Country Swim Team, the Travis Country Community Service Association, and the Austin Chapter of the Association for Women in Communications. Her son is a choir member.
Mike Wilson is Board Publicity Chair. He has three children in the choir.
