South Bay native Brendan Rawson has worked in the local arts scene for more than twenty years. Since joining SJZ in 2012, Brendan has worked to increase the impact of our education programs and conceived many of our most successful initiatives, including Jazz Beyond programming and our mobile Boombox Truck stage. These initiatives reflect Brendan’s conviction that SJZ’s greatest strengths lie in its resourcefulness and adaptability, and that one its most important measures of success is its relevance to the community. Prior to his current role, Brendan served as Director of Cultural Participation at 1stACT Silicon Valley, where he helped launch the Left Coast Live music festival, spearheaded shared facilities and services strategies for the sector and led the organization’s research work. Prior to 1stACT, Brendan served as Director of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UC Santa Cruz Extension. He has also held positions at Cultural Initiatives Silicon Valley, MACLA Center for Latino Arts and Collaborative Economics. Brendan holds a Masters of Public Policy from UC Berkeley and a Bachelor’s degree from Santa Clara University. Brendan has served on the Boards of Teatro Visión, Bay Area Glass Institute, and Valley Verde.

Bruce Labadie has over 40 years of experience in Performing Arts Management and festival production. He directed all programs at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga for 18 years, and has served as the performing arts director at the Montalvo Arts Center, in Saratoga, Calif., for 12 years, and as the director of many festivals in San Jose. As the founder, artistic and festival director of the San Jose Jazz Festival, now the San Jose Jazz Summer Fest, since 1990, and San Jose Jazz Winter Fest, Labadie programs over 120 concerts annually for San Jose Jazz. He was recently named the 2019 Cornerstone of the Arts, the City of San Jose’s highest honor bestowed on an arts administrator. He is currently programming consultant for the Musco Center at Chapman University in Orange, Calif., and the California Center for the Arts in Escondido, Calif. He also served as artistic director for San Jose’s Music in the Park and Music in the Other Park summer series for 22 years, was producer for San Jose’s 01SJ Festival of art and technology, is artistic director of the Jazz on the Plazz, and Music in the Park series in Los Gatos, and has been director of the Redwood City Salsa Festival and Cultural Concerts, and past president of California Presenters. He has produced most of the major festivals in San Jose including the San Jose Mariachi Festival, the San Jose America Festival, Brew Ha Ha and many others.

Hugo Garcia joined the Progressions team in August 2017. Hugo received his BA in Music from University of California, Davis and his MM in Music Education from San José State University. He has performed and conducted with various groups including the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra, the San Jose State Latin Jazz Ensemble, and many others. While at SJSU, Hugo was the director of the Young Musicians’ Project, where he focused on program evaluation, mission-alignment, and music program sustainability. Hugo is a local musician, music educator, and arts education advocate. In 2019, he was selected to be in the 11th cohort of the year-long Multicultural Arts Leadership Institute (MALI) training program through the School of Arts and Culture at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose. Through this and other important networks like the Mayor’s Gang Prevention Task Force, local education agencies, and other community partners, he also strives to highlight and advocate for music in education and the various music traditions, styles, and cultures that make up the rich music community of the Silicon Valley.

Massimo Chisessi was brought on board as marketing manager for the 2011 Summer Fest and was named San Jose Jazz’s Director of Marketing in September 2011. In this tenure, Mr. Chisessi drove a major institutional rebranding; increased PR efforts, resulting in national and international coverage; strengthened a relationship with the regional jazz radio station, paving the way for live broadcasts from Fest stages, created Summer Fest’s first responsive website optimized for mobile devices; and instituted tiered pricing, resulting in increased revenue. After a recent stint at San Francisco Ballet, Mr. Chisessi returned to San Jose Jazz in January 2017. He brings with him extensive experience in marketing non-profit arts organizations in the Bay Area including San Jose Museum of Art and Montalvo Arts Center.