Henry Sampson, President

Henry Sampson is currently involved in learning various forms of percussion and in pursuing his work in black and white film photography. He spent 35 years as a high school teacher helping his district develop course work in AP curriculum, gifted curriculum and in establishing a joint effort with University of Illinois Chicago to provide coursework within the high school where students received college credit upon completion of Composition 101 within the school day.

Henry was also the Speech team head coach for 35 years and continues to stay involved at the IHSA Sate Speech Finals each year. He has worked with non-profit organizations for 27 years including an officer and President of Poetry Slam, Inc, which organized and ran the National Poetry Slams in various cities around the country. Henry also was a founding member of Chicago Slam Works, an organization that developed local poetry events in the Chicago area. He was also on the board and president of The Chicago Poetry Center for many years. Henry has also been on the board, and continues to assist at Expressions Studio, a fine art print studio in Oak Park.

Nick Eipers, Vice President

Nick Eipers is a recording engineer and producer working in the Chicago area. Since 1992, he has worked freelance (and occasionally “on staff”) at Chicago Recording Company, Electrical Audio, Philharmonic Studios, Shirk Studios, Rax Trax Recording, Gravity Studios, Chicago Trax, and many other facilities. In 2008, he founded a record label – Chicago Sessions – producing and recording a catalog of 22 albums. Four were named in Downbeat Magazine’s “Albums of the Year”; two were “Editor’s Picks”. In 2003, Nick designed and built Shantyville Recording Studio, a musician-owned private studio. He was Producer for the radio program “This Is Chicago Jazz with Mike Jeffers” on WNTD (2009-2010), which included on-air musical performances and remote broadcasts. Sennheiser (Neumann) Sound Recording Academy enlisted him twice as Guest Engineer.

Nick was Adjunct Professor of Instruction at Columbia College Chicago for 25 years, teaching a course in music recording. Album credits include Howard Levy, Paul Wertico’s Mid-East/Mid-West Alliance, Makaya McCraven, Marc Scibilia, Shawn Maxwell, Larry Gray, Chicago Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble, Stephen Lynerd, Markus Rutz, Matt Nelson Trio, Aaron Koppel Quartet, Liz Berg, Jim Sellers, lePercolateur, Paulinho Garcia, Bryan Carter, Gallery 37/City of Chicago, The Chautauqua Ensemble… and, of course Don Skoog and The Dickinson Ensemble.

Don Skoog, Treasurer and Executive Director

Don Skoog is a composer, writer, speaker, percussionist, and multimedia artist who performs on marimba, vibraphone, Latin and Arabic percussion, drumset, and flamenco cajón. He is Director of The Dickinson Ensemble, a chamber group for which he composes music based on the poetry of Emily Dickinson. He co-chairs the Emily Dickinson International Society Arts Committee.

He currently performs with The Chicago Arabic Music Ensemble and Raices Gitanas Flamenco Ensemble. He has taught percussion at the American Conservatory of Music, Sherwood Music School, and the Contemporary Music Project, which he founded in 1982, and he continues to teach privately. He has conducted educational tours to Cuba, Puerto Rico, Morocco, Mexico, and Colombia.

Michael Kilmer, Secretary

Performer, writer, teacher and composer Mike Kilmer aka Mike iLL, has been an enthusiastic student of music since the mid-1970’s, adding computer programming and yoga to their toolkit along the way.

Mike and his spouse Rivka moved to Pensacola, Florida in 2003, birthing Rinah in 2009 and Ashirah in 2012. Both children are life-long participants in the Pensacola Children’s Chorus.

Mike develops web applications, teaches music, sings, dances (a little) and plays piano, electronics, guitar, bass and accordion and has recently been intensely studying afro-cuban music, studying in Havana with Marino Angarica.

Christopher Courtney, Officer

Christopher Courtney is currently the Artistic Director of ‘Culture Shock Chicago NFP’. He is also the owner of Djadentertainment, and is a founding member of the “professional” beginnings of ‘Chicago Dance Crash’. He specializes in staging, structuring, and conceptualizing performances pieces.

Christine Steyer, Officer

Christine Steyer, soprano, was the 2020 recipient of The American Prize for outstanding contributions to the arts and winner of the Johnny Mercer Award, She has performed the title role in Madama Butterfly and Violetta in La Traviata. Since 2000, she has sung in over 40 productions at Lyric Opera of Chicago. In 2021, she premiered the role of the Rio de Janeiro Health Care Worker in On Call: COVID-19, and in 2022, she debuted as Flanna in Future Perfect. Steyer also served as the librettist for both of these award-winning operas. Since 2024, she has sung in Elijah, Speed Dating Tonight, recitals of songs by Florence Price and Ernst Bacon, and as the Elf Queen in the Chicago premiere of Pauline Viardot Garcia’s Le Dernier Sorcier. This fall, she and French pianist Jean-Claude Orfali will release videos featuring their original songs as well as the official English versions of works by legendary French composer Henri Betti. Next summer, Steyer will sing the role of the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro in Chicago. Steyer has brought music to more than 24,000 youth in underserved communities through Bellissima Opera’s In the Classroom program. She is Co-founder of the vocal alliance Working in Concert and serves as Artistic Director of its Bellissima Opera initiative. Steyer is also on the music faculty at Concordia University in River Forest, teaches at Ascension Catholic School in Oak Park, and maintains a private voice studio in Oak Park.

Mark Gavoor, Officer

Mark Gavoor, Associate Professor of Operations Management, has been at North Park College for over ten years and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the School of Business and Nonprofit Management. Mark has over 35 years of experience in Quality, Customer Service, Logistics, and Supply Chain Management in the consumer packaged goods, automotive and defense industries.

Mark has also played the oud in Armenian and Middle Eastern ensembles for over 50 years. He currently is part of the Hye Vibes Armenian Band, the Chicago Arabic Music Ensemble, and the University of Chicago Middle Eastern Music Ensemble.