The Music Academy of the West has announced the appointments of Pamela Strobel and Terry Valeski to its Board of Directors for three-year terms.

Valeski will also serve as co-chair of the Music Academy’s marketing committee effective January, and Strobel will serve on the Music Academy’s education and outreach committee.

“We are pleased that Mr. Valeski will offer his extensive expertise to our board as a leader of the Music Academy’s marketing committee,” said Music Academy Board chair Warren Staley.

“As a dedicated compeer, he also brings a unique commitment to our mission of nurturing our fellows and supporting them in their future endeavors,” Staley said.

“Pam Strobel’s exceptional history of Arts advocacy and serving the community, so much in line with the academy’s mission, make her a dynamic addition to our board,” said Scott Reed, Music Academy of the West president/CEO.

Strobel is the director of Domtar Corporation, Illinois Tool Works Inc., and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company.

She serves on the board of the UI Labs of Chicago and the Chicago High School for the Arts, and was a past trustee of the University of Illinois, past chair and life trustee of the Ravinia Festival, and past chair and life trustee of the Civic Consulting Alliance.

Strobel is also a member of the Economic Club of Chicago, the Chicago Network, and the Commercial Club of Chicago where she serves on the executive committee.

Honors include the 2009 Arts Advocate Award from the Illinois Arts Alliance; 2003 Association of Professional Fundraisers award for Executive Leadership; 2003 Myra Bradwell Award for Excellence in the Profession from the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois.

Also, the 2002 Luminary Award from Girl Scouts of Chicago; Diversity 2000 Award from Minority Corporate Counsel Association; 1997 Founder’s Award from the Chicago Bar Association’s Alliance for Women; and 1997 Women of Achievement Award from the Anti-Defamation League.

Strobel received both her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Illinois.

Valeski has been an advisor to the CEO and director at Brand Embassy Ltd. since May 2016. He served as CEO and managing director of Eurotel Praha, 2000-05, and was managing director of Telefonica O2 Czech Republic, A.s. Valeski joined AIRCOM in 2006.

He also has served as the president and managing director of Pacific Bell of US, where he had been responsible for Northern California. He served as an executive director for marketing in BT Wireless (British Telecom).

Valeski served as an executive director for operations in Blu of Italy and Telfort, a Dutch mobile and fixed line operator owned by BT. Valeski was chief executive of Czech mobile operator Eurotel.

He also served as senior vice president of sales and marketing for various companies including Atari Corp.; Mattel, Inc. Teledyne WaterPik, Inc. and J. Walter Thompson Company.

Valeski, who holds a degree in liberal arts from the University of Arizona, has been on the board of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History since 2014.

For more about the Music Academy of the West, visit musicacademy.org.

— Kate Oberjat for Music Academy of the West.