Chair of Professional Development 2019 - Alessandra Alegre
Originally from Lima, Peru, Alessandra moved to Nashville in 2012 to attend Belmont University and graduated in May 2016 with a B.B.A in Music Business. During her last semester, she landed a job as Royalty Coordinator at Tri Star Sports & Entertainment Group, an entertainment business management firm based in Nashville and Los Angeles, and has been there ever since. Currently the Manager of Special Services & Royalty Compliance at Tri Star, Alessandra manages the deliverables of the Royalty Department, including income tracking, contract review, royalty reporting, and new client onboarding. She loves working with some of the best songwriters, producers, and artists to maximize their royalty earnings and ensure they never leave money on the table. Alessandra is also on the Junior Board of the YWCA, a member of Society of Leaders In Development (SOLID) and the Women’s Music Business Association (WMBA), and a MusiCares Ambassador.
Chair of Communications 2019 - Kathryn Bennett
Kathryn received a degree in Journalism from Emerson College in Boston, MA in 2015, and moved to Nashville shortly after to join the Bee Team at The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. At CFMT, Kathryn manages GivingMatters.com, a comprehensive database of nonprofits in our region, and The Big Payback, Middle Tennessee’s 24-hour online giving day. She loves getting to know the nonprofits that serve our community and helping them tell their stories.
In her spare time, Kathryn loves listening to live music, perusing local book stores and exploring Nashville’s restaurants and breweries. She is looking forward to serving a second term as the Chair of Communications for Conexion Next.
Chair of Volunteering 2019 - Todd Chappel
As the new Chair of Volunteering, I am excited to continue being a part of
Conexion Next and to see the ways we can positively impact our community over the
coming year. When I moved to Nashville a few years ago from Bowling Green, KY, I
started to get to know the city the best way I knew how: through the food scene! While
that has and continues to be an amazing experience of the city, I knew there was more
to uncover. I saw volunteering as a way to do this and one of my first opportunities was
at the LP PENCIL Box where I assisted teachers as they shopped for free school
supplies. Along with a few other experiences, volunteering revealed that Nashville is full
of incredible philanthropic organizations, a fact I was unaware of previously. Since then,
giving back and helping others has become a regular passion both at work and in my
free time. When it’s time to relax, I’m always up for exploring a new restaurant or two
and as a native Kentuckian, it would be shameful not to enjoy good bourbon! I look
forward to the coming year with all of you!
President 2019 - Phoebe Castelblanco
Phoebe Castelblanco is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with a Bachelor of Science in Geologic Sciences and a Bachelor of Arts in Peace, War and Defense.
Throughout her childhood, she fostered a deep commitment to service while volunteering with her father, a prominent leader in public health in Western North Carolina. While in college, she spent time working with Human Rights Watch as an intern in their Foundations department. Phoebe has worked with UNICEF USA since 2017 as the Nashville Community Engagement Fellow. She currently serves as a Board Intern on the governing board of the Nashville Children’s Alliance. In her free time,Phoebe loves to garden in her community plot at the Farm in the City and volunteer with several local organizations.
Chair of Special Events 2019 - Jeremy Gartland
Originally from Madison, Wisconsin, Jeremy moved to Nashville by way of Cornell University in the summer of 2018. He currently works as the Housing Paralegal for the Legal Aid Society of Middle TN where he assists in the representation of low-income clients with landlord-tenant disputes. Jeremy’s career aspirations are to remain in public service to defend the needs of the most vulnerable and to pursue graduate education in law and/or public policy. His wife, Olivia, is a CPA in the Audit department of FMC and they are the proud cat-parents of Zelda and Fitz.
