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Board of Directors
JERRY LEE | PRESIDENT
Jerry serves as President of the Board of Directors of Modern Men: Coachella Valley Men’s Chorus. Now in his fourth season with Modern Men, he brings extensive experience in both the gay choral movement and nonprofit leadership. Before joining Modern Men, Jerry spent 25 years with the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC, including eight years on its Board of Directors. A retired IT manager, Jerry brings a practical, collaborative approach to leadership. He lives in Rancho Mirage with his partners Joe and Chris.
JERALD MILLER | VICE PRESIDENT & MARKETING CHAIR
Originally from Indiana, Jerald moved to the Palm Springs area with his partner in 2015 from the Chicago area. He joined Modern Men in 2019 as a Second Tenor. In 2022, Jerald joined the Board as Vice President for two years and was head of Marketing for the Chorus for three years. He is excited to return to the Chorus and to those positions that he has served in the past. Now retired, Jerald worked in commercial insurance in both the Chicago area and locally here in the Coachella Valley.
MITCHELL LAKS | TREASURER
Born in New York City, Mitchell received his PhD in Biochemistry from Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago. Using his early training as a medical technologist, he spent his professional career as a Clinical Laboratory Director with Laboratory Corporation of America, retiring in 2017. Upon retirement (and in order to escape the Chicago winters) he relocated to Palm Springs, where he met his husband. Mitchell has been involved in choral singing since childhood. He is a founding member of the Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus and sang with them at the first National Gay and Lesbian Choral Festival at Lincoln Center in 1983. Mitchell joined Modern Men in 2018 and, apart from a one-year hiatus, has had the honor of serving as Board Treasurer since 2020. In his spare time, Mitchell is Finance Chair for his homeowner’s association, an avid bridge player, and enjoys reading and tackling the NY Times crossword puzzles.
BILL CIFFAIRY | SECRETARY
Bill was born and raised in Queens, NY, and later moved to and lived most of his adult life in downtown Brooklyn. In New York, Bill earned his undergraduate degrees in English/Secondary Education from St. John’s University and his Master’s Degree in Deafness Rehabilitation from NYU. Bill taught high school English then later became involved with American Sign Language and worked with the Deaf community as an educator where he taught Deaf and Hard of Hearing high school students in the NYC Department of Education. Later, he became a school administrator with the NYC DOE from which he retired in 2013. Bill is a nationally certified sign language interpreter for the Deaf. As an interpreter, Bill has interpreted in numerous venues including; Carnegie Hall, several Broadway theaters, Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey AIDS Walk NY and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Bill was a singing member of the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus for almost 13 years and served in various capacities including interim acting chair. Bill joined Modern Men in 2021 after he and his domestic partner, Drew, moved to Palm Springs.
PETER GORDON | DIRECTOR AT LARGE
Peter brings a diverse range of creative and business skills to the Board. He began his career as a dancer in the theater in New York, while also establishing a business in graphic design. He then transitioned his work to helping others heal their lives by becoming a therapist, which he practiced for 25 years. Moving to Santa Fe, Peter established a thriving landscape design firm, nourishing his love of the earth and its bounties. He then moved here to Palm Springs, where he burnished his talents as a professional photographer. He has been a proud member of Modern Men for nine years and takes great satisfaction from the joy that our performances bring to others.
RON HENDON | DIRECTOR AT LARGE
Ron was born in northwest Indiana, known to Chicagoans as “da region”. He sang with Windy City Gay Men’s Chorus until he helped found Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus in 1983. He was a buyer at Marshall Field’s when Bloomingdale’s recruited him to New York in 1990, where he joined New York City Gay Men’s Chorus. After moving to New York’s Hudson Valley and shifting his career to private club management, Ron became a volunteer firefighter and EMT for 18 years where he served as fire department president and then as a district fire commissioner. He and his husband escaped the cold, wet Northeast and moved to the Coachella Valley in 2024 where he continues to work as a private club manager. It’s been a great joy for him to join Modern Men and reunite with many of his former chorus friends from Chicago and New York.
JEFF JENEST | MODERN MEN CARES CHAIR
Jeff attended Stanford as an undergrad and then Harvard Business School, where he concentrated in marketing and finance. He spent his career in working on brands such as Tang and Doritos, then Jane Fonda’s Workouts. He joined Playboy’s Entertainment Group in 1988 and spent the remainder of his career there in various general management positions, eventually reaching Chief Operating Officer. Jeff takes the greatest pride from his years as an HIV/ADIS activist and was a member of Act Up. Along with other video industry professionals, he founded the Video Industry AIDS Action Committee, a charity which raised and disbursed over $7 million dollars during its lifetime. He served as a board member of AIDS Project Los Angeles in the 1990s and as a board member of HIV+ Aging Research Project – Palm Springs from 2017-2022. Jeff is an AIDS survivor, because of the super-human efforts of his husband, Bob, who worked tirelessly to get Jeff into a protease inhibitor research study, which saved his life. This is why he sings. He is proud to serve as a board member for Modern Men.
GREGORY MARKS | DIRECTOR AT LARGE
Gregory joined Modern Men in 2023 after relocating to Cathedral City, quickly finding the chorus to be the perfect blend of artistry, purpose, and well‑behaved mischief. Now in his fourth season, he brings decades of experience from San Francisco’s arts community, including fourteen years with the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, where he helped advance landmark projects such as I Am Harvey Milk and Unbreakable. His earlier career spans 23 seasons as a first tenor with the San Francisco Opera Chorus, multiple PBS Great Performances broadcasts, and a memorable appearance in the Oscar‑winning documentary In the Shadow of the Stars. He also served on opera panels for the National Endowment for the Arts back when the NEA still funded bold, inclusive, artist‑driven work — a chapter he recalls with both pride and a raised eyebrow. Today he serves as a commissioner on the Cathedral City Public Arts Commission, championing the extraordinary breadth of Coachella Valley artists and expanding the city’s cultural reach. Modern Men represents the continuation of his mission: using music as activism, community as strength, and TTBB harmony as a gentle but persistent force for good.
GEORGE ROCKEL | 2028 GALA COMMITTEE CHAIR
George joined Modern Men in 2020, just as the chorus shut down because of COVID. He had also been a member of the Palm Springs Gay Men’s Chorus since moving to the desert in summer 2017, allowing him to be bi-choral. Before relocating to the desert, George and his husband, Dan, lived in Seattle, where he sang with the Seattle Men’s Chorus and the St. James Cathedral Choir, and also volunteered and worked for the Seattle Men’s Chorus. George has been involved in choral music since his grade school, high school, and church choir years. Born in Chicago, he moved to Seattle to escape the city’s humidity, bitter winters, and hot summers. He earned a Bachelor of Science in accounting with a specialization in Electronic Data Processing. His career focused on computers and computer networks in the insurance, banking, and manufacturing industries. His volunteer work has included systems analysis, planning, and consulting in finance, volunteer management, technology, board development, and education.
NATHAN TRUESDELL | DEVELOPMENT CHAIR
Nathan joined Modern Men in January 2023 as a performing member. Born and raised in Mississippi as a Southern preacher’s kid, Nathan left home to pursue his career across the Midwest before finding his home in Palm Springs in 2022. Nathan now serves Modern Men as a Board Member and Chair of the Development Committee, helping advance the chorus’s donor engagement and fundraising initiatives. Beyond the chorus, he serves as Vice President of Marketing & Revenue for the Coachella Valley Lakers and Board Vice President of the Palm Springs Symphony.
JARED WATSON | OUTREACH CHAIR
Jared joined Modern Men in 2023 and currently serves on the Board of Directors, where he leads the Community Engagement Committee. In this role, he works to expand Modern Men’s presence throughout the Coachella Valley by developing community partnerships, volunteer opportunities, and events that connect the chorus with the people and organizations it serves. Professionally, Jared is a marketing strategist with experience in digital marketing, paid media, analytics, and marketing operations, and he holds an MBA from Oregon State University. He brings that background to his work with Modern Men, with a particular focus on strengthening outreach, building sustainable community relationships, and creating new ways for members to get involved. Jared lives in Palm Springs and is proud to support Modern Men’s mission of building community and connection through music.