Rich Cook founded Men Alive in September 2001 after being inspired by a performance of the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles. Rich is an experienced director who comes to Men Alive and the gay choral family via the Christian/Gospel music world. His background includes serving as musical director/artistic director for several large Christian ministries, including Pat Robertson's Political Rallies, Trinity Broadcasting (TBN), and Melodyland in Anaheim, California. He also served on the Gospel Music Association's Board of Directors. Besides being a skilled director, Rich is also an accomplished ASCAP and BMI composer with numerous published songs and works.
Rich is the proud father of 3 daughters, Jodi, Jeni, Julianne and has 3 grandsons, Gabriel, Benjamin and Preston. He has long made Orange County his home, and resides with his partner, Chris Macaluso, in Aliso Viejo.
To contact Rich:
Bob Gunn, Assistant Director
Bob
Gunn is a founding member of Men Alive, and has served as Assistant Director
since early 2002. A professional musician with over 25 years of experience,
Bob holds a Bachelors Degree in Piano Performance, Music Theory and Education
from Azusa Pacific University.
Bob has had a broad musical career, with experience as pianist, keyboardist,
singer, producer, conductor, arranger, orchestrator and even recording
artist. In his "early days", after graduating college, Bob spent many
years on the road performing with several Christian rock groups. Today,
he has settled in Southern California and made his home with his partner in Los Angeles.
To contact Bob:
Vincent Montero, Director of Marketing
Vincent Montero's first concert with Men Alive was Christmas 2003 when he joined before ever hearing the Chorus sing. After many amazing concerts, he took a two and half year leave of absence in 2007 to further his marketing career in London. Originally from Orange County, Vincent returns to Men Alive as the newly appointed Director of Marketing...bringing with him years of experience not only in his chosen field, but also an Event and Fund Development background he gained while serving on the Board of Directors for The Center OC from 2004 - 2007.
Vincent has been singing with friends since High School and is very pleased that some of those same friends are now very active with Men Alive. He currently resides in Costa Mesa and enjoys running through the Upper Newport Bay, training for his next Marathon.
To contact Vincent:
André Chassé, Membership Director
André Chassé originally joined Men Alive at the very first rehearsal, and sang for the first two performances before relocating to the east coast because of a job transfer. André rejoined the chorus in 2005 after returning to Orange County.
André was born and raised in the beautiful state of Maine and moved to California in 1986 to study music performance at UC Irvine. He has sung with the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles, the Pacific Chorale and has directed and sung with many church choirs and ensembles over the years. André works in Human Resources for a large Title company based in Orange County and lives in Santa Ana.
As membership director, Andre finds recruiting for new members an easy sell. "Men Alive is a wonderful group of people committed to bringing joy and awareness to the entire community through inspiring, high quality musical performances. We genuinely care about each other and about the mission of the chorus. I'm so proud to be a part of Men Alive."
To contact Andre:
Michael Burgess, Chorus Life Director
Mike joined Men Alive in spring of 2006 after becoming an avid fan of several of their concerts. Prior to joining the group, he had an almost 20-year hiatus from singing. Mike had extensive musical theatre experience during adolescence and then went on to perform in another arena (so-to-speak) as a college and professional cheerleader. He is a graduate of UCLA with a masters degree in education.
Proudly from the Midwest originally, he has been a Californian for the past 35 years. Having grown up in south Orange County he then spent 15 years between Los Angeles and San Francisco. He is now happy to be back to his youthful roots and resides with his partner, Barry, in Aliso Viejo.
Andy & Pol Sandro-Yepes, Social Directors
Andy joined Men Alive in April of 2006. Although, he has always had an affinity to the performing arts, Andy perused a career within telecommunications where he recently celebrated a 30 year anniversary. To address his love of the performing arts, he took musical theater classes while in college. He is an alumnus of the Long Beach Gay Men’s chorus, the La Mirada and Downey Civic Light Operas
Pol became an active supporter of Men Alive in 2006. Pol is a classically trained dancer but decided to make his career in the energy industry and now manages an IT department for an energy commodity trading company. Pol is a very firm believer that the arts help unite, engage and inspire all of us to become better people.
Andy and Pol live in Mission Viejo where they have recently celebrated their 17th year anniversary
Read the Men Alive Story
During Men Alive's first year, the Chorus established the "Founder's Circle" for those supporters who shared the Men Alive vision and could assist financially. More than 50 persons, couples and businesses each donated $1000 or more to ensure the success of the newborn chorus. Read more ...
