Board of Directors

Lyse Strnad chairs the Board of Directors of Red Cedar Chamber Music. She began practicing as a general ophthalmologist in Iowa City in 1987 and fully retired in 2021. She was an Adjunct Clinical Professor of the University of Iowa Department of Ophthalmology and served as an Associate Examiner for the American Board of Ophthalmology. She also served as President of the Iowa Academy of Ophthalmology.

In a former life, she played intercollegiate field hockey at Stanford University and played in the first National tournament. She has served Stanford as an Alumni Volunteer Interviewer for many years. Hobbies include horseback riding, mushroom hunting, bee keeping, sourdough bread baking, downhill skiing, sailing, and participating in a book club. She serves on several boards of non-profit organizations.

Lyse spent many evenings in her youth listening to the Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall. She, her husband, Tom Leavenworth, and two boys enjoy classical music, ballet, opera and musicals.

Lyse has enjoyed hearing Red Cedar Chamber Music at the rural outreach venues as well as the MainStage performances.  She and her family believe that live performance is a treasured form of human communication, and nothing personifies the intimacy and connection between music and the public like chamber music.

John Hegarty and his wife Kay have been enthusiastic supporters of Red Cedar Chamber Music since its founding. John was born and raised in Cedar Rapids.

As a student he was involved in vocal music and theater, in addition to competing in many sports. He received his B.A. in Education from the University of Iowa. John was a high school science teacher and coach in the Cedar Rapids Community School District for 33 years.

Today, he remains busy working for Hughes Nursery and Landscaping. He enjoys broadcasting high-school football games on behalf of CRM-Livesports.com. He is also a published author.

Over the last decade Johnproudly logged tours-of-duty assisting Red Cedar with the three Brinton concerts, serving as narrator and spokesperson.

Thomas Wolle joined Red Cedar’s board of directors in 2024.  Thomas is an attorney with Simmons Perrine Moyer & Bergman in Cedar Rapids where he focuses his practice on employment law litigation and counseling, and workers’ compensation.  Thomas and his wife, Susan, live in Cedar Rapids and have been actively involved in the music community for many years. 

They raised three daughters who were classically trained at the Preucil School of Music in Iowa City and participated in various chamber ensembles as well as trips to China and the Baltic states to perform concerts. 

Thomas is a life-long violinist and still enjoys playing his instrument in church as well as with various small ensembles including the Cedar Rapids Concert Chorale and Chorale Midwest. 

Thomas has known Carey and Miera for many years and is an avid fan and supporter of Red Cedar Chamber Music.  Other than music and the practice of law, Thomas loves playing competitive tennis, hiking with his wife, and otherwise spending time outdoors with family and friends.

Jonathan Ice of Cedar Rapids has loved classical music since he was a kid, dabbling in piano and trombone as a child, but in college finding his niche in vocal music.  Outside of five years of voice lessons, he has little formal musical training, but got hooked on symphonic choral music in 1973, when he sang a year in Cleveland Orchestra chorus.  He has sought out choirs ever since, and currently sings in Chamber Singers of Iowa City.  The peak of his musical career was in Minneapolis, where he sang ten years with Minnesota Chorale under Joel Revzen and Kathy Romey.

Legally blind his whole life, Jonathan has not let that define what he does.  He earned a B.A. in sociology from Carleton College and worked in a series of entry-level jobs for the next 20 years, finally finding a career as a rehabilitation teacher, serving the Iowa Department for the Blind for 17 years, and another 3 in New Mexico before retiring in 2017.  His work bred familiarity with 5 of the 7 counties Red Cedar serves (Linn, Cedar, Jones, Benton, Johnson).

Jonathan married his wife Karla in 1989 and they enjoy the outdoors (hiking, camping, wildflowers), traveling back roads all over the place, cultural diversity, reading, and music.  They first attended a Red Cedar event in the early 2000’s and slowly became addicted.  After returning to Iowa from New Mexico in 2018, their obvious interest in Red Cedar elicited his invitation to join the board in 2020.

Todd Hendricks joined Red Cedar Chamber Music’s Board of Directors in 2019.  He is a director in McGladrey’s state and local tax practice. He provides services on various state and local tax issues, including sales and use taxes, income taxes and payroll taxes.

Todd works with clients with state and local tax issues and opportunities to maximize their tax credit and exemption opportunities and minimize their tax liabilities.

While not an amateur or professional musician, Todd enjoys music, and particularly Red Cedar Chamber Music performances.