Meet Our Team

Board of Directors

Gustavo Dudamel, co-chair

Gustavo Dudamel smiling and holding violin.

Gustavo Dudamel with the Trenton Youth Orchestra.

From the United Nations to humble town squares to the great concert halls of the world, Gustavo Dudamel is driven by the belief that access to the arts is an essential catalyst for learning, integration and social change. Whether at home with his Los Angeles Philharmonic or touring to orchestras of the Americas, Europe or Asia, Gustavo continues to encourage projects that demonstrate the extraordinary capacity of art to transform the lives of children worldwide.

This commitment is fueled by his own transformative experience in Venezuela's El Sistema, a program initiated in 1975 by Maestro José Antonio Abreu with the goal of promoting social development through music education. Over forty years later, programs modeled on Maestro Abreu's vision are active in over 100 countries, providing millions of young people around the world with free access to quality, intensive music education.

Gustavo has made it his central mission to expand access to art for young people while providing opportunities for individual empowerment and social justice. Working with international musical, educational, and philanthropic partners through the projects of the Foundation, he continues to expand the reach and relevance of music and the arts as forces for positive societal transformation — for today and for future generations.

As a conductor, Dudamel currently serves as the Music & Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, and in 2026, he becomes the Music and Artistic Director of the New York Philharmonic. Learn more.

María Valverde, co-chair

Maria Valverde smiling and holding microphone.

María Valverde in conversation at the Hollywood Bowl, Encuentros LA. Photo by Maria Evelyn.

María Valverde is an actress, director, producer, and humanitarian who has served as Dudamel Foundation co-chair since 2018. María is active in planning educational opportunities through the Foundation that promote individual empowerment and social change. María plays a leading role in creating the Foundation’s Encuentros programs and planning initiatives that inspire young people to be positive role models in their communities.

Born and raised in Madrid, Spain, María was fascinated, since childhood, by the world of acting. In 2003, she made her major screen debut in Manuel Martin Cuenca’s La Flaqueza del Bolchevique, for which she won Best New Actress at the 18th Goya Awards at 16 years old. Throughout her career, she has starred in various film projects worldwide, working with directors Luca Guadagnino, Jordan Scott, Alberto Arvelo, Ridley Scott, Asif Kapadia, Mélanie Laurent, Cédric Klapisch, Andrés Wood, and Claudia Llosa, among others.

María is inspired by the belief that music and arts education is a key for inclusion in a better world.

Anne Akiko Meyers, board member

Anne Akiko Meyers. Photo credit Ayaka Sano.

Anne Akiko Meyers is a GRAMMY® Award-winning violinist and one of the world’s most esteemed and celebrated musicians. The Strad hails her as “the Wonder Woman of commissioning” for her passionate advocacy of new music and close collaborations with visionary composers. She has commissioned, premiered, and recorded a remarkable canon of landmark works by Arvo Pärt, John Corigliano, Arturo Márquez, Philip Glass, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Mason Bates, Billy Childs, Jakub Ciupiński, Michael Daugherty, Ola Gjeilo, Morten Lauridsen, Wynton Marsalis, Adam Schoenberg and Eric Whitacre.

With more than forty critically acclaimed recordings, Meyers has appeared twice on The Tonight Show, NPR’s Tiny Desk, and Great Performances. Her 2024 live recording of Márquez’s Fandango with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic earned two Latin GRAMMY® Awards for Best Classical Album and Best Classical Contemporary Composition. She performs on the legendary 1741 Ex-Vieuxtemps Guarneri del Gesù, considered one of the finest-sounding violins in existence.

A recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, she holds an Honorary Doctorate from The Colburn School and serves on the Board of The Juilliard School. A lifelong advocate for music education, she inspires young musicians around the world through adjudication, masterclasses, mentorship, scholarships and the loan of fine instruments and bows. Anne shares Gustavo and Maria’s vision that music is a basic human right.

Karthik Venkataraman, board member

Karthik Venkatarman.

Karthik Venkataraman is a leader deeply committed to expanding youth opportunity through access to the arts. He brings more than two decades of management consulting experience to his role on the Dudamel Foundation Board—together with his current role as Chief Operating Officer of Accion International—to advance the Foundation’s mission of transforming young lives through music and cultural education.

Accion International is a leading impact investor in global development, focused on expanding financial inclusion and economic opportunity for small business owners and smallholder farmers--with a focus on women--around the world. As COO, Karthik oversees Accion’s global operations and supports its investment portfolio, while also providing advisory services and thought leadership to socially minded financial institutions and fintechs.

Prior to joining Accion, Karthik was a Partner at Bain & Company in its Media & Entertainment and Social Impact practices, where he specialized in strategy, organizational effectiveness, and ESG initiatives that aligned business performance with societal impact. He also led Bain’s firmwide diversity, equity, and inclusion transformation, and worked across the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Karthik holds an undergraduate degree from Princeton University and graduate degrees from The Wharton School and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. The son of Indian immigrants, Karthik grew up in Philadelphia. He played violin in school and youth orchestras and spent many evenings at the Philadelphia Orchestra and attending Indian classical music concerts.

Administration

Jacob Slattery, Director of Programs

Jacob Slattery. Photo by Julian Morris.

Jacob Slattery has served as the Director of Programs of the Dudamel Foundation since 2019. Jacob guides the Foundation’s operations, administration, and strategic growth to benefit and enrich the lives of young people throughout the world.

A firm believer in Gustavo and María’s vision that music is a basic human right, Jacob plays a central role in advancing the Foundation’s global work. He helped build the Foundation’s signature Encuentros youth education and leadership program, as well as the groundbreaking Fidelio project, which aims to bridge international Deaf and hearing communities through music. The Fidelio project culminated in a landmark collaboration between the Coro de Manos Blancas and Coldplay in Athens.

A classically trained oboist, Jacob has also directed promotional strategy for the legacy of 20th-century American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, developing new pathways to share Bernstein’s passion for the transformative power and joy of music. He has additionally collaborated with the family of the late jazz visionary Dave Brubeck and with artists whose work challenges, inspires, and connects communities around the world.

Jacob lives in New York City with his husband and two cats.