The Great Octave Foundation Board of Directors

Chad Elson is a principal in a New York investment firm and is a founding member of the Great Octave Foundation.

Mr. Elson is currently the Chief Operating Officer of Crevalle Capital Management. He has had extensive experience on Wall Street, including as a Partner and Managing Director at Cantor Fitzgerald where he was co-head of Global Trading Strategies, Cantor’s international global broker dealer division. Previous to his time at Cantor, he was a Managing Director and Institutional Sales Manager at HSBC Securities and a Managing Director at Bear Stearns.

In addition to being the Founding Board Member of the Great Octave Foundation, and Chairman of the Board, Mr. Elson has been engaged in a variety of philanthropic activities including as Director of Development at The Judy and Michael Steinhardt Foundation.

Mr. Elson holds degrees from Antioch College (BA Philosophy, BA Sociology) and the University of California, Santa Barbara (MA Philosophy, ABD Philosophy).

He lives in New York State. 

Jennifer Kwang Krouse was born in Hong Kong and spent most of her life in the United States. She received an undergraduate degree in Biology with a minor in Forensic Chemistry and Speech Pathology. Jenny continued on to do graduate work at Northwestern University and obtained a degree in Prosthetics. Over the next decade she devoted her working days to the Orthotics and Prosthetics profession helping people rebuild their lives. Due to severe health problems she left her Orthotics and Prosthetics business. Jenny retrained in Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture in Connecticut, New York City and China. Her third career is volunteering for the National Park System which she also loves.

Jenny’s health issues led her to MediSounds just before the turn of the millenium and she has become a lifelong student of Shulamit’s teachings.

So far this biography doesn’t tell you anything of who she actually is. Jenny’s true essence comes out in the way she lives her life from day to day. She resides in a small, rustic cabin on a 10 acre ranch in southwest Texas. Jenny spends more money on “going off the grid projects” than she will ever recover in a lifetime of reduced utility bills.

Jenny’s greatest love is being outdoors in nature talking to the plants, animals and bugs whether it be on terra firma or on water. Her other loves in life are sharing meals (hopefully large portions) with friends and family, travelling, working on building projects, doing yard work, making music, creating art, laughing and singing.

Jenny feels her greatest achievement, thus far, is that she is travelling the spiral of life and has come home to herself. She has come home from so far, yet she feels that, in many ways, her journey has just begun.

Natalia Perlaza was born in Colombia, South America and moved to the United States as a teenager where she earned a basketball scholarship to attend Albertus Magnus College. She was recognized for outstanding achievement in both her basketball career and her academics during her studies at Albertus Magnus.

Several years ago Natalia began studying Middle Eastern Drumming. Since then she has performed across the United States, Turkey and Egypt (where she appeared on Egyptian TV), and she has shared the stage with master drummers such as Said El Artist, Raquy Danziger and Okay Temiz.

Currently she plays as a guest musician with Raquy and the Cavemen. She has also recently appeared on the cover of Chronogram Magazines after collaborating with artist and engineer Edward Tufte.