Bob Griego, Founder

Born in Mountainair, New Mexico . His family are descendants of Spaniards that occupied New Mexico in 1535. His parents moved to Barstow California in 1949, where Bob grew up with his four siblings. His joy for Mariachi music began at home where his father played the guitar with friends, sang and recorded his music. Bob graduated from Barstow High School, Barstow College AA, San Diego State University BA, and UCLA, MPA. He served as President and Trustee for the Sweetwater Union High School District. He led the effort to bring the Mariachi program to the SUHSD. Bob incorporated the Mariachi Scholarship Foundation to provide advocacy for Mariachi in the schools and to provide scholarships for Mariachi students. Bob served as a successful Public Administrator for 35 years, beginning as Deputy National Director for Jobs for Progress, a National job training program; then Director of a Community Action Agency in Los Angeles County; City Manager for two California cities; General Manager for a Water Utility; Deputy Chief Administrative officer for San Diego County; Governors appointee to the State Mining and Geology Board, California. He served on the President’s Cabinet Committee for the Spanish Speaking, Vice President for the International City, County Managers Association, and he also served in leadership positions for several other professional, and community organizations. Bob retired in 2009 and continues to serve as a Trustee for the MSF.

Jeff Nevin, President

Jeff Nevin, Ph.D., is a professional classical trumpet player, mariachi trumpeter and soloist, a conductor specializing in the interpretation of Mexican music, and an award-winning composer whose works have been performed by the San Diego, Colorado, Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Pasadena, San Bernardino, Key West, East Texas, Santa Rosa, Desert, Idaho Falls, Idaho State Civic, Grand Junction, Yakima, York, Ashgabat (Turkmenistan), Baja California and La Jolla Symphonies, as well as Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, Sol de México, and América de Jesús Rodriguez de Hijar.  Together with Mariachi Champaña Nevin, he has established a reputation for presenting the highest quality classical and mariachi music performed with the mariachi alone, soloing with symphony orchestras, and appearing with world-renown singers including Placido Domingo, Aida Cuevas, Fernando de la Mora, Jorge Lopez-Yañez, José Luíz Duval, Mónica Ábrego, Florencia Tinoco, Rafael Jorge Negrete and others.  In addition to performing across the US and Mexico, he recently returned from performing tours in France (2010, 2012), China (2010), Russia (2009, 2012), Brazil (2014, 2019), Canada (2015), India (2015), Germany and the Czech Republic (2016), Belgium (2017), South Korea (2017), Egypt (2018), Kazakhstan (2018) and Turkmenistan (2019).

Dr. Nevin earned his Bachelor’s, Master’s and Ph.D. in Music Theory and Composition from the University of Illinois, Arizona State University and UC San Diego respectively. He is currently Professor of Music and Director of Mariachi Activities at Southwestern College in Chula Vista, CA, where he devised and is now offering the world’s first college degree in mariachi music — and he is the conductor of the Southwestern College Symphony Orchestra. He was a Faculty Associate at Arizona State University in the 2012-13 school year.  In 2011 the Mexican government presented him with the first “Award for Arts and Culture” for his work promoting Mexican music abroad.  In 2008 he was named “California Multicultural Music Educator of the Year” and accepted the position of Director of Youth Music Programs for San Bernardino’s Sinfonía Mexicana. He was also given the California Music Education Association’s “Ernest R. Yee Illuminating Culture Award” in 2018.

In addition to countless television, radio and print interviews, Dr. Nevin has been featured in the documentary films “In the Name of Mariachi Music”, “Viva el Mariachi”, and The History Channel en Español’s “El Mariachi”.  His first book, Virtuoso Mariachi (University Press of America, 2002), was called “A major milestone in the history of mariachi music” by the Tucson Citizen newspaper, and he has written a comprehensive set of method books, Mariachi Mastery (Neil A Kjos Music Company, 2006), that is used to teach mariachi music in classrooms across the United States and Mexico. Kjos Music published his follow up books, Mariachi Mastery Songbook, in 2017. He is a founding member of the Mariachi Scholarship Foundation and has served as its President since 2013, an organization that has spearheaded mariachi education in Southern California and awarded more than $500,000 in college scholarships since 1996. In 2016 Dr. Nevin founded the Chacala Mariachi Institute in Nayarit, Mexico, providing intensive and high-quality training for mariachi instructors, as well as the San Diego International Mariachi Summit which brings together top musicians, dancers, teachers, historians and historical figures to promote mariachi music and education.

Sandi Smith, Treasurer

Sandra Smith has over 29 years of experience in public and political relations relating to board meetings, and served as Clerk of the Board of Trustees of the Sweetwater Union High School District, the largest secondary district in the State of California with 42,000 7-12 grade students and 40,000 adult school students.  Her expertise includes all functions relating to board meetings, including preparation of board agendas, board minutes, Brown Act requirements, board protocol, and school board/superintendent/community relations.  She initiated an on-line board meeting system to the Sweetwater District eliminating printed board agendas that saved the district $40,000 in annual paper costs.   She was also responsible for the District’s Department of Legal Services, providing support to outside legal counsel when necessary.

For the past 21 years, she has served as Secretary/Treasurer of the Mariachi Scholarship Foundation, a 501(c)3 organization that raises funds for college scholarships for a diverse, low-socio-economic population in the southwestern portion of the United States, and who participate in the Mariachi In The Schools Program in the Sweetwater Union High School District, where more $500,000 in college scholarships have been presented over the past 22 years.

Silvia Nogales