Board Of Trustees
Randall Kline - Founder, Executive Artistic Director, Ex Officio Trustee
Randall Kline is the Founder and Executive Artistic Director of SFJAZZ. Mr. Kline has built the organization from a small community-based organization to an internationally recognized, year-round jazz institution. Mr. Kline founded the organization – originally named Jazz in the City, in 1983. Initial funding was provided by the Grants for the Arts of the San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, with a matching grant from the San Francisco Foundation. Seventeen years later, in December 1999, Kline announced the establishment of SFJAZZ, the San Francisco Jazz Organization, a much expanded organization with year-round concert and educational programs. Mr. Kline was the recipient of 2015 Bruce Lundvall Visionary Award, presented by Jazz Connect. He has also received recognition from the Museum of the African Diaspora of San Francisco (2014 Patron of Culture), Western Arts Alliance (2013 Leadership Award), Jazz Journalists Association (2013 Jazz Hero), San Francisco Bay Area Religious Announcers Guild (2004), and California Arts Council (2001). Mr. Kline currently serves on the board of directors of Chamber Music America, the Western Jazz Presenters Network, and is member of the Board of Governors of the University of California Humanities Research Institute. He has previously served on the boards of the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau (now San Francisco Travel), the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS, San Francisco Chapter) and the Jazz Alliance International.