Travis J. Cross (he/him) serves as professor of music and director of bands at UCLA, where he conducts the Wind Ensemble and leads the graduate wind conducting program. He chaired the music department from 2018–2023 and was associate dean for academic mentoring and opportunity during the initial years of the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. He previously taught at Virginia Tech and Edina (Minn.) High School. Cross earned doctor and master of music degrees in conducting from Northwestern University and the bachelor of music degree cum laude in vocal and instrumental music education from St. Olaf College. His principal teachers were Mallory Thompson and Timothy Mahr. Cross has appeared as a guest conductor, composer, and clinician in nearly 40 states; Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates; as featured band clinician at the Texas Music Educators Association Clinic/Convention; and on several occasions at the Music for All National Festival and Midwest Clinic. Cross is a member of the Council of Korean Americans and a Yamaha Master Educator.

Ravi S. Rajan is the president of the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). Having studied music and worked with time-based and interactive media since 1993, he is an artist and producer whose work reaches across disciplines. Rajan is also a teacher and a leader with a reputation for developing innovative and visionary initiatives. Before CalArts, Rajan lived in New York City for 18 years. He held multiple leadership roles at Purchase College, State University of New York (SUNY Purchase), his final six there as dean overseeing the six arts divisions, taught students from kindergarten through university at various institutions, and worked with faculty and artists on multimedia projects at Yale University and The Rockefeller University. Rajan has degrees from Yale University and the University of Oklahoma and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts (UK) in 2010. He serves on, and has led as chair, various boards supporting democracy, social justice, diversity, the arts, and education worldwide. He was a member of the TONY Awards Nominating Committee, and serves on many other selection groups that provide assistance, scholarship, fellowships, and recognition to artists and arts organizations. He and his wife, opera music director and language specialist Lucy Tucker Yates, live in Los Angeles with their two school-age sons.