Advisory Council

Kristin Bennett has been a proud Delawarean for more than 40 years. During that time she has benefitted from, collaborated with and supported a wide array of University of Delaware programs including Cooperative Extension, Kids Count, International Student Center, Linguistics, MPCS and Nursing / Health Sciences. 

She was raised in Minnesota where she sang in the church choir, studied piano and viola and played in the school orchestra, leading to both an immense appreciation of the artistry of others – and a desire to expand opportunities for music education and performance to a wider population.      

Kris served as the nursing director of the Delaware Health and Social Services with the Delaware Division of Public Health. She previously enjoyed a variety of public health nursing roles in education and practice. She continues her work to promote healthy communities through the national Association of Public Health Nurses. Kris received her B.S.N. from the University of Minnesota, where she also did graduate course work in public health. She received her M.S.N. (Community Health Nursing) at the University of Pennsylvania. Kris and her husband Karl are 2024 alumni of UD's annual Special Trip to China. They are adoptive parents of two and have two young granddaughters who enjoy dancing at the Bob Carpenter Center.

Justin Chou is a classically trained violinist and champion for the arts in the state of Delaware and a proud member for many years of the advisory council for the Master Players Concert Series. Additionally, Justin serves as the concertmaster and a board member for the Southern Delaware Orchestra. Justin has held leadership roles in many music ensembles and has a passion for innovative concert-producing, especially combining western classical tradition with technology or other art disciplines. 

Outside of music, Justin has cultivated a career as an operations and transformation leader in marketing and was recently named the head of North American Marketing Agility within TD Bank's American and Canadian marketing organization. 

When not working or supporting the arts, Justin tag-teams caring for three young children with his entrepreneurial nursing wife in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania.

Jean Kutcher and her husband, Bill, moved to Newark from Central New Jersey when they both retired. Jean’s professional career spanned more than 30 years, including 10 years of teaching high school, and then working as a development professional with The Fund for Theological Education in New York City, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation in Princeton, and Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. At Rider University, Jean served as director of corporate and foundation relations and then as administrative director of the Teaching and Learning Center.

Jean loves retired life in Newark and contributes to the community through volunteering. She is a member of the civic engagement committee at The Newark Partnership and a co-leader of the Newark Chapter of Together Women Rise. She leads food and nutrition workshops as a master food educator for the New Castle County Cooperative Extension at UD. She volunteers at Brewer’s Hideaway Farm (a local CSA farm serving Newark); assists the Friends of the Newark Symphony Orchestra; serves meals at Hope Dining Room; and serves on the Social Justice Committee at her church. Music has been as essential as breathing in Jean’s life, and so she is honored to have been invited to join the Master Players Concert Series advisory council in 2024. Jean and Bill have a blended family of seven children and 15 grandchildren, who keep them young!

Linda Myrick recently joined Arkema, Inc., in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, as general manager in North America for Hydrogen Peroxide. Prior to joining Arkema, she spent 10 years with Air Liquide in the United States and France with responsibility for global R&D programs for healthcare and medical technologies. She began working for Air Liquide with the acquisition of Scott Specialty Gases, Inc., in 2007 where she was general manager for Scott Medical Products in Philadelphia. Before joining Scott in 2004, she held general management positions with Rhodia, Inc., and FMC Corporation.

Since 2006, she has been an independent director for Innophos, Inc., a publicly traded specialty ingredient solutions provider for food, health, nutrition and industrial markets. She previously served as an independent director for Berwind Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.  

Linda earned a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware, where she is vice president of the Alumni Association. She is also a member of UD's advisory boards for the College of Engineering, the Department of Biomedical Engineering, and the Master Players Concert Series. She has an M.B.A. from the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania.  

Linda’s family are all Blue Hens including husband, Steve (EG77), sons Steven (BE11), Greg (BE13), and daughter-in-law Lauren (BE13).  Linda began playing piano at an early age and became involved with the Master Players following a UD alumni trip with her family in 2015, led Professor Xiang Gao.