OUR BOARD
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Kyle Damron
Reverend Kyle Damron is the Associate Pastor of Music and Worship at Kirkwood Baptist Church in St. Louis, Missouri. He served in a similar role at Westbury Baptist Church in Houston, Texas (2004-2019). Kyle administers the whole of Kirkwood Baptist’s Music and Worship Arts ministry, including the weekly worship services in which music is an integral part of the congregation’s worship of God. The ministry consists of choirs for all ages from preschool to senior adults, as well as instrumental ensembles, which includes a brass ensemble and handbell choirs for children, youth, and adults.
Kyle, a native of Oklahoma, received a Bachelor of Music in Church Music from Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, Oklahoma in 2000. He earned a Master of Music in Church Music from Baylor University as well as a Master of Divinity from George W. Truett Theological Seminary in 2003. He is an active member of Texas Choral Directors Association, Missouri Choral Directors Association, American Choral Directors Association, and Choristers Guild. In addition to serving on the board for Polyphony Music Resources, Kyle currently serves on the board for Center for Christian Music Studies at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.
Steven Follis
Steven Follis is a technologist and lifelong lover of the arts. He has worked in a variety of roles throughout the software industry, including sales, engineering, and customers success positions at Microsoft, Amazon, and Docker. The grandson of a longtime Baptist minister, Steven serves as a deacon of St. John’s Baptist Church in Charlotte, NC, where his involvement in personnel groups has enhanced an admiration, sensitivity, and abiding respect for vocational ministers. Earlier in life Steven completed concert tours through China, Poland, and Russia with a double saxophone ensemble, and has sung in church choirs as scheduling allows.
Originally growing up amongst the Ozark mountains of Southwest Missouri, Steven earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in Information Systems from Baylor University, where he briefly sang with the Baylor Men’s Choir and served as a 2-time chairperson for his fraternity’s All-University Sing production. He also serves on the Board of Advocates for the School of Engineering and Computer Science, and the Advisory Council for the Information Systems and Business Analytics department at Baylor University. He lives in Charlotte with his wife, daughter, and St. Bernard, and enjoys exploring the skies of the Carolinas as a private pilot.
Mary Ann Hill
Mary Ann Hill is 1963 graduate of Baylor University with majors in education, speech, theater, and English. She and her husband, Doug, were longtime residents of Dallas, Texas, where they raised their two grown daughters. They relocated to Mary Ann’s hometown of Waco in 2016 and are members and deacons at First Baptist Church Waco. She maintains a lifelong interest in the arts and feels fortunate to have had the opportunity to practice her theater craft through a plethora of wonderful opportunities at Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas and through other denominational projects. Mary Ann has sung in numerous choirs and has been deeply involved in music ministry all of her adult life. Worship done with excellence and creativity is her passion. In addition to her interest in the arts, Mary Ann served for twenty years as the sales administrator for the Hill’s family business, Sports Travel Inc., which specializes in group travel for churches.
She is actively engaged with Baylor University Women’s Council, having served as president of that organization in Dallas. Presently, she is a vice president of the Waco group. Mary Ann is also a member of the Baylor University Louise Herrington School of Nursing Dean’s Board of Advocates, and is the task force chairperson for the nursing school’s annual Going for the Gold Gala, which raises scholarship funds for nursing students.
Maria Monteiro
Originally from Recife, Brazil, Maria serves as Lecturer in Church Music at Baylor University and as music director at Primera Iglesia Bautista Mexicana (First Mexican Baptist Church), in San Antonio, Texas.
Before joining the Baylor faculty, she taught for seventeen years at Baptist University of the Américas, also in San Antonio. These roles and activities have provided the essential connection between her academic interest in church music and the practical involvement in the musical life of a present-day congregation.
Maria holds a Master of Music (1991) and a Bachelor of Music (1987) degrees in Music History and Literature, and a Ph.D. in Church Music (2021), all from Baylor University. She is married to Marconi Monteiro, Ed.D., a senior medical educator at University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Their only daughter, Juliana, teaches art at Hondo High School.
Pat Thompson
Pat Thompson is originally from Memphis, Tennessee. She received the Bachelor of Music Education, Baylor University, and a Masters of Education in Administration and Supervision, from Stephen F. Austin University. Pat taught at the Mexican Baptist Seminary in Mexico City and spent 33 years in teaching and administration in Texas schools.
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Pat has sung in and/or directed church and school choirs since 8th grade and she also has been an adjudicator for church choir music festivals. In recent years she has served on the Board of the Santa Fe Desert Chorale. Additionally she is an experienced grant writer. Pat lives with her husband, Brad, in Waco, Texas.
Alicia Walker
Alicia W. Walker is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies at the University of South Carolina, where she directs the Concert Choir and the Garnet Chorale (SSAA) and supervises the graduate conducting program. Dr. Walker travels regularly to South Africa to teach continuing education for choral directors, and she is frequently invited to conduct and teach in the UK and in Taiwan. Dr. Walker has conducted at major venues including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, and Southwark and Canterbury Cathedrals in England.
Dr. Walker’s pedagogy and professional interactions are marked by a commitment to excellence, collaboration, and inclusion. Her focus on professional mentoring led Dr. Walker to found Facets™ a leadership retreat for women conductors. In Columbia, she conducts a chamber choir of music educators called Limited Time Only, and she maintains an active schedule as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator. A long-time church musician, Dr. Walker served churches in Florida, Kentucky, Georgia, and South Carolina. She was a committee chair for the development of Celebrating Grace, a hymnal published in 2010, and is a contributing author for Sacred Choral Music Repertoire: Insight for Conductors.