Jenny Maxwell
Jenny’s love of music evolved organically during her growing up years thanks to a mix of taking music lessons, singing in choirs (and along to the radio with friends), and attending musicals with her mom each year at the State Fair of Texas fairgrounds theater. Two musicals in particular have always resonated with Jenny—The Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables. “The power of the art form really came together for me in these two musicals… the soaring music, the compelling storylines, the stagecraft, and the voices. I’ve been hooked ever since! My longtime love for musicals provided a natural stepping stone to my more recent love for opera.”
Jenny took piano lessons from elementary school through high school. And, it was through classical and jazz voice lessons in high school and college that she discovered her passion for singing. Since then, she has performed solos at weddings, been lead singer in a rock ‘n roll cover band during business school, and can occasionally been seen around town singing on stage at local Steamboat bars. She also performed in Opera Steamboat’s inaugural Voices of Steamboat competition in early 2020. While Jenny considers herself to be simply a hobbyist singer, she credits her formal voice training for her deep appreciation of the significant hours and dedication required for professional opera singers and other vocal artists to hone their craft. On Jenny’s list of “favorite things,” listening to a beautiful, well-trained voice is up there at the top.
Jenny grew up in Dallas and attended Rice University in Houston, graduating with a degree in biochemistry. Following graduation, Jenny specialized in marketing and project management in Silicon Glen (Glasgow, Scotland) as an Internet commerce and technology transfer consultant with Scottish Enterprise, Scotland’s main economic development organization; in Silicon Valley (California) for an e-learning Internet start-up; and in Silicon Hills (Austin) for the technology company National Instruments. Jenny then returned to Rice University, graduating with her M.B.A. from the Jones Graduate School of Business.
From there, Jenny’s career has been a mix of strategy consulting, teaching, and operations including consulting work at The Boston Consulting Group (Houston); operations leadership as a hospital executive (Houston and Denver); adjunct professor for a case-based course on nonprofit strategy and operations at her alma mater, Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business; and currently as a location neutral consultant in Steamboat.
In addition to the inspiring experiences that opera, musicals, and other musical arts performances provide, what Jenny most enjoys about her work with Opera Steamboat is the people. “We have a talented, diverse, dedicated group of people serving as staff, Board members, advisers, and volunteers. It is a joy and a privilege to work side-by-side with each of our team members. It is the people that are at the heart of any successful organization, and that absolutely holds true for Opera Steamboat.”
Jenny enjoys singing, learning guitar, reading, travelling, running, camping, hiking, alpine and skate skiing, snowshoeing, and time with friends and family, especially with husband, Ken Spruell. Jenny feels very fortunate to now call Steamboat Springs her home. Jenny has been a part of the Opera Steamboat family since 2017.
