Nancy Thelen Rehkopf
Class of 2026
Nancy Thelen Rehkopf was born on November 12, 1953, to Max and Phyllis Thelen and was raised in San Rafael. Nancy has cultivated a lifelong passion for the arts, as both a practitioner and an organizational leader. Her ability to build effective teams and provide a firm financial base of support have helped the local arts scene thrive for more than 27 years.
From an early age, it was evident that Nancy enjoyed the arts. She started piano lessons at age 6 and continued for 12 years as an avid pianist. She studied ballet for several years at Marin Ballet. Her mother, Phyllis Thelen, was a professional artist and coached Nancy in several media. At age 12, Nancy won a local art contest and received her prize at the San Francisco Opera House, presented by Maria Callas.
Nancy’s parents, Phyllis and Max, were extremely active and supportive of the arts. The Marin Shakespeare Festival was within walking distance from their house, and Nancy remembers attending shows and helping her parents host the cast party. Her parents also assisted artistic director Leona Norman in the founding of Marin Ballet. Nancy’s sister Jane was a dedicated ballet student and become a professional ballet dancer. Nancy’s parents were always hosting artists of all kinds – dancers, choreographers, set designers, visual artists – at their house. Nancy observed her parents developing support for the arts by raising money, joining boards, managing projects and creating physical venues/theaters for non-profits. Together, her parents founded five nonprofit art organizations. Max and Phyllis were clearly her greatest influence in support for the arts.
In high school Nancy started venturing into various leadership and academic roles. As she entered Stanford University, it became clear that her personal contribution to the arts would not be as a performing artist, but as a business person. She became extremely interested in how companies organize to get things done, and graduated with a degree in “Organizational Behavior.”
Upon graduation, Nancy’s first job was at the San Francisco Symphony where she was an assistant in the public relations, and later, in the marketing department. Here she learned the importance of building audiences through marketing and advertising strategies. Without audiences, the arts would not survive! This was an important lesson. She also noted that arts organizations were typically small and not particularly good at providing advancement opportunities, so Nancy’s second job was with Wells Fargo in the advertising department. This was the start of a more than 30-year career in marketing at Wells Fargo and Charles Schwab. Nancy acquired skills in marketing campaign development, finance, budgeting, management, project management and communications strategy. Her final position at Wells Fargo was as the Marketing Director of the International Group.
Nancy married Jim Rehkopf in 1982, and they moved to San Rafael in 1986. They were blessed with three children – Natalie, Brian and Max. Nancy continued to work mostly fulltime through their childhood. She joined the Management and Finance Committee of their school and served in multiple committees at church. Volunteering for organizations where she had an affiliation came naturally to Nancy, thanks to her parents’ example. She also enjoyed helping out with marketing and PR for her kid’s activities, including sports and theater.
In 1989, Nancy started volunteering for Marin Ballet, by co-founding their annual fundraiser “Great Chefs in Great Homes.” Although she was only involved for 2 years, this program continued for nearly 15 years and became the most-imitated fundraising concept among Marin nonprofits to this very day. This was the start of Nancy’s passion to serve the arts community in Marin County. As a volunteer leader and more recently, in various staff roles, Nancy has held leadership positions in 5 different arts organizations, making a substantial contribution in each.
Marin Open Studios: From 2016 to 2018, Nancy was a board member, serving as President in 2017 and 2018. Marin Open Studios connects more than 250 artists from diverse locations across the county with the public through open studio and gallery events. Working with co-founder Kay Carlson, Nancy was instrumental in raising the profile of the organization by developing its website and membership campaigns.
Youth in Arts: Nancy joined the board in 2001 and served as Board President from 2002 – 2004. Youth in Arts’ mission is to teach visual and performing arts in the public schools. Under Nancy’s leadership, the organization successfully conducted a major gifts campaign that raised $100,000. She also prioritized the growth of the “Very Special Arts” program that provides art instruction to differently-abled students.
Marin Symphony: Nancy joined the board of Marin Symphony in 2016, and as a volunteer, partnered with the organization’s leadership to attract new audiences through a vibrant revision to its graphic materials, website and communications. Nancy served as Vice President of the board from 2017 through June of 2025 and is currently Chair of the Personnel Committee.
Marin Museum of Contemporary Art: Nancy joined the organization (MarinMOCA) as Executive Director in 2017, and led the organization through March of 2021, shepherding the museum through the challenges of Covid. Under her leadership, MarinMOCA gained much-needed financial growth by implementing corporate sponsorships, donation campaigns, increasing the Board’s financial support, and mounting regionally important exhibitions. She also created the organization’s first museum membership program. These programs increased the museum’s income by nearly 50% over 4 years. The 30-year-old organization started winning the Pacific Sun’s “Best Museum” award. Nancy implemented many programs with community benefits, including free art classes for families on Sunday, free admission for the majority of museum shows, and free art instruction for every Novato 4th grader.
Marin Ballet: Nancy joined the Marin Ballet board in 2021. During Covid, the organization lost several of its leaders. Nancy stepped in as a full-time pro-bono Executive Director to lead the organization back to health. During Nancy’s tenure, Marin Ballet regained students, increased non-tuition income by 45%, and started numerous outreach programs for diverse communities. At Nancy’s instigation, and with the support of the Board and staff, Marin Ballet created a summer camp with outreach to the Canal and Marin City where more than 50% of its “campers” receive a scholarship. The organization started teaching dance at Vivalon with a goal of helping seniors improve their strength and balance to prevent falls. Nancy instigated free dance instruction at Hamilton school, a program which is entering its 3rd years. In July of this year, she retired from staff and is now on the Board of Trustees as Chair of the Development Committee.
In all of her leadership roles, Nancy has created programs and allocated resources to help meet the needs of under-served communities. She has seen first-hand what excellent arts instruction can do for a young person. Students develop confidence, perseverance, focus, teamwork and joy…attributes which serve them well regardless of the profession they choose.
Nancy is a “wanna be” athlete and loves all kinds of dancing, mountain-biking, snow and water-skiing, hiking, climbing, swimming, and yoga. She is active in her church, Marin Covenant, where she serves on the Leadership Team. Nancy has been a singer in the Marin Symphony Chorus and still plays the piano. She loves to travel, and she has visited more than 25 countries with her husband. Her current joy is hanging out with her 3 grandchildren.
Nancy is keenly aware that she stands on the shoulders of a generation of women who showed exemplary courage and determination to build Marin’s art infrastructure in the 50’s and 60’s. They brought their vision to life, creating a rich tapestry of art organizations that has resulted in Marin County being ranked #3 in the nation for “Arts Vibrancy” among communities of its size, according to the SMU Data Arts research company. Nancy’s charge to younger generations is to not delay volunteering until pressures at home and work subside. It’s never the right time to start volunteering, yet it provides so many rewards. Getting started with just an hour a week provides myriad benefits to the organization, and offers intrinsic rewards to the volunteer. All arts organization in Marin must continually reinvent themselves to meet the needs of younger individuals and families. Young leaders are in a position to guide the development of current nonprofits to help them serve these audiences, and to keep them relevant and effective.
Nancy hopes to be remembered as a team-builder who helped each colleague work within their own giftedness to develop extraordinary organizations. Her goal has always been to provide a strong, sustainable foundation so that artists and their audiences can thrive.