This is the fourth in a series of profiles of our 15th Annual Orange County Arts Awards honorees.

Valerie and Hans Imhof, nominated by the Pacific Symphony and Pacific Chorale, are longtime patrons who have contributed greatly to the success of those and other local arts organizations, like South Coast Repertory and Laguna Playhouse.  Hans joined the Board of Directors of the Pacific Symphony Association in 1993 and is a life member.  The role he especially enjoyed in this position was as Chairman of the Education Department and of the Pacific Symphony Youth Ensembles.   Valerie, studied violin and played Principal Second Violin in the Orange Coast Symphony.  In 1994, she met Kelly Ruggirello, who was then the first Director of Education at Pacific Symphony, and under her leadership founded "Class Act," a nationally recognized program that connects Pacific Symphony musicians with selected elementary schools in Orange County by "adopting" them for a year. The program currently serves 30 schools and is celebrating its 20th year.  The program currently serves 30 schools and is celebrating its 20th year. She is still serving as Chairman.   In 2004 she was invited to become a member of the Pacific Chorale Board and serves on the Education Committee.

Hans, a native of Switzerland, grew up in a small village outside of Zurich on a large family farm.   His interest in classical music began when he was a student at the University of Zurich, where he graduated in 1965 with a degree in Electrical Engineering. He immigrated to the United States the next year and worked for General Electric in Philadelphia. In 1969 he moved to Borg Warner Controls in Santa Ana as manager of engineering. In 1972 he started EPE Technologies in Costa Mesa, a manufacturing firm which built power protection equipment for computers. The company grew from 2 to 550 employees and $65 million in sales. He sold the company in 1990 to Merlin Gerin, a billion dollar French company. In 1992 he founded 8 different companies, four of which he is still actively involved with which include commercial real estate, software, computer fire protection and video/film editing. Hans' hobbies include tennis, skiing, mountain climbing, deep sea fishing, theater and classical music. Aside from his Pacific Symphony activities, Hans has been past member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers and Electronics Engineer (IEEE). He currently is a member of Vistage in Orange County, past board member of two public electronics companies and a member of Tec Coast Angels since 2008. Hans holds 2 patents. He also serves as a Board member of Chapman University's Leatherby School of Business.

Valerie grew up in Studio City, California. Her parents were artists who met while working on Fantasia at Disney Studios, and as classical music was always playing on the radio in her home, she fell in love with the sound of the violin and began playing when she was 7. She graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara with a degree in Social Sciences, travelled for a year in Europe, and then completed a masters and teaching degree at UC Berkeley, specializing in disadvantaged children. She studied violin with the Principal of the San Francisco Symphony and enjoyed playing in many free-lance ensembles. She taught a year of 9th grade history at Seaside California, then moved to Laguna Beach where she taught French and remedial English 5 years at Thurston Intermediate School under an innovative daily-demand flexible scheduling program. She met Hans soon after he moved to Orange County and among their first dates was a performance at South Coast Repertory - they have been subscribers ever since.   They were married in 1971 and three children were born soon after. There were busy years with cub scouts, Indian Maidens (President), National Charity League (Philanthropy Chairman).