Asst. Dean Kristen Klehr leads the Professional Development and Engagement Center and is the Chair of the Professional Development department at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

An active percussionist, Klehr received her first GRAMMY® Nomination on marimba in 2020 with The String Theory, and toured with athletic percussion group Scrap Arts Music prior to coming to the Bay Area. While based in Los Angeles she performed on stages as big as Coachella and as small as Hotel Café, with the Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra and Juneau Symphony Brass, from orchestral to pit musicals to singer+songwriter and pop music - in short, she loves it all. Within the startup space, Klehr owns Produced by BEAR, and is also the founder of The Den and Pawprint Music. Passionate about arts leadership and innovation within academia, she previously lectured in Music Business and Arts Entrepreneurship, building out the Music Industry track at Mount St. Mary’s University and the Arts and Markets major at Hawai’i Pacific University. Klehr is often motivated by conversations on creative entrepreneurship and industry growth, and carries with her over ten years of consulting and mentorship experience within The Arts sector.

Originally from Upstate New York, USA, Klehr is a graduate of Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music in Percussion Performance, holds a master’s degree in Arts Administration from Florida State University, a continuing education certificate in The Business of Art from the Los Angeles Center for Cultural Innovation, and a Mediation Certificate from UC College of Law San Francisco. She has studied percussion primarily with Joel Smales, Josh Ryan, and Valerie Naranjo as well as Randy Messing and Joanne Uniatowski in voice. She has been a featured artist at MalletLab 2018 and Mallet + Voice Fest 2023-2025. Kristen Klehr is proudly endorsed by Marimba One, Vater Drumsticks, Dream Cymbals and Gongs, Black Swamp Percussion, and Earasers.