A recipient of the Albert Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award for her music-related accomplishments, Ellen Bowen has been leading musical productions in various capacities since 1972. Upon earning a bachelor's in music and social studies from Ball State University, Ellen Bowen began her career as ESEA Title III project director with the Indiana State Department of Education, where she coordinated the distribution of $3.2 million in grants toward innovative educational initiatives.

For the next 30 years, Ellen Bowen taught musical theater and led choir at Michigan-based schools Chippewa Valley High School, Macomb Community College, and Grosse Pointe South High School. With the latter, she led an award-winning choir through performances at the ACDA national and state conventions and traveled extensively with the choir throughout the United States and Europe.

From 2013 to 2015, Ms. Bowen served as a music coach with Los Alamitos High School in California, where she developed a curriculum for music production and arranged middle school workshops to recruit and train students for choir. She presently serves as one of three music directors with Grosse Pointe Community Theatre, where she has won multiple awards for outstanding music directing on productions such as The Producers and Fiddler on the Roof.