About Kurt and Katie Braun
Kurt Braun is the President of the Higgins Braun Foundation. Kurt gained his appreciation for music as a student in Alameda, CA where he learned to play the trumpet- a talent that helped him earn the Bank of America Fine Arts Achievement Award. In 1982 he graduated from UC Berkeley in Mechanical Engineering/Naval Architecture. In 2002 he sold his business, Waterworks Acoustics Inc., which specialized in manufacturing loudspeakers for use in aquatic settings. Upon selling his business he accomplished doublehanded circumnavigated with his wife Katie- a voyage which lasted until 2013. During their travels they took the time to promoted music education in different countries around the world.
Katie Braun attended UC Berkeley where she received her Bachelor’s of Arts in Political Economics of Industrial Societies. She had a successful career on Wall Street as an institutional stock broker, the majority of which she worked for Montgomery Securities. In 2002 she retired to circumnavigate with Kurt. Katie learned to play guitar with Kurt in her early forties- a talent which she learned to share with many of the people she met while sailing around the world. Katie continues to promote the performing arts and the philanthropic cause of the Higgins Braun Foundation.
