Stephen Petrunak is director of music at St. Blase Parish in Sterling Heights, Michigan. He has been a member of the contemporary ensemble at St. Blase for twenty-six years serving as director for over twenty years. Steve is a private guitar instructor with over twenty-five years teaching experience and is on faculty at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit as a guitar instructor. He is also a studio musician, having played on numerous GIA recordings. Steve has been a faculty member for the National Association of Pastoral Musicians Guitar School for the last ten years and has recently accepted the Chairperson position for the NPM Standing Committee for Youth. He has several recordings available through GIA Publications, including his most recent release, With Hope and Healing, as well as a guitar method book series entitled Beyond Strumming: A Liturgical Guitar Method.

Steve has a Bachelors of Arts degree in business administration from Wayne State University. He was employed for thirteen years by the Kurtz Steel Company, a steel service center, where he served in his final capacity as vice president of administration for the last five years. As one of five corporate level managers, Steve has vast knowledge and experience in areas of group leadership, teamwork, collaboration, conflict resolution, crisis management, and strategic corporate planning.