Teddy Gordon owns the guitar-focused make’n music stores in the Chicago area. His own journey in music has been an interesting one, beginning with his mother who was a singing clown. Musi...

Bruce Adolph is the energetic advocate of worship music and musicians who in 1998 established Christian Musician Magazine. As president of the Adolph Agency, Bruce oversees several public...

Kairalis Pacheco proudly refers to her father as her hero. As a musician in Puerto Rico, he spoke out about some of the struggles his community experienced with the police and politicians...

Ron Mesh is a tour manager for some of the biggest names in Live Sound. Ron cut his teeth as an audio engineer for touring bands such as Uncle Sam and the Chesterfield Kings, a Punk Rock ...

Tina Morris is the Studio Manager for one of the most iconic recording spaces in Los Angeles, The Village. With an impressive background in music performance and sound technology, managin...

Roger Robindore found himself overdubbing at an early age. While he was born in Pennsylvania, Roger became a recording engineer in Paris for several years in the 1990s. He had some wonder...

Chris Schyvinck is the President and CEO of Shure Incorporated, the pro audio manufacturer known around the world for its innovative products including the Unidyne microphone. Chris playe...

Peter Nguyen joined the team at Hammond Suzuki in 1998 and serves as the Chicago-based company’s Chief Financial Officer. He began as the Controller and enjoyed his early years at the com...

Rebecca Jasso was just ten when she began playing guitar, and right from the start making up songs came naturally to her. She developed both skills over the years, learning classical guit...

Scott Gauthier is the Repair Shop Manager for the Arlington Heights location of Quinlan & Fabish, a chain of music stores in the greater Chicago area. Scott was encouraged by his moth...

Ashley Beleny is a music teacher and associate at Piano Trends Music Company in Crystal Lake, Illinois. Her love and passion for music began in her church where she was often found singin...

Abby Kaplan is the Vice President of Global Retail Sales for Shure Incorporated. Her approach to digital commerce and vertical marketing has helped the company expand its reach around the...

Donna Ulisse has fond memories of her grandmother teaching her to sing at a young age. And that is all Donna wanted to do! As her career developed, she was encouraged by many in the music...

Mark Wills grew up in Blueridge, Georgia, with a passion for music. His local music store was Ken Stanton Music, where he often went for accessories for the Gibson archtop he was given as...

Jim Greenhill opened Jim’s Music store in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The area was brimming with recording activity in 1977 when Jim opened the store and as a result, most of the studio sessi...

Sonja Lynne grew up in her mother’s music studio and found her voice as a singer. Sonja studied opera and can still be heard singing in her church. She had a few jobs, including as a scho...

Debra Kolacny began playing the organ at the age of eight, not knowing a life of music was ahead of her. She joined her junior high school band as a percussionist and in high school focus...

Saul Rosenthal has been driven by two ideals, equal rights for all people and supporting music and music makers whenever possible! After earning his Ph.D., Saul taught sociology at the co...

Derek Richard has always appreciated the experience he had in college as a pianist accompaniment to singers and choir. Those were meaningful opportunities for him to learn in detail the i...

Heath Mathews is the Senior Vice President of Content & Licensing for Peaksware Music, which includes MakeMusic and Alfred Music. Heath joined MakeMusic in 2007 with a focus on develo...

Kris Kjeldgaard finished her degree with a music major and a minor in business and went job seeking. She was not sure what the direction of her career would take and in fact, looking back...

Patrick Jacobson, along with his friends and fellow Roper Music employees Seth Strickland and Kris Kjeldgaard, became owners of the store in 2019. Their mentor and teacher, John Handley, ...

Jeff Bertrand is the president of the music company his parents started back in 1983. His father, John Sr., a former band director wanted to provide much-needed support and supplies to sc...

Chris Tso is a perfect example of the benefits the music products industry receives when a musician enters it's world. Chris grew up blocks away from the Apollo Theater and the Cotton Clu...

Rich Formidoni cut his teeth in the industry as a salesman in the keyboard division of Sam Ash Music in Queens, New York. That experience led to his move to Korg in 2005 as a product spec...

Rich Neville has spent his life making music and for decades has helped others obtain their musical dreams. Rich was a touring musician who turned to a career in music retail and never le...

John Meyer grew up in the music business and can remember as a child playing under one of the pianos in the family-owned store his grandparents opened in 1966. His father, Mike, never pus...

Dan King was exposed to music at a young age. His brother played in band and as soon as he could, Dan himself began playing trumpet in his school band. He joined the US Marines and while ...

Wes Sutton has a background as a musician and a welder and wasn’t too sure about an opening at King Music Company in Brownwood, Texas, but he was looking for a change so he took a chance....

John Fulton has had a very interesting ascent to his position as Vice President of Sales for Conn-Selmer. He started taking violin lessons in the fourth grade, at first to get out of clas...

Cindy Quinlan was once introduced at a NAMM meeting as “the boss lady” and the nickname stuck. She met her future husband, George Quinlan Jr., at a NASMD meeting in 1983. She was there on...

Jason Bartel opened Maple Leaf Strings in 2011, right across the street from his father’s business, Baroque Violin Shop, in Cincinnati, Ohio. The two companies helped each other, and ofte...