AMC Appoints New Executive Director

The executive committee of the American Music Conference (AMC) today announced the appointment of Robert Walker as the nonprofit organization’s new executive director. Walker follows in the footsteps of Joe Lamond, Pat Page, Bob Morrison and Karl Bruhn as he takes the AMC reigns as executive director.

“The tremendous synergy between NAMM’s market development efforts targeted at the music products industry and AMC’s messaging efforts to the general public has been key to both organization’s success,” said Bill Everitt, president, AMC. “Rob Walker now sits at the intersection of these two worlds and will be able to use that perspective to accomplish great things on behalf of music making.”

Currently NAMM’s director of market development, Walker is an industry veteran with an international perspective. He is a native Australian with more than 15 years' experience as a professional consultant, trade show promoter and administrator in the music products industry. Previously, he served as executive director of both the Australian Music Association (AMA) and the Australian Music Retailers’ Association (AMRA), two organizations that represent the interests of musical instrument and recorded music merchants respectively.

While with the AMA, Rob implemented a variety of market development projects, including International Guitar Month, Music is for Life and Be a Player. He also worked closely with NAMM to promote the association’s Making Music Makes You Smarter and Weekend Warriors programs in Australia.

As the vehicle that promotes the value of music, music making and music education to the general public, AMC is integral to NAMM’s market-building activities. Last year alone, AMC was able to generate 7.3 billion media impressions through its promotion of groundbreaking NAMM-funded research. The organization has been instrumental in promoting the industry to a variety of market segments with such impact programs and partnerships as Sesame Street Music Works, VH1 Save the Music and Music in Our Schools Month.

To coincide with the introduction of NAMM’s new teen initiative, AMC joined with the Justin Timberlake Foundation to create an online petition in favor of quality music education for all students. The petition was delivered to Washington, D.C., lawmakers in October 2002.

“I’m honored to follow in the footsteps of some great industry leaders who’ve held this position,” says Walker. “Thanks to their leadership, as well as all the members who’ve supported AMC through the years, the organization has made a tremendous difference in how the public views the benefits of music.”

“This year’s Global Economic Summit recognized the vital role the AMC played in promoting music and music education and our challenge is to extend this influence globally. “The Summit also adopted the concept of Recreational Music Making and Wellness,” continued Walker. “The AMC hopes to grow industry awareness and support of this concept, so that together we can continue to increase the number of active music makers around the world, and reinforce the value we bring to people’s lives.”

About AMC
The American Music Conference is dedicated to promoting the importance of music, music making and music education to the general public. For more information about AMC, visit www.amc-music.org.