NATS National Committee Assignments and Appointments
STANDING COMMITTEES
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Diana Allan, President
Carole Blankenship, Past President
Alexis Davis-Hazell, President-Elect
Alisa Belflower, Vice President for Auditions
Torin Chiles, Vice President for Membership
Nick Perna, Vice President for Outreach
DeMar Austin Neal, Vice President for Workshops
Randy Umstead, Secretary/Treasurer
Allen Henderson, Executive Director (ex-officio)
The Executive Committee serves in an advisory capacity to the Board and shall assume powers and duties as deemed necessary and delegated to it by the Board, to which it shall be responsible. In particular, the committee conducts performance evaluations of the executive director, administers the awards program, and reviews progress on board goals and objectives. A sub-committee makes recommendations for budget planning, reviews recommendations regarding organizational structure and staff, and approves the agenda for board meetings.
NOMINATING COMMITTEE
Carole Blankenship, Past President, Chair
Mark Kano
Julie Krugman
Albert Lee
Dana Lentini
Yvonne Gonzales Redman
Richard Weidlich
The Nominating Committee is responsible for the nomination of persons to fill the offices of President–Elect, Vice Presidents, and Secretary/Treasurer. The committee will also propose a procedure for the nominating process, to include identifying key qualifications for the duties of certain offices, and an interview model.
MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE
The Membership Committee will work to promote, recruit, and retain members, by evaluating current practice, exploring new ideas, and recommending future goals. In particular, they will work with chapter officers, encouraging them to sponsor activities that attract new members, and gather information at the “grass roots” level to address successes and issues related to membership.
Current goals include (1) recruiting and serving more independent teachers and collaborative pianists, (2) encouraging voice teachers in every college/university to join, (3) following up on those members who have been NATS Interns, Emerging Leaders, or Boytim Independent Teacher Awardees, (4) developing ways to increase and ensure a diverse membership, (5) fulfilling the “NATS for a Lifetime” and “Singing for a Lifetime” themes, including featured stories of long-time members, (6) developing strategies to involve NATS members who join as national members and do not join Chapters, more directly in NATS activities and fellowship, (7) to survey NATS entities about best practices for recruitment and retention of NATS members, 8) to implement the new Student Membership in conjunction with the Vice President for Outreach and the Student NATS Chapters.
Torin Chiles, Vice President for Membership, Chair
Diana Allan, President
Alexis Davis-Hazell, President-Elect
Nick Perna, Vice President for Outreach
Sarah Holman, International Region Governor
Vindhya Khare
Ayumi Nakamae
James Rodriguez
Rebecca Schorsch
Ellie Seligmann
Nicholas Shaneyfelt - CP
Noel Smith
Richard Weidlich
INVESTMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Robert Edwin, Chair
Diana Allan, President
Randy Umstead, Secretary/Treasurer (ex-officio)
Robert Dundas
Josh Krugman
Gale Odom
Allen Henderson, Executive Director
The committee is responsible for studying and recommending the investment of surplus funds and advising on the condition of funds in trust.
JOURNAL OF SINGING EDITORIAL BOARD
Lynn Helding, Editor-in-Chief
Stephen F. Austin
Kenneth Bozeman
Debra Greschner
Judith Nicosia
John Nix
Elvia Puccinelli
Trineice Robinson-Martin
Medicine and Health
Laryngologists:
Michael M. Johns III
Lindsay S. Reder
Robert Sataloff
Mark A. Williams
Speech-language pathologists:
Wendy D. LeBorgne
Deidre D. Michael
Psychology and Cognitive Science
Heidi Moss Erickson
Lynn Maxfield
Elisa Monti
Voice Science
Joshua D. Glasner
David Meyer
David Okerlund
Richard Sjoerdsma, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
The Editorial Board conducts peer review and assists the Editor in all matters pertinent to the publication of the Journal.
ETHICS COMMITTEE
Sarah Holman, Chair
Diana Allan, President
Carole Blankenship, Past President
Sonya Baker
Mario Martinez
Yanik Giroux
The responsibilities of the Ethics Committee shall be the resolution of alleged violations of the Code of Ethics, and resolution of cases involving a Member’s conduct alleged to be detrimental to the welfare and best interests of the Association.
OTHER COMMITTEES and APPOINTMENTS
AUDITIONS AND COMPETITIONS COMMITTEE
Alisa Belflower, Vice President for Auditions, NATSAA Liaison
Diana Allan, President
Dan Johnson-Wilmot, National Student Auditions Liaison
Frank Ragsdale, National Music Theatre Competition Liaison
Allen Henderson, Executive Director
Mark McQuade, National Coordinator of Competitions and Auditions
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NSA Committee |
MUTH Advisory Subcommittee
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NSA Comments Subcommittee
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The Auditions and Competitions Committee will oversee each of the programs above. The liaisons may assemble groups of members to help carry out the duties of the particular audition or competition.
VOICE SCIENCE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Recognizing that the science of voice production underlies historical and modern singing instruction, encouraging healthy vocalism and free artistic expression, the charge of the NATS Voice Science Advisory Committee (VSAC) is to promote and disseminate voice science and related information through NATS resources to the membership of NATS. The committee purview will include but not be limited to:
PEER REVIEW
- Reviewing voice science and medical submissions, at the discretion of the Journal of Singing Editor-in-Chief, submitted to the JOS editorial review board.
- Reviewing select articles in the renamed “Science and Technology” Journal of Singing column at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief and VSAC co-chairs who manage the column as associate editors.
- Reviewing all NATS conference proposals identified as voice science, voice health, and science-informed voice pedagogy for NATS biennial national conferences.
EDUCATION
- Providing and managing vetted educational and historical materials on the science of voice production and vocal health through the NATS online repository, Vocapedia.
RESEARCH
- Encouraging and facilitating research on the singing voice through referral to experts and information on research design, funding, and publication.
RECOGNITION
- Recommending awards related to voice science and vocal health to individuals and organizations, including collaborative recognition with other voice associations (e.g., The Voice Foundation, ASHA, PAVA, VASTA).
David Meyer, Co-Chair
John Nix, Co-Chair
Diana Allan, President (ex-officio)
Stephen F. Austin
Joshua Glasner
Lynn Helding
Matthew Hoch
Ian Howell
Aaron Johnson
Filipa Lã
Wendy LeBorgne
Deirdre D. Michael
David Okerlund
Nandhu Radhakrishnan
Robert Sataloff
Leda Scearce
Ron Scherer
Mark Williams
EMERITUS MEMBERS
Thomas Cleveland
Scott McCoy
Ingo Titze
ADVANCEMENT COMMITTEE
Karen Brunssen, Co-Chair
Kari Ragan, Co-Chair
Diana Allan, President
Alexis Davis-Hazell, President-Elect
Carole Blankenship, Past President
Nick Perna, Vice President for Outreach
Randy Umstead, Secretary/Treasurer
Dan Johnson-Wilmot
Nick Klein
Jill Terhaar Lewis
Catherine McDaniel
Lorna MacDonald
Wendy Mullen
Jordyn Palmer
Frank Ragsdale
Linda Snyder, Past President
Danielle Talamantes
Heidi Wylie
Allen Henderson, Executive Director
Bob Bryan, Development Director
The Advancement Committee will be guided by the NATS Strategic Plan as they advance the goals of the National Association of Teachers of Singing to “increase contributed income by broadening the NATS culture of philanthropy and refining the advancement and development function throughout the organization.” The committee will work with the Development Director, the Executive Director, and the President to a) identify funding sources, and b) develop leadership roles, protocols, and processes to increasing member engagement in contributing to the continued success and impact of NATS for its members and the broader arts community.
ADVOCACY COMMITTEE
Gregory Brookes, Co-Chair
Albert K. Lee, Co-Chair
Diana Allan, President
Carole Blankenship, Past President
Nick Perna, Vice President for Outreach
Katherine Jolly
Isai Jess Muñoz
Marcía Porter
Darryl Taylor
Jill Terhaar-Lewis
The Advocacy Committee shall work in the best interests of NATS for advocacy of: music/singing in education, diversity and inclusion in NATS activities and in the larger musical/singing community, and arts advocacy in government, businesses, and communities.
INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Christine Anderson, Co-Chair
Corinne Ness, Co-Chair
Diana Allan, President
Carole Blankenship, Immediate Past President
Karen Brunssen, Past President
Sarah Holman, International Region Governor
Nick Perna, Vice President for Outreach
Daniel Cabena
Carol Chapman
Bronwen Forbay
Lori McCann
Anupa Paul
Carolyn Sebron
Scott Swope
The International Advisory Committee will work together to encourage mutually beneficial musical and pedagogical relationships, experiences, and connectivity with established international voice associations, other voice-oriented organizations, their members, and others.
MENTORING INITIATIVES COMMITTEE
Jeanne Goffi-Fynn, Chair
Nick Perna, Vice President for Outreach, Co-Chair
Diana Allan, President
DeMar Austin Neal Vice President for Workshops
Elizabeth Ann Benson
Katherine Ciesinski
Joshua Glasner
Sarah Holman
Jill Terhaar Lewis
Sahoko Sato Timpone
Anne Wick
Derrick Thompson
The Mentoring Initiatives Committee will promote a spirit and culture of mentoring within NATS both on an informal ad-hoc basis and through suggested more formal ways at the Chapter, District, Region, and National levels of NATS.
HISTORIAN
Linda Snyder
The historian provides a narrative of conferences, and assists the Executive Office in collecting, describing, updating, and preserving documentary sources significant to NATS. The historian shall have access to documents and other records pertinent to the history of the Association.
NATS ART SONG COMPOSITION AWARD COMMITTEE
Carol Mikkelsen, Chair
Lori Laitman, Advisor
The NATS Art Song Composition Award Committee solicits original vocal compositions, and organizes the selection of the winning compositions, the annual First Place Winners being performed at the National Conference. The committee shall make all necessary arrangements in coordination with the executive director and the next (2024) Conference Planning Committee.
INTERN PROGRAM COMMITTEE
Carole Blankenship, Past President
André Chiang
Lily Guerero
Ken Bozeman
NATS ART SONG COALITION
We aim to provide a forum for musicians to connect around the genre of art song as a living, evolving form. The idea of “art song” began in the 19th Century as a Eurocentric genre with poetic text for a singer accompanied by the piano. Art song has developed into a form that defies an agreed-upon definition. It is a genre that has and will continue to evolve as long as words and music are joined.
The NATS Art Song Coalition will strive to promote art song and its composition by:
- providing a place for people to learn about and hear unfamiliar music as well as connect with people around art song as a living, evolving form,
- facilitate mentorship between experienced composers and new composers with a focus on diversity in the backgrounds of both mentors and mentees,
- inspire collaboration between singers, instrumentalists, and composers, and highlight the works of under-represented artists, both new and old,
- foster awareness of art song at the pre-college level,
- encourage thoughtful and sensitive programming that imagines innovative ways to showcase the breadth and depth of the art song genre,
- create accessibility to under-served communities and demographics by eliminating connotative “high-brow only” associations, and
- work in tandem with other NATS Committees in recognition of those places where our work intersects:
Advocacy Committee
Auditions and Competitions Committee
NATS Art Song Competition Award Committee
Mentoring Initiatives Committee
André Chiang, Chair
Diana Allan, President
Allan Armstrong
Elizabeth Avery
Sonya Baker
Matt Boehler
Eric Brown
Tom Cipullo
Kurt Erickson
Melissa Givens
Allen Henderson, Executive Director
Victoria Holland
D. Brian Lee
Samuel Martin
Patrice Michaels
Jessica Posada
Jamie Reimer
Cory Schantz
Natalie Wilson
ADVISORS
Glendower Jones
Lori Laitman
Carol Mikkelsen
Darryl Taylor
