NAMM Board of Directors-Interviewed
Tony Leonard is the president of Playground Music, a Florida-based music store his father established in 1961. With a strong focus on school music and print, Tony has continued with many of the key elements his father developed as the store’s philosphy, namely customer service. Tony has also played...
Russell Beacock is president of Beacock Music, a Vancouver, Washington-based retail store that was established by his parents, Dale and Susan, back in 1976. Proudly representing the second generation of the family owned business, Russ works alongside his sister Gayle. Together they have expanded...
Joel Menchey is the president of Menchey Music Service, a Hanover, PA based retail store established by his grandfather in 1936. Joel is also very active within the industry serving on boards and committees for such organizations as NASMD, NAMM and RPMDA. Joel, himself a music maker, can be heard...
Ed Hendricks always enjoyed selling. After serving heroically in World War II, he worked in several Chicago-area department stores before being hired by Don Broman to work for Lyon & Healy’s retail store. In the early 1970s he decided to open his own piano store, which is located in Downers...
Leon Pascucci grew up in the music industry as his father was the president of Leblanc in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Leon remembers well the times he spent with Mr. Leblanc in France and the many company workers he felt were part of his family. Leon’s father Vito slowly exposed Leon to all areas of the...
Paul Murphy has served his industry well, just as did his father, his grandfather and his great-grandfather. Paul was elected to the NAMM Board of Directors where he served for over a decade including a term as chairman. Two of his relatives also served as president of the NAMM Board, as well as...
Dennis Bamber helped pioneer mail order catalogs for musical products beginning in the 1970s. After opening a small woodwind store in South Bend, Indiana in 1978, Dennis noticed that many of his customers were traveling 5 and 6 hours to his store. While he expanded the size of the store he also...
Bill Mendello retired as president of Fender Musical Instrument Corp in the fall of 2010 after a long career in the industry. He was hired in the accounting department of CBS Musical Instrument Division in 1978. Bill soon began working with Bill Schultz who was hired by the president of the musical...
Dean Samuel is the son of industry leader, Lowell Samuel, who not only formed the Samuel Music retail store in Effingham, IL but the pioneering music wholesale company, MIDCO, in 1964. Lowell was also one of the founders of NASMD and an early supporter of the industry’s Global Economic Summits....
John Tarpley likes to echo the message his great-grandmother lived by when she established the family business over 100 years ago: the customer is most important. Since taking over the business, along with his cousin David in the 1990s, John has strived hard to do just that. Running four locations...