NAMM Board of Directors-Interviewed
Crane Bodine’s father, Elmer, was a piano man who formed a retail store in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1933. When Crane was 17 years old, he began working in the store. In 1962, he took over as president shortly after his father’s passing. Crane became a pioneer in the organ business, both as a...
Bill Harvey was between band director jobs in the summer of 1974 when he took a road sales position with Buddy Roger's Music in Cincinnati, Ohio. He felt the sales job would allow him to travel to area schools and line up his next director position for the fall. While on the road, Bill discovered...
Greg Way has had a long and successful career in the Canadian music retail industry and has been a strong advocate for music and music making throughout his career. As an owner of St. John’s Music, Greg developed many programs for his customers and played a key role in the company’s store...
David Teeple’s first job in the music industry was working for the large Grinnell Brothers chain in the 1960s, based in Michigan. When he was asked to teach guitar, he had to first learn himself! The experience provided him with the passion for music retail. His store in Port Huron, MI, helped to...
Don Wilson always enjoyed being around music, as a player, teacher, retailer, and as an award-winning baton twirler. He opened his music store in 1956 with the dream of running his business, raising his family, and staying close to the music he loved. In 2006, he reflected that his dreams did come...
Dave Fletcher was born into a music family. His father developed the Fletcher Music Centers and his brother Robert (a NAMM Past President) expanded the business along with Dave to become one of the most significant forces in piano and organ sales in the decades following the great organ boom of the...
Jim Leonard was first and foremost a band director. It was the job he always dreamed of as a child and the job for which he gained the love and respect from tens of thousands of students. Along the way, he saw the need of providing quality band services to the school directors he knew, which...
Thomas Burzycki served as President of Selmer Band Instruments while at the same time being on the NAMM Board as one of the first four commercial members to do so. He followed that term as President of the American Music Conference during the important transition and growth of the organization...
Jim D’Addario has worked long and hard within the research and development arm of D'Addario & Co., along with his brother John Jr. Headed by Jim, the engineering department has accumulated many important manufacturing and product patents in the field of music strings and musical accessories. He...
Mr. Menchey founded the Menchey Music Service in 1936 out of his mother’s sewing room in Hanover. By the time he retired in 1982, Menchey’s Music grew into the premier full-service school music and piano dealer serving Central Pennsylvania and Northern Maryland. He pioneered expansive sheet music...