NAMM
Larry Manley first met the former CEO for NAMM, Larry (Link) Linkin, while he was working at a bank in Escondido, California where Link held NAMM's business accounts. It was during a time when NAMM was growing and Link thought it was a good time to elevate and strengthen NAMM's financial staff, and...
Linda Vincent worked for a short time at the NAMM headquarters, which is where she met her husband, the late John Vincent, who at the time was Director of Trade Shows. We missed our chance to interview John for the Oral History program as he passed away in 2013. However, Linda was thankfully able...
Mary Luehrsen is a music advocate dedicated to music education and promoting support for music education. As Director of Public Affairs and Government Relations for NAMM and a former music teacher and professional musician, Mary has helped NAMM and its partners with policy issues and legislation...
William Demmers volunteered for the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music for over ten years. During that time he provided tours as a trained docent to guests of all ages. His own background in music was fascinating. As a teenager Bill played trumpet in a traveling big band in the Mid West,...
Dorothy Demmers was proud of the volunteer work she and her husband Bill provided the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music. For over a decade she gave her time and talents by providing tours of the museum to all ages of visitors. Dottie also helped run the museum store, created and managed the...
Jim Funada has proudly served the music products industry in several important ways over the last 40 years. He began his career by working for the Yamaha Corp. in keyboard retailing. Beginning in the late 1960s, Jim oversaw the Yamaha school programs among keyboard dealers in the San Francisco Bay...
John Maher began his career as an employee of a retail store in Illinois before joining the sales team at St. Louis Music Supply. He worked for the wholesaler for 11 years and traveled to dealers, creating programs and promotions to help them with sales while at the same time developing new and...
Tim Cunningham worked for a trade show design company in the late 1960s for which NAMM was a client. William Gard, NAMM’s CEO at the time, offered Tim a full time job to oversee the show's special events and programs. Tim organized educational sessions for attendees with the same concept that NAMM...
Lillian Siegh played a vital role in the inner workings of NAMM for over 35 years! William Gard hired Lillian as a secretary in 1949 and for a time she was the office manager before becoming Mr. Gard’s executive secretary. She helped plan many of NAMM’s events and was instrumental in the parties...
Cynthia Hoover has devoted her career to the history of musical instrument making in America as curator at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. Her love of the subject has resulted in many important exhibits and publications on musical instruments since her arrival at the Smithsonian in...