The ISJAC Board is delighted to announce its selection of John Beasley to serve as President-Elect at a special election held during its December 13th meeting. Most of our membership will likely be quite familiar with John, if not personally, certainly by his multi-faceted work in music, including writing/arranging music for recordings and TV, film, commercial and artistic projects! In addition to serving as Music Director for the Herbie Hancock Jazz Institute which presents the annual International Jazz Day global gala concert on behalf of UNESCO annually, his writing/arranging has garnered multiple awards for projects with his own MONK’estra big band, as well as many other international ensembles/artists. His background is extremely broad and well-suited to the “big umbrella” ISJAC embraces. We look forward to his leadership – ensuring ISJAC continues to advance its mission to serve the jazz composition community.
This special election was predicated by Dave Stamps (previously serving as President-Elect) opting to give up his seat on the Board to assume the ongoing role of Managing Director at ISJAC. As co-founder of the organization as well as prior Vice President of Operations, there is no one better prepared to take on this role or more passionate about the mission of ISJAC. The Board not only approved of this plan; frankly, it’s a dream come true for us!
Both John and Dave assume these new roles immediately with John’s term as President to begin on July 1st, 2024.
During its December meeting, the Board also elected Michele Fernández to a seat as incoming Vice President of Membership. After recently retiring from a 30-year award-winning teaching career in Miami, Michele turned her attention to composing – with immediate and demonstrable success! With numerous publications, she is in great demand as a clinician, all-state ensemble conductor, and resident composer – with her works featured frequently at major conferences. David Caffey, whose term as Vice President of Membership will expire later this year, has contributed so much to ISJAC over the years and will remain on the Board. Michele’s role as VP begins on July 1st, 2024.
Stayed tuned! The Board expects to announce other additions to its ranks later in January.
