Kent Stutzman was hired by Gemeinhart in the 1970s and has remained with the flute builder for over 35 years! During his career, Kent has worked in several positions on the line as well ...
John Suhr began formulating ideas of designing and modifying the electric guitar while working as a repairman at Rudy's Guitar Shop in New York City. After sharpening his skills as a mas...
Howard Summers is an instrument designer at Cannonball Musical Instruments, specializing in trumpets. Howard began playing the trumpet in the fourth grade in New Orleans and proudly can s...
Tom Sumner grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area where he not only played guitar in local bands but also worked in area music stores. While attending college Tom worked in music retail as...
Gary Sunda began building guitar amplifiers under the name Sunda in the 1960s before he was hired by Don Randall to create a new line of amplifiers, Randall Amps. Gary began designing pr...
Conrad Sundholm is the founder of Sunn Amplifiers and Biamp Systems, which revolutionized the music industry with several key design innovations, designs, and products. Although Conrad w...
Norm Sundholm was playing bass for the rock band The Kingsmen when he had a few ideas to improve his amplifier. As the band rose to fame, thanks to the recording of “Louie Louie,” Norm an...
Dave Surber’s father was a United States Navy musician who worked for the Leblanc Company after he retired from the navy. When Dave was looking for a job his father found one for him in ...
Reiko Suzuki discovered her passion for music at a young age as she watched her father and mother operate a company that manufactured harmonicas and other instruments. This coupled with h...
Fujio Suzuki was the president of the Suzuki Musical Instrument Company in Japan in 2003 when the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music celebrated the launching of the new Hammond-Suz...
Manji Suzuki had a deep passion for the music industry. He is the founder and president of Suzuki Musical Instrument Manufacturing Company in Hamamatsu, Japan. The company began as a harm...
Millie Swanson was known as “The Sweetheart of Wurlitzer.” She joined the company in 1931 as an office clerk while still in high school. Over the years, as Wurlitzer grew into the largest...
Tom Szerencse worked his way up to an Engineering Group Manager overseeing Crown International’s design prototyping efforts. In the mid 80’s his team worked with the Marketing department ...
Tetsuya Takagi served as Executive Vice President of Yamaha International Corporation (currently Yamaha Corporation of America) and worked for Yamaha Corporation in Japan holding several ...
Don Talbot recalls working with his father at Coast Wholesalers when he was school age, sweeping up and working in the warehouse. Don’s father was one of the three owners and years later,...
Vijay Talwar’s father sold wood in India, and when Vijay began working for his father as a teenager they noticed an increase in the amount of wood being sold to make musical instruments. ...
Pooja Talwar's family background is rooted in the musical instrument and accessory industry in India. Her father, Vijay Talwar, began working for her grandfather’s wood-selling business a...
Mehmet Tamdeger’s mentor was Mikkail Zilcan, who taught him everything the master craftsmen knew about cymbal making. Mehmet was born in the same small village outside Istanbul, Turkey wh...
Julie Tan recalls seeing few women during her first NAMM show in 1989. As her fascinating career developed within the industry, so too has the number of women in high-level roles. Her lov...
Hidekazu Tanaka became the fourth president of the Roland Corporation in Japan in 2005. The role within the company followed nearly 25 years of service within the company including workin...
Toshitsugu “Tom” Tanaka, the president of Hoshino Gakki. Ltd, recalled with a smile his early training in the industry under Harry Rosenbloom of Medley Music. That experience not only edu...
Wolfe Taninbaum was a leader in the development of synthetic reeds, although he is best known for his mouthpiece designs. The Taninbaum mouthpiece company was established in 1952 to provi...
Richard Taninbaum grew up in a musical family. His father, Wolf, played saxophone for many top big bands during the Swing Era and later created his own mouthpiece company. So, it was no s...
Bob Taylor enrolled in wood shop while a student in high school and made a guitar for his final grade. The idea of making his own guitars came easy to Bob and he set out to create his own...
Terry Taylor has worked in the music industry his entire career. After his service in the Marine Corp, Terry began working for CG Conn in the factory in Elkhart, Indiana. He later worke...
Elaine Taylor began working on the bench at Selmer in Elkhart in 1975, where she covered cases. Over the years she has worked in the cork and padding department for saxophones, also in t...
Tom Tedesco likes to point out that the music industry and the sports industry have many similarities. Having worked in both, Tom has noticed music and sports people share a special drive...
Artur Teller created a successful career by producing highly regarded violin bridges and supplying them to luthiers in and around his hometown of Bubenreuth, Germany. Like many of the ins...
Bastian Teller is a bridge maker in the 5th generation. Since he was a child, Bastian wanted to step into his father Manfred’s footsteps. After receiving his state certified diploma for m...
Cynthia Templeton has worked for one and only one company in the music industry. She was hired by Selmer in Elkhart, Indiana in the early 1970s and remained with the company for her enti...
Mark Terry always dreamed of being a recording engineer, even as a kid when he first discovered his love of music and technology. In time he would become just that, but along the way he d...
Gary Thielman is President of Harrison Audio, the Nashville, Tennessee-based company that has been an innovator in the audio industry since 1975. He joined Harrison right out of college i...
