NAMM President and CEO Joe Lamond to Deliver Keynote at 4th IMC World Forum on Music

The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) announced today that the association’s president and CEO Joe Lamond will be presenting a keynote address at the International Music Council’s 4th World Forum on Music to be held on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2011, in Tallinn, Estonia.

In keeping with the overall conference theme of “Music and Social Change,” Lamond will address the role of commerce and the music products industry to create access to music making for people of all ages and NAMM’s ongoing music education advocacy efforts.

Since 2001, Joe Lamond has been president and CEO of NAMM, the global not-for-profit trade association representing 9,000 manufacturers and retailers of musical instruments and sound products. NAMM’s mission is to strengthen the music products industry and promote the pleasures and benefits of making music. Lamond leads a team of dedicated NAMM employees towards accomplishing its mission by reinvesting proceeds from the annual NAMM Show, the world’s largest trade-only event for the music products industry, into grants and programs that expand access to music education and increase active music making.

Under Lamond’s leadership, NAMM created NAMM International, LLC to better serve its growing global membership; partnering on the Music China trade show in Shanghai and collaborating with Messe Frankfurt to launch the NAMM Musikmesse Russia trade show in Moscow. Lamond directed the formation of an International Coalition, which now includes representatives from 20 of the world's largest markets to share industry best practices and support global music education for all children.

He also led NAMM to create the NAMM Foundation, a non-profit organization to serve as the philanthropic arm of the association and to raise funds to support NAMM’s mission. Over the past 10 years, NAMM and the NAMM Foundation have reinvested nearly $80 million dollars in support of its mission and to promote music making for people of all ages.

Lamond has traveled extensively throughout the United States and to more than 40 countries promoting NAMM’s mission and the importance of music education. Speaking at conferences, in front of government leaders and education policy experts, he has made a strong case for the proven benefits of music making throughout the lifespan and for increasing attention on the power of music and the arts as tools of creativity and innovation, health and wellness and cultural diplomacy to resolve conflict and bring people and countries closer together.

“NAMM is honored to support this gathering and is grateful for our ongoing participation with the International Music Council, which provides a forum for international dialogue and diplomacy for everyone dedicated to music making,” Lamond said. “I look forward to the gathering in Tallinn this September, and communicating the vision and mission of the music products industry that joins with the noble goals of IMC to support and expand the right of all to learn and make music.”

About NAMM
NAMM is the not-for-profit association that unifies, leads and strengthens the $17 billion international musical instruments and products industry. NAMM’s activities and programs are designed to promote music making to people of all ages. NAMM is comprised of approximately 9,000 Member companies. For more information about NAMM or the proven benefits of making music, interested parties can visit www.namm.org or call 800-767-NAMM (6266).