Past Board Meeting Minutes
Past Presidents
- July 2015-June 2017 ~ Michael Moeller
- July 2013-June 2015 ~ Paul Gronert
- July 2011-June 2013 ~ Charles Weise
- July 2009-June 2011 ~ Adam Tervola Hultberg
- July 2007-June 2009 ~ Barry Zumwalde
- July 2005-June 2007 ~ Dr. Elizabeth Jackson Kirchhoff
- July 2003-June 2005 ~ Dr. Scott A. Jones
- July 2001-June 2003 ~ Joni Sutton
- July 1999-June 2001 ~ Charlie Liebfried
- July 1997-June 1999 ~ Wendy Barden
- July 1995-June 1997 ~ Bill Webb
- July 1993-June 1995 ~ Russ Pesola
State Executive Board (July, 2017 - June, 2019)
President
Erika Bierman ~ Pipestone Area Middle/High School
Erika Bierman is currently Director of 5th and 6th Grade Bands at Pipestone Area Middle/High School. She has previously taught at Adrian Secondary, Round Lake Brewster High School, Nerstrand Elementary, and McLeod West Public Schools. Erika was one of the founding educators in the El Sistema Imagine after school music program sponsored by the Nobles County Integration Collaborative. She also served as a section coach for the Minnesota All-State Bands in 2014-2015 and 2015-2016. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from Concordia College-Moorhead and studied Contra-Alto, Bass, and B-flat Clarinet. Erika and her husband have two daughters.
President - Elect
Geneva Fitzsimonds ~ Edina High School
Geneva Fitzsimonds is in her 29th year teaching instrumental music. She holds degrees from Concordia College-Moorhead and St. Mary’s University, and is a National Board Certified Teacher. Her bands have performed at festivals across the region including the MMEA Middle Level Conference, the MMSA Conference and the MMEA Mid-Winter Clinic.
Geneva has served on the MMEA Board of Directors as a Region Representative and is currently President of the MN Chapter of the American School Band Directors Association.
She has served in several capacities on the MBDA Board, including her current role as South Central Region Jazz Coordinator. She is an MSHSL Adjudicator and has directed numerous honor bands and festivals throughout the region. Geneva has presented many sessions at state and regional clinics and her papers have been nationally published in Teaching Music magazine and on Banddirector.com. She is a Golden Apple Award recipient and an MVP Teacher of the Year. In 2014, Geneva was named MN Music Educator of the Year and in 2016 the Edina Teacher of the Year. She currently teaches 9th grade bands at Edina High School
Geneva lives in Minnetrista with her husband Scott and their two children; Bram and Berit.
Secretary
Nora Tycast ~ Spring Lake Park High School
Nora R. Tycast has been Co-Director of Bands at Spring Lake Park High School since 2006. Prior to that she taught at Hopkins High School and Hopkins West Junior High School in Hopkins, MN and opened a new arts and technology high school, Felix Varela Senior High in Miami, Florida.
She has presented at the Minnesota Music Educators Association (MMEA) annual conference and at the National Association for Music Education (NAFME) annual conference. Topics have included; literacy intervention in the large ensemble classroom, teaching to students with trauma, including diverse composers in wind ensemble literature, and developing racial and equity conversations within the large ensemble classroom as a way to engage larger populations of students.
Tycast currently serves as secretary for MBDA and is the chair of the International Spanish Language Academy school board. She earned her B.A. in Music Education from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and her Master’s in Educational Policy and Administration from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. She resides in the Twin Cities with her husband and three daughters, travels often and puts in a lot of miles on her athletic shoes.
Secretary - Elect
Lauren Greeley ~ Glencoe Silver Lake
Treasurer
Keith Koehlmoos ~ Prior Lake High School
Keith Koehlmoos is in his seventeenth year of teaching bands at Prior Lake High School in Savage, MN. He taught three years before that in South O'brien High School in Paullina, IA. Bands under his direction have performed in London, Paris, Prague, Vienna, San Francisco, Hawaii, Spain, Italy and China. Keith holds an M.A. in Music Ed. from the University of St. Thomas and a B.Mus in Music Education from the University of Northern Iowa. Keith has been named the Prior Lake High School Teacher of the Year and twice named Outstanding Advisor of the Year. His current professional organizations iclude the Minnesota Music Educators Association, MBDA and Education Minnesota.
Treasurer - Elect
Allie Jensen ~ Eden Prairie Schools
State Board of Representatives (Elected, 2-year term):
Northeast President (NEMBDA)
Central President (CMBDA)
Nicole Clark
Providence Academy
Southeast President (SEMBDA)
Liz Harwood
Kasson-Mantorville
South Central President (SCMBDA)
Southwest President (SWMBDA)
Nickole Bowie
Martin County West
Amy Labat
Edgerton Public Schools
alabat@edgertonpublic.com
Northwest President (NWMBDA)
Nicole Clark ~ nicole.clark@providenceacademy.org
Nicole is currently in her fifteenth year as Band Director and Music Teacher at Providence Academy. Since her arrival in 2003, the band program has gone through exponential growth from 55 members to 185 members. Under her direction the Symphonic (Upper School) Band at the academy started its superior ratings at both the MSHSL Large Group and Solo/Ensemble competitions. Besides implementing a full 5-12 grade instrumental program for the academy she started the school’s jazz band and has participated in numerous pit-orchestras for the school’s musicals. In addition to directing bands at the academy Mrs. Clark has taught Pre-K, Kindergarten, 1stgrade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 6th grade, and 7th grade general music as well as Middle School Choir. Currently she is the director of the Cadet (5th grade) and Concert (MS) Bands as well as the MS chapel choir. She also coordinates and accompanies music for the Middle School liturgy each week. She is involved in NAfME, MMEA, and CMBDA.
A diverse background in music education is what led Mrs. Clark to teaching at Providence Academy. She graduated with the highest honors from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse with concentrations in both instrumental and vocal music. Her performance background includes recitals in alto saxophone, piano and voice. She had an internship in Middle School Band, Jazz Band, and High School Choir in Rice Lake, WI. She taught Middle School and High School Choir, Chamber Choir, General Music, and all of the school’s woodwind lessons in Spring Grove, MN. Before coming to Providence Academy she served as the Middle School Concert Band director, assistant High School Marching Band director, and Middle School General Music teacher in Lake City, MN.
In addition to teaching, Mrs. Clark has served as a music director and cantor at the Newman Center Parish in La Crosse, and a cantor at numerous parishes in the Twin Cities.
Nickole Bowie ~ Martin County West Schools
Nickole Bowie is currently Director of Bands at Martin County West Schools following four years of teaching in Colorado and two years of teaching in Oklahoma. Bowies responsibilities include 5th Grade Beginning band, 6th Grade Band, Junior High Band, High School Concert Band, two jazz ensembles, pep band, drum line, independent music courses and lessons. She also directs the Martin County West Jr./Sr. High Marching Band in the summer.
Originally from Sherburn MN, Bowie graduated from Southwest State University in Marshall, MN with a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education. She also earned a Masters in Technology in Education from Lesley University in Cambridge MA.
She continues to be involved in music outside of the school day as a clarinetist for the Minnesota River Valley Wind Ensemble and playing/conducting for her local Trimont Area Centennial Band. Nickole Bowie lives in Trimont, MN with her husband, Linh.
State Board of Representatives (Appointed)
Membership Chair
Bradley Mariska ~ Austin High School
membership@mbda.org
Bradley Mariska has been the Associate Director of Bands at Farmington High School since 2016. At FHS, he conducts the Symphonic Band, Concert Band, Jazz II, Jazz III, and is the Assistant Director of the Farmington Tiger Marching Band. Prior to FHS, Mariska taught for four years at Austin High School and for eight years at Pine City High School.
He and his ensembles have received numerous awards. The AHS Wind Ensemble appeared at the Minnesota Music Educators Association Midwinter Clinic in 2013 and Pine City was named to the list of “Best Communities for Music Education in America” three times during his tenure. In 2012, School Band and Orchestra Magazine named Mariska one of the nation’s “50 Directors Who Make a Difference.” Mariska was named Educator of the Year by the Austin Rotary Club in 2013 and KAAL-TV named him as an Excellent Educator in 2014. Mariska has served as an All-State Band Section Coach and has served as a Director on the boards of several arts organizations including the Austin Area Commission for the Arts, the Austin Symphony Orchestra, and the Pine Center for the Arts. He currently maintains a studio of private low brass students and taught for two years at MacPhail Center for Music at both their Apple Valley and Austin locations.
A native of Waterville, Minnesota, Mariska earned a B.A. in Music Education from Buena Vista University (Storm Lake, IA) and an M.A. in Musicology from the University of Maryland. While at Maryland, Mariska was the Manager of the American Bandmasters Association Archives and Research Center. His work at the Research Center spawned an interest in the history of early American bands and his scholarly paper “Opera Music as Repertoire for Band,” was accepted by the Society for American Music for presentation at their National Convention.
Mariska’s favorite band-related memory is convincing Senator Al Franken to play cowbell with his band during a school visit. Mariska repeatedly stopped the rehearsal, reminding the former SNL writer, "I’ve got a fever… and the only prescription is more cowbell."
Honor Band Audition Co-Chairs
Rachel Miller ~ Zumbrota-Mazeppa Middle School
rachelm@zmsch.k12.mn.us
rachelm@zmsch.k12.mn.us
Rachel Miller is in her 5th year of teaching and her 4th year of teaching 5th through 8th grade band with the Zumbrota-Mazeppa School District. She previously taught 6th through 8th grade instrumental music at Big Lake Middle School. Rachel is a Music Education graduate of Concordia College and is currently working on her Master's Degree in Educational Technology Leadership from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. In addition to co-coordinating the MBDA State Honor Band auditions, she is also involved with the Southeast MBDA board as a co-coordinator for the Southeast First and Second Year Band Festival. Outside of teaching band, Rachel enjoys teaching swimming lessons and is one of the facilitators for the Zumbrota-Mazeppa LEGO Robotics Team. She currently lives in Rochester with her very adorable cat, Shasta.
Beth Claybaugh ~ Pierz
Honor Band Event Coordinator
Sam Boerboom ~ Waseca High School
mbdahonorband@gmail.com
Jazz Honor ~ Band Audition Coordinators
Ben Bussey ~ MacPhail, Concordia St. Paul
benjamin.bussey@gmail.com
Nick Mason ~ New London Spicer
masonn@nls.k12.mn.us
Ben Bussey ~ MacPhail, Concordia St. Paul
benjamin.bussey@gmail.com
Jazz Honor ~ Band Coordinator
Steve Jennings ~ McNally Smith
steve.jennings@mcnallysmith.edu
Volunteer Coordinator
Nathan Blinn ~ Chippewa Middle School
nathan.blinn@moundsviewschools.org
State Board of Representatives (Directed)
MMEA Band Vice President
Jennifer Gruepner
Perpich Center for the Arts Education
ASBDA Representative
Terri Svec ~ Buffalo
tsvec@buffalo.k12.mn.edu
Terri Svec received a Bachelor of Music Education from East Carolina University and a Master of Science in Music Education from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She taught beginning and middle level band in the Chicago suburbs for five years prior to her current position at Buffalo Community Middle School. Her duties over the past 16 years have included band, choir, orchestra, classroom music, guitar and music technology. She has also been department chair and served on several district music committees and has been involved in piloting new music technologies in her shool. She is a member of MMEA/MENC and ASBDA in addition to MBDAand has served as Secretary and Treasurer for MBDA. She continues to perform on oboe with the Plymouth Concert Band and with small chamber groups throughout the west Metro area.
CBDNA Representative
Dr. Peter Haberman
Concordia College ~ Moorhead
NBA Representative
Keith Wander ~ Hawley
kwander@hawley.k12.mn.us
Keith Wander is the Director of Bands at Hawley High School. He has held that position for 30 years. He received a Bachelor of Music Degree from Concordia College in Moorhead Minnesota in 1983 and A Master of Science in Music Education from Minnesota State University Moorhead in 1995. At Hawley he directs the Concert Band, 9th Grade Band, Jazz Band and Blues Band(Vocal and Instrumental group). He also teaches music theory, theatre arts, directs the fall play, directs the one act play, and does stage direction, technical theatre, and pit orchestra for the Musical each year. He is in his 6th year as Artistic Director of the Red River Boy Choir of Fargo, ND.
State Board of Representatives (Hired)
Web Manager
Sandra Riehl
mbdawebmanager@mbda.org
Sandra is a Technology Integrationist in the Shakopee School system in combination with owning and running a web design business. She has been merging her interests with technology and teaching for over 20 years.