AES Names Leslie Gaston-Bird as President

The Audio Engineering Society (AES) has announced Leslie Gaston-Bird as president, effective now. Gaston-Bird will serve as the first African-American president in the organization’s 76-year history.

An AES fellow, Gaston-Bird currently serves on the AES board of directors and has served in the past on the board of governors: first as vice president Western region and Canada and then as a governor-at-large. She co-founded the Diversity & Inclusion Committee alongside fellow AES member Piper Payne, and provided valuable expertise as part of the AES Technical Council’s Technical Committee for Broadcast and Online Delivery’s “Guidelines for Over-The-Top Television and Video Streaming.”

Gaston-Bird’s classical piano training, love of math and science, and studies in audio technology led to a broad career in the audio industry, spanning music, radio, post-production sound and academia. She is the founder and director of Immersive and Inclusive Audio, CIC, which provides training in Avid Pro Tools and Dolby Atmos certification for underrepresented groups, and she performs freelance work as a sound editor and re-recording mixer through her production company, Mix Messiah Productions.

Gaston-Bird’s vision as president includes broadening the AES community, in part by bringing greater visibility to affinity groups focused on supporting underrepresented groups including women, minority, non-gender conforming and gender-expansive audio engineers.

“These members of our greater audio community are doing a lot of heavy lifting on their own, and I want to continue to grow AES support of their efforts within our wider network,” Gaston-Bird said. “It begins with listening to what these groups need and understanding how we can be supportive of the value they bring to our industry. I look forward to connecting with as many as possible. We are all stronger together.”

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