August 26, 2022 I Event
WoN Summit to Host 17 Female Industry Leaders This Fall
Women of NAMM (WoN) has announced 17 emerging female leaders will participate in the WoN Summit, to be held October 17–19, 2022, at NAMM headquarters in Carlsbad, California. Now in its third year, the WoN Summit is an intensive, three-day leadership immersion experience designed to support women working across the industry and their goals to connect, support, and grow their leadership and professional abilities.
Participants in the WoN Summit will include Tonya Adams of West Music; Laura Clapp Davidson of Shure Incorporated; Kayla Davis of Music and Arts; Michele Dwiggins of Beacock Music; Catherine English of Bertrand’s Music Enterprises; Jessica Ferrari of Menchey Music; Jordan Gruver of Fender; Katie Helgeson of The Music Shoppe; Erin Kessler of Maple Leaf Strings; Kristin Masarik of Heid Music; Natalie Morrison of D’Addario.; Gail O’Brien Stewart of High Strung Violins & Guitars; Thea Paraskevaides of Beaumont Music; Amanda Rueter of Ernie Williamson Music; Stacey Swanson of Swanson Consulting Group; Samantha Tranchida of Quinlan and Fabish Music Company; and Amanda Whiting Gerstle of Universal Audio.
“It is an honor to be selected for the WoN Summit,” said Laura Davidson of Shure. “I have so much respect for the women joining me this year, and I can’t wait to learn from each other as we all work to strengthen our skills, network and community.”
In addition to the intensive leadership and professional development program, each participant will enjoy nightly dinners, a tour of NAMM’s Museum of Making Music and learning more about the history of the association and industry.
“This year’s cohort of women is truly representative of the excellence of the leadership pipeline developing within the industry and the individual efforts of NAMM’s member companies,” said Lisa MacDonald, chair of the Women of NAMM council and director of vertical marketing for Yamaha. “The Women of NAMM council is dedicated continuing its founders’ vision of providing impactful, substantive development opportunities. Given the strong interest in the Summit and the incredibly competitive applicant pool, we are focused on scaling up opportunities like this to serve even more women within the industry.”
The return of the summit was announced earlier this year at the Women of NAMM (WoN) gathering at The 2022 NAMM Show. Council co-founder Robin Walenta also announced that, in tribute to the memory and lasting impact of the late Diane Martin of Martin Guitars, donations made in her honor to the WoN Fund will help continue to ensure that WoN will create opportunities for women across the music, sound and live event industries to connect, support and grow. Funds made in honor of Diane were used to help accepted applicants offset related travel costs.
