CASA - The Contemporary A Capella Society

Tom Anderson is a professional arranger specializing in a cappella music. Originally from northern Minnesota, he was a member of professional Minneapolis aca group Four Shadow at age 19. While studying music composition at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Tom was the original music director of UWEC a cappella group Fifth Element and played piano in the jazz band that DownBeat Magazine named the best in the country. He also had his first brush with CASA, serving as Wisconsin CASA ambassador and as the inaugural coordinator of the A Cappella Community Awards (ACAs). After college, he returned to the road as a member of Boston pro group Ball in the House before leaving to attend law school.

After a five-year detour as a practicing attorney, Tom is now back where he belongs, making music full-time. His clients - through his studio and arranging shop, Random Notes - include some of the top names at all levels of a cappella, from "Sing-Off" competitors (Committed, On the Rocks) and ICHSA champs (Limited Edition, Vocal Rush) to pro groups (the Swingle Singers, Cluster, Peter Hollens) and "mainstream" entertainment companies (Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Disney theme parks). Tom is a frequent instructor and masterclinician at a cappella festivals and workshops and also serves as CASA's Director of Media Development. He is a diehard Twins fan and is certain that 2016 is their year. @RandomNotesLLC

Greg Rubin Vice President

Deke Sharon Founder
Deke Sharon has been singing a cappella since the age of five and spent his formative years with one foot in traditional choral idioms (church choir, San Francisco Boys' Chorus, madrigal groups, barbershop quartets) and the other in rock bands. The two came together during his tenure as music director of the Tufts Beelzebubs, and he formed CASA in hopes of creating a community of like-minded acappellaheads.

Often called the "father of contemporary a cappella", Deke has played a prominent and influential role in the formation of CASA's many outreach programs. Most recently, he founded the Contemporary A Cappella League (CAL), a national network of a cappella groups for post-collegiate and adult singers.

Deke founded and has been singing in the vocal rock band The House Jacks since 1991. The group has produced seven full-length albums and completed multiple world tours. He arranges and directs the groups on NBC's a cappella competition reality show, "The Sing-Off". @dekesharon

Steve Ryan Treasurer

Steve Ryan got his first taste of the a cappella experience as a performer with the Georgia Tech Sympathetic Vibrations, starting in 2004.  By the time Georgia Tech was finished with him, he had started (and eventually finished) the group's second CD project, and founded a new multi-cultural vocal group dedicated to a fusion of various global musical styles.  Steve continues to work closely with a cappella groups in the Metro-Atlanta area and around the southeast as a studio engineer, live sound engineer, and general consultant.

In 2008, Steve started volunteering with the SoJam production team to make the event bigger and better than ever, and is excited about working directly with CASA to promote the performance and appreciation of contemporary a cappella.  He'll be acting as the Treasurer and continuing to work on the SoJam Festival each year. @stevejohnryan

Stefanie Chase Secretary

Stefanie has had extensive involvement in the vocal music world.  She began singing as a baby, to alert her family to remove her from her crib (hey, it beats crying and screaming) and joined the Cherub Choir at church at age four, and continued singing throughout her youth.  She graduated from Carthage College where she sang in both the women's choir and the Carthage Choir, supposedly the second oldest touring choir in the United States. While at Carthage, she minored in Vocal Music Performance and was active in the music fraternity, Lambda Kappa.

Stefanie loves to sing but equally enjoys working behind the scenes to produce and promote great shows.  She booked many a cappella acts to perform at her college and, since graduating, has publicized, promoted and helped numerous a cappella acts (Sean Altman, The Bobs, Da Vinci's Notebook, Minimum Wage, Kid Beyond, and Duwende, to name a few) book shows in the NYC area.  She served previously as CASA's Co-Ambassador Coordinator, and Membership Director, has been a CARA judge for the last 3 years, and has coordinated the merchandise sales at both SoJam and the East Coast Summit.

Stefanie loves turkey bacon, despises mushrooms and the song "Celebration" by Kool & The Gang, and currently resides in Northern Virginia, where she spends her days working with IP attorneys in DC.

Amanda Cornaglia Director of Programs
Director of Festivals and Events
Born and raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Amanda started her a cappella career as musical director of Special K at Hamilton College. After graduation she moved to rural Japan for 4 years where she founded, trained and performed with an international a cappella group called the Amigos. Since moving the the DC area in 2005, Amanda founded and performs with Euphonism (CAL) and Snowday, a group that primarily provides a cappella educational programs in the Mid-Atlantic. She is the managing partner of Clear Harmonies Productions, has served as a CARA nominator and judge since 2009 and written numerous arrangements for groups around the world. @acaldag

Joe Antonioli Director of Technology

Joe Antonioli started performing a cappella in 1992 with the University of Vermont Top Cats. After college, he started two summer high school groups, Vermont's Own Class Act, and Vermont Velvet. He is one of the founders of Random Association, and is currently performing with Root7.

In 2002, with Marisa Debowsky and Philippe Charles, Joe started the Vermont A Cappella Summit. This event is currently hosted at Middlebury College, where Joe teaches and supports media technologies. Joe joined CASA in 1996 as the Vermont Ambassador, and since then has taken on many roles, including a term as President. He is currently sitting on the Board as the Director of Integrated Technologies. @JoeAntonioli

Brian Chambers Director of Communications/PR

It is a proven fact that Chambers (he goes by many names and wears many hats) is the least prestigious and talented graduate of the School of Visual and Performing Arts at Montclair High. He left and became #13 of the original member of the University of Delaware Ychromes. His Ychrome logo is still being used by the group many centuries later ... thus, a career in branding was born.

Later, he was a founding member of Rutgers Casual Harmony and Deep Treble. The latter was the youngest group ever to advance to the ICCA Finals. The championship director at the time dubbed them, "the Antichrist of collegiate a cappella." He took that brand and used to market group nationally ... thus, a career in communications was born.

In 2007, he created and performed with the Red States, one of the initial groups of CAL (Contemporary A Cappella League). They won many awards, accolades and opened for Randy "The Cowboy" of the Village People.

As he was known for in the collegiate a cappella world, he still loves Golden Grahams and you but not necessarily in that order.

Seriously, he aims to communicate to and for every voice in the a cappella world from newest, quietest fan to the most experienced critic. And thus a career in difficult but rewarding promises was born. @mcbc

Julia Hoffman Director of Awards and Compilations
Past President

Dr. Julia Hoffman started her a cappella career as a member, and later director, of the Stanford Harmonics. For two years she served as the West Region Producer for the International Championship of Collegiate A cappella (ICCA), and has been a frequent judge and coach in the years since. Julia continues to annually judge the finals of the ICCA, as well as the International Championship for High School A Cappella, at Lincoln Center.  Julia began to participate in CASA's awards programs in 2000 and she joined CASA's Board of Directors in 2004 to become Director of the Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards (CARAs), the Grammies of a cappella and the A Cappella Community Awards (ACAs), the People's Choice Awards of a cappella. She additionally is the Executive Producer of CASA's compilations, including the multi-award winning Sing compilation series and the Contemporary A Cappella Society Collection (CASC) series. Julia served in various leadership roles on the board, first as Secretary for 2 years (2007-2008) and later as President of CASA for 4 years (2009-2012).

Danny Ozment Member At-Large

Danny Ozment grew up in Richmond, VA and began his a cappella career at James Madison University where he founded Exit 245 and received a Bachelors degree in Music Education and a Masters degree in Conducting. Along the way he has taught all forms of choral music at the elementary, secondary, collegiate, and professional levels. In 2004 he became the Assistant Conductor of the Master Chorale of Washington and in 2008 joined the staff of the Cathedral Choral Society at the National Cathedral as Director of External Programs. In 2009, Danny started Emerald City Productions, an a cappella production company based in Springfield, VA offering recording, editing, mixing, coaching, and arranging services. He has served as a CASA Ambassador since 2009. @DannyOzment

Shane Ardell Program Manager: Infrastructure

Shane began arranging music at an early age and ventured into arranging a cappella music at the age of 16. She started her contemporary a cappella career at Georgia Tech as a performer, arranger, and eventual president of the all female group, Nothin' but Treble. While still in college, she also began singing in a rock/gospel semi-professional group, Breakdown, in Atlanta.

Shane continues to arrange and coach groups as well as judge for the ICCAs. She also helps to maintain acaspot.com, an online a cappella group management tool that stemmed out of Georgia Tech. An engineer at heart, Shane spends her days as a marketing consultant and project manager for a web application design and development firm. @shaneardell

Andrea Asuaje Program Manager: Social MediaAndrea Asuaje learned to read music before she could read words. She attended the University of Florida, where she was a member of No Southern Accent for four years and musical director of the group for three of those years. She graduated in 2010 with degrees in journalism and English literature and currently lives and works in South Florida as the social media coordinator for Tribut, a music-based apparel brand. Asuaje is one of the voices of @ACappellaNow and a constant contributor to CASA’s Facebook page and group. She can also be followed on Twitter as @aasuaje, but beware: She curses like a sailor. Aside from all things a cappella and print, Asuaje loves Academy Award-winning films, ridiculously high heels, “iCarly,” her rabbit Potter, roller coasters, Gators football, the beach, headbands, organic food, an Apple-centric world and Harry Potter. @aasuaje

Lindsey Chismark Program Manager: Harmony in the Halls

Lindsey originally hails from the great city of Chicago and started her a cappella career in high school as a founding member of Solace at Glenbrook South High School in 1999. She went on to found Solstice at Case Western Reserve University and upon moving to Detroit in 2006, founded CAL group Two Weeks Notice and vocal band The Seekers. She is an avid arranger, an ICCA & ICHSA judge, has a penchant for seeing songs in color and a special place in her heart for lady a cappella. Professionally, she is a Business Analyst in the staffing industry and in her spare time enjoys swing and blues dancing. @eilanora

Chris Crawford Program Manager: CASA Newsletter

Chris Crawford entered the a cappella world in 2007 when he founded Acquire A Cappella at UC Santa Cruz. In addition to the musical direction of the group, he created a business team of non-singers called the "Street Team," that runs all events, marketing, and communications.

Crawford obtained his business training from 4 years of interning in the Public Relations and iTunes Promotions departments of Apple, Inc. While a double major in music and business, he was the Apple campus rep and a peer advisor for all the student organizations. Musical training was received from the Grace Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys and the Pacific Boychoir Academy with whom he has toured internationally.

In 2009, Crawford founded A Cappella Records (ACR), the first all-digital a cappella record label. Now it's easy for a cappella groups to digitally distribute their music internationally with complete legal protection. @crawtunes

Virginia DeMoss Program Manager: Volunteers

Virginia began her a cappella career singing lead in her high school's first female barbershop quartet with her three best friends. She then attended Florida State University where she spent two years in All Night Yahtzee followed by two years in the AcaBelles. She served as Public Relations Chair for one year in Yahtzee and arranged music for both groups, even after graduating. More recently, Virginia has served as an Event Producer,Judge and Volunteer Coordinator for Varsity Vocals as well as Production Assistant for Varsity Vocals Records. She has been a volunteer, selection panel member, CARA judge for CASA and currently serves as the Collegiate Competition Coordinator for SoJam. Virginia lives in beautiful Asheville, NC and directs a small a cappella group in the area. @VirginiaDeMoss

Bill Hare Program Manager: Forum

Bill Hare has been a full-time recording engineer/producer for 28 years, and has specialized in contemporary a cappella production since 1989. Over the last two decades, Bill has recorded and/or mixed acclaimed albums for some of the best contemporary a cappella groups around the globe, including England's Flying Pickets, Swingle Singers, King's Singers and Voces8, Denmark's Basix and Vocal Line, Norway's Apes & Babes, Italy's Cluster, The Ghost Files, and Maybe6ix, as well as working with many top American acts including Nota, Duwende, Street Corner Symphony, The Backbeats, and The House Jacks.

Collegiate A Cappella clients include The Beelzebubs, Divisi, and about 80 others. Bill is the world's most awarded individual contemporary a cappella producer, including over 60 appearances on BOCA, over 120 CARA nominations, over 30 albums in the RARB "Picks of the Year" lists, and 11 "DeeBee" awards since 1987 in the Vocal Jazz category from Downbeat Magazine.  In 2010 he added a Grammy Award to this list in the Classical Crossover Album category for Christopher Tin's "Calling All Dawns".

For more information, visit Bill's website – www.dyz.com. @billhare

Tom Keyes Program Manager: Contemporary A Cappella League (CAL)

Tom's Contemporary A cappella journey began in 2005 when he joined a local semi-pro group who had posted an ad on Myspace looking for a bass. After a few non-Aca years, in 2009 he dove in head-first and decided to join the Contemporary A cappella League as a new League Director. His group, Frequency, was formed in August of 2009 and remains an active and proud CAL group. He also recently served as Administrative Director for LA-AF 2011 just two years after attending his first one.

When not geeking out at AcaEvents, Tom is an I.T. manager of 19+ years, a sound engineer, volunteer webmaster and music coordinator for a local church, a husband to his soul-mate Angie for 12+ years, and father to 3 children; Michelle, Autumn, and Gavin.

As Program Manager of the Contemporary A cappella League, he looks forward to helping YOU. @AcaFreqTom

TeKay (Thomas King) Program Manager: Ambassadors

TeKay was one of the first ambassadors for CASA back in the early '90s. He's a member of Contemporary A Capella League group DeltaCappella and served as a CAL-rep for SoJam. He's been a RARB reviewer for several years and is one of the sing series producers. Previously, he served on the Board of Directors for the Alliance of A Cappella Initiatives as a jack-of-all-trades and the Executive Producer of the Sing series of recordings. He was the Associate Editor of the Contemporary A Cappella News magazine for more than a decade and was the South Regional Producer of the ICCA from 1998-2004.

@acappellanews
@casa_ambassador

Amy Malkoff Program Manager: CASA Podcast
Program Manager: Web Content

Involved in a cappella since college (Kenyon College), Amy Malkoff is a founding member and bandleader of the group All About Buford, and she has appeared on stage and in the studio with such luminaries as Wayne Brady, Jonatha Brooke, The Persuasions, Ellis Paul, Vance Gilbert, GrooveLily, Patty Griffin, and Dar Williams. She has a degree in music from Kenyon College, with music studies at Youngstown State University and masters-level coursework at the New England Conservatory of Music.

Amy is a Certified Adjudicator and Producer for the International Championships of Collegiate and High School A Cappella, and was the launching editor-in-chief of CASA.org. She is a writer and designer (www.amymalkoff.com), as well as a singer/songwriter (www.amymalkoffmusic.com). Amy's music has appeared on both the Rounder Records and Hear Music/Starbucks labels. @amalkoff

Kate Pientka Program Manager: Sponsorship

Kate is a classically trained singer and instrumentalist who got her first taste of a cappella in high school. It was love at first song and she went on to found the Colgate University Dischords then continue with several other groups after graduation. She currently runs jam sessions for a cappella singers in the Atlanta area, is an ICCA and CARA judge, and arranges for various groups through FiboMusica. Kate holds her MBA from Emory University's Goizueta School of Business and after a decade of working with various organizations from non-profits to Fortune 100 companies she joins the CASA team to help connect businesses and organizations with the enthusiastic community of musicians CASA touches.