Vice President: Marci Daniels Rosenberg

Marci Daniels Rosenberg, BM, MS, CCC-SLP, is a voice and singing specialist at the University of Michigan Vocal Health Center where she has worked clinically to rehabilitate injured voices. A nationally recognized singing voice specialist, Rosenberg actively teaches workshops and lectures on vocal health, performance voice, managing vocal injuries, and application of kinesiology and exercise physiology principles to voice training. She has served on the faculty for Somatic Voicework The LoVetri method at the Contemporary Commercial Music Institute at Shenandoah Conservatory. Currently, she is a featured guest teacher at The New CCM Vocal Pedagogy Institute at Shenandoah.

She is co-author of the popular, internationally recognized singing science textbook The Vocal Athlete and its companion volume The Vocal Athlete: Application and Technique for the Hybrid Singer (Plural Publishing, 2014). Rosenberg is a founding member of the Pan American Vocology Association (PAVA), where she has actively served on the credentialing committee. In addition to her clinical activities, Rosenberg continues to perform and maintains a private voice consulting studio in the Ann Arbor area.

Membership Director: Amelia Rollings

Amelia Rollings holds a PhD in vocal pedagogy from the University of Kansas and an MM in voice performance and pedagogy from The Pennsylvania State University. Operatic and oratorio roles include the soprano soloist in Verdi’s Requiem, Third Norn in Wagner’s Götterdämmerung, Lady Billows in Britten’s Albert Herring, Magda Sorel in Menotti’s The Consul, and Witch in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. Musical theatre roles include Pirelli in Sweeney Todd, Bellomy in The Fantasticks, and Saraghina in Yeston’s Nine.

Rollings currently teaches in the Theatre & Dance Department at Western Kentucky University as assistant professor of musical theatre voice. Dr. Rollings was recently awarded the 2018 Van L. Lawrence Fellowship, an award given by The National Association of Teachers of Singing and The Voice Foundation.An active researcher in vocal pedagogy, she has presented her research in such refereed venues as The Voice Foundation Symposium, The International Phenomenon of Singing Symposium, The Singing Network, the Pan-American Vocology Association Symposium, the National Association of Teachers of Singing National Conference, the Fall Voice Conference, and the Ohio State Voice Forum. Her primary research interests include musical theatre voice pedagogy, group voice teaching, and the effects of shoe heel heights, head position, and jaw opening on acoustical and perceptual measures of singing efficiency. Her most recent publication on the effects of high-heeled shoes can be found in the Journal of Voice.

Treasurer: Tara Nixon

Tara Nixon, MM, MS, CCC-SLP, is a senior clinical speech-language pathologist and clinical singing voice specialist at Duke Voice Care Center and independent voice teacher from her studio in Durham, NC. She received dual master’s degrees from Appalachian State University in vocal performance and speech-language pathology, following a baccalaureate at New College of Florida. Passionate about sharing vocal health knowledge with singers from all walks of life, Nixon frequently presents on various aspects of singing voice rehabilitation and performs professionally as a classical soprano, jazz vocalist, and blues chanteuse. In 2017, Nixon was chosen to participate in the NATS Intern Program in Toronto. In addition to her involvement in NATS and PAVA, Nixon is also an active member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and the Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA).

Communications Director: Anna Hersey

A noted expert on Scandinavian music, soprano Anna Hersey was a Fulbright Scholar at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. Her articles have been published in the Journal of Singing, VOICEPrints, and The Opera Journal. Her first book, Scandinavian Song, was published by Rowman & Littlefield. Hersey completed the Vocal Pedagogy Certificate at the University of Minnesota, and has studied vocology with Johan Sundberg at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, and with Ingo Titze at the Summer Vocology Institute. She was the 2015 recipient of the NATS Pedagogy Award. She is an active member of professional organizations, and has presented at NATS, ACDA, NOA, MTNA, CMS, and PAVA conferences. She holds master’s degrees in performance and ethnomusicology from the University of Minnesota, and a DMA from the University of Miami. She is currently assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, and is editor-in-chief of VOICEPrints and lecture-recitals editor for the College Music Symposium.

Latin American Governor: Ana Flavia Zuim

Ana Flavia is an award-winning musical director, an accomplished conductor, pianist, singing health specialist, and electric bassist. She is a music assistant professor serving as director of vocal performance at Steinhardt School at NYU. She earned her bachelor's at State University of Londrina (UEL - 2003) in her native country, Brazil. She holds a master’s in piano performance (Lynn University, 2006), a doctorate fine and performing arts (Florida Atlantic University, 2012) and a vocology certificate (University of Utah, 2015). Prior to joining NYU, she served as director of contemporary voice at the Frost School of Music with a secondary appointment as lecturer of otolaryngology at the Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami. Among her credits are the Broadway musical Hamilton (rehearsal pianist), the Broadway Across America tours of Billy Elliot (associate conductor/vocal coach), and key’s sub on Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Matilda, Kinky Boots, The Wizard of Oz, Annie, and The Sound of Music.

Western Governor: Brian Manternach

Brian Manternach holds three degrees in voice performance, including a doctor of music degree from Indiana University, and has completed the first block of the Summer Vocology Institute. He has performed professionally in music theater, opera, and oratorio, and currently teaches studio voice to music theater majors and acting majors in a BFA degree program at the University of Utah, where he also teaches a singing voice class to acting majors. Previously, Manternach was a high school music teacher for seven years (choir, music theory, music theater) and directed choirs for churches of various denominations for more than a decade. He is associate editor for the Journal of Singing, a columnist for Classical Singer magazine, and has given peer-reviewed or invited national/international presentations for PAVA, NATS, the Voice Foundation, NCVS, the University of Utah Voice Disorders Center, and TEDxSaltLakeCity. He was recipient of the 2016 NATS Foundation Voice Pedagogy Award.

Canadian Governor: Melanie Tapson

Melanie Tapson is a singer and speech-language pathologist focused on voice care for professional voice users and performers and transgender voice and communication training. She holds a BFA in jazz voice, a BEd in senior vocal music/drama, and an MSc in SLP. She maintains multiple professional designations and a certificate in performing arts health from PAMA and ACSM.

Tapson keeps up with current research in therapeutic interventions for voice. She is an adjunct lecturer at the University of Toronto, lectures at the Glenn Gould School, and frequently gives workshops by invitation. Her twenty years as a professional performer, combined with her training and experience as an educator and SLP provides her with a unique perspective. She believes that treating the voice requires treating the whole person through a collaborative approach. She empathizes with the demands of the professional voice user’s schedule and lifestyle first-hand, and she fiercely advocates for preventative voice care. Tapson remains active singing in musical theatre productions and doing voiceover work.

Central Governor: Liz Johnson

Liz Johnson has a master’s degree in commercial vocal performance, a bachelor's degree in psychology, and also completed a Certificate in Vocology through the University of Utah and the National Center for Voice and Speech. She has been a professor of jazz voice at Vanderbilt University, held voice faculty positions at both Trevecca Nazarene and Belmont Universities, and currently teaches at the Nashville Jazz Workshop and owns her own business.

She primarily works in vocal habilitation, and is dedicated to bringing practical vocology tools to audiences and professional working singers across the US. She recently founded a blog for vocal practice as a way to disseminate free voice information that integrates psychology, vocal pedagogy, jazz and science, and she has created a YouTube series called “Interviews on Voice Matters.”