Richard James Burgess - Director Marketing and Sales
Richard Burgess brings 30 years of international music business experience to Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. He has been a producer/engineer, artist manager, consultant to major labels, record producer, major label recording artist, studio musician, and independent record label and artist booking agency owner in the UK, Europe, Australasia, and the United States with 14 hit albums and 24 four hit singles. He is the author of the book, The Art of Music Production, and lectures on the subject of record production and the music business. He was educated at Berklee College of Music, Boston, and Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. He played with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Great Britain and has won awards from Music Week (UK Producers Award), British Arts Council, Park Lane Group, and the Greater London Arts Association. Back to Staff List.
Betty Beuck Derbyshire - Financial Operations Manager
BettyDerbyshire has almost 30 years experience at the Smithsonian, the last eight as Financial Operations Manager for Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. During her career at the Smithsonian she has held various positions including Deputy Assistant Secretary for Administration, Associate Director of the Office of Information Resource Management (now Office of the Chief Information Officer), Administrative Specialist for the Office of Folklife Programs, and Logistics Specialist for the Division of Performing Arts. She has been recognized throughout her tenure with a variety of awards, most notably the Robert A. Brooks Award for Excellence in Administration and a James Webb Fellowship that led to her M.P.A. degree. She has served as Acting Ombudsman for the Smithsonian and was a charter member of the Board of Directors of the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center, now serving as Treasurer. She also has worked at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the American Film Institute, and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Back to Staff List.
Laura Dion - Sales Specialist
Laura Dion brings over 15 years of music sales and marketing including the World Music label Putumayo. Her experience includes being an active member in NARM and AFIM and has worked on behalf of several independent music distribution companies including: Burnside, Select-O-Hits, K-Tel, Eclipse, Madacy, Startup Marketing, MDI, Midwest Artists, Southern Music, Big Daddy, and Qualiton. She was also involved in artist development before coming to Smithsonian Folkways. She resides in Florida with her husband, daughter and two cats. Back to Staff List.
Toby Dodds - Technology Director
Toby Dodds joined the Center staff as Technology Director in April 2001. Prior to coming to the Smithsonian he was employed by the Experience Music Project, a music museum in Seattle, as a programmer. While there he helped produce and maintain their award-winning Web site. He holds an undergraduate degree in philosophy from the University of Washington, and studied ethnomusicology and fine art photography along the way. Back to Staff List.
Henri Goodson -
Mark Gustafson - Marketing Specialist
Mark Gustafson joined the Folkways staff in 2002 with almost ten years of experience in music marketing and promotions. He has worked for a record label in Atlanta and for Koch Entertainment, where he handled field marketing and promotions. He lives in Baltimore, where he was born and raised. Back to Staff List.
David Horgan - eMarketing Specialist
Helen Lindsay - Lead Customer Service Representative
Helen Lindsay has worked at Smithsonian Folkways Recordings since November 1999. Her duties in Mail Order include quality control for all domestic and international orders. Previously she was employed by Meeting Management Services as Administrative Assistant to the Vice President of Operations and Registration Coordinator for three years. She considers being a foster parent to her niece one of the most challenging and rewarding jobs in her life. Back to Staff List.
Julian Lynch -
Keisha Martin - Manufacturing and Inventory Coordinator
Keisha Martin joined the Folkways staff in 2005 after volunteering at the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian. Originally from Jamaica, Martin has also lived in New York City and North Carolina, where she received a B.A. in art from the University of North Carolina. Back to Staff List.
Mary Monseur - Production Manager
Mary Monseur came to the Center in 1993 as a Festival volunteer. Following an internship, she served as assistant to the Festival Director in 1994 and continued on as Assistant to the Director and Curator of Smithsonian Folkways. In 1995 she began working on CD productions for Smithsonian Folkways. Together with her colleagues at the label, she has worked with scholars and artists worldwide to produce more than 200 recordings. She holds a B.A. in cultural anthropology from the University of Arizona and an M.A. in English with a folklore concentration from George Mason University. Back to Staff List.
Margot Nassau - Royalties and Licensing Manager
Margot Nassau came to the Smithsonian from the San Francisco Bay area, where she worked in artist management for a decade, representing American blues and "roots" artists. She started her career at a major symphony orchestra after graduating from Tulane University in New Orleans with degrees in business management and music. At Folkways, she focuses on royalties, licensing, copyright, and contracts. Back to Staff List.
Jeff Place - Archivist
Jeff Place has been the archivist for the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections at the Center since coming from the Library of Congress American Folklife Center in 1988. He has overseen the cataloging of the Center's collections. He has a master's in library science from the University of Maryland and specializes in sound archives. He is currently on the Preservation and Technology Committee for the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and the advisory board for the Woody Guthrie Archives. He has been involved in the compilation of 29 CDs for Smithsonian Folkways including Woody Guthrie's Long Ways to Travel: The Unreleased Folkways Masters, which won him the 1994 Brenda McCallum Prize from the American Folklore Society, the Asch Recordings of Woody Guthrie, and the Lead Belly Legacy Series. Place has been nominated for four Grammy Awards and 10 Indie Awards, winning two Grammys and five Indies. He was one of the producers and writers of the acclaimed 1997 edition of the Anthology of American Folk Music and the Best of Broadside, 1962-1988 (2000). Place has overseen the recording of a number of regional folk festivals in addition to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. He was a member of the curatorial team for the traveling Woody Guthrie exhibition, This Land Is Your Land, and the co-curator of the 2003 Appalachia program at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. He has been a collector of traditional music for over 35 years. Back to Staff List.
Pete Reiniger - Sound Production Supervisor
Pete Reiniger's affiliation with the Smithsonian dates from 1973, when he was on the Festival technical crew. He served as Technical Director for the Festival from 1975 to 1977 and from 1991 until 1999. During the 1990s he also became involved with Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. He is now Sound Production Supervisor and chief engineer for Smithsonian Folkways and has been involved in numerous award-winning recordings. He has been twice nominated for a Grammy, winning one for his work on the Anthology of American Folk Music. Professional affiliations include the Audio Engineering Society (AES), the Washington Area Music Association (WAMA), and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS). He is currently on the Board of Governors for the DC Chapter of NARAS. Back to Staff List.
Amy Schriefer - Production Coordinator
Amy Schriefer joined Folkways in 2004. She has a B.A. in Gender Studies from American University and did graduate work at George Washington University, where she received an M.A. in Women's Studies and a degree in public health. She has worked as a counselor at Planned Parenthood of DC and as a public health researcher for ORC Macro. While at George Washington, she worked as a direct mail coordinator for Annual Giving Programs and as a major gift prospect researcher. Originally from Erie, PA, Amy now works from San Francisco, CA where she lives with her pug dog. Back to Staff List.
Anthony Seeger - Curator Emeritus
Anthony Seeger is an anthropologist, ethnomusicologist, archivist, and musician. He received his B.A. from Harvard University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Chicago. His research has concentrated on the music of Amazonian Indians in Brazil, where he lived for nearly 10 years between 1970 and 1982, for much of that time a member of the Graduate Faculty of the Department of Anthropology at the National Museum, in Rio de Janeiro. He also participated in establishing an M.A. program in musicology and ethnomusicology at the Brazilian Conservatory of Music. While living in Brazil he was elected President of the Pro-Indian Commission of Rio de Janeiro, a Brazilian Indian rights activist group, and served as Chairman of the Department of Anthropology of the National Museum as well as Coordinator of its graduate program. In 1982 he returned to the United States as Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Indiana University Archives of Traditional Music. In 1988 he moved to the Smithsonian Institution to assume the direction of Folkways Records and to become the curator of the archival collections of the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. He has held executive positions in a number of professional organizations, including the Society for Ethnomusicology (President, 1989- 1991) and the International Council for Traditional Music (President, 1997-1999). He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1993. In 2000 he accepted a position as Professor in the Department of Ethnomusicology at the University of California at Los Angeles, and was appointed Curator Emeritus at the Smithsonian. Seeger is the author of four books and over 50 articles on anthropological, ethnomusicological, archival, intellectual property, and Indian rights issues. Among the books are Nature and Society in Central Brazil: The Suyá Indians of Mato Grosso (Harvard University Press, 1981); Early Field Recordings: A Catalogue of the Wax Cylinder Recordings at the Indiana University Archives of Traditional Music (Indiana University Press, 1987); and Why Suyá Sing: A Musical Anthropology of an Amazonian People (Cambridge University Press, 1987). Back to Staff List.
Daniel Sheehy - Director and Curator
Before joining the Smithsonian in 2000, Dan Sheehy was staff ethnomusicologist and Director of Folk & Traditional Arts at the National Endowment for the Arts. In recent years, he has published chapters on regional music of Mexico in Musics of Multicultural America, Music in Latin American Culture, and The Garland Handbook of Latin American Music, and he co-edited the 1100-page South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean volume 2 of The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. In addition, he has been an active professional musician for over 30 years, specializing in Mexican mariachi music. He holds a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from UCLA. Back to Staff List.
Ronnie Simpkins - Audio Recording Specialist
Ronnie Simpkins joined Smithsonian Folkways Recordings in 1996, serving in Mail Order before taking over duties as dubbing engineer for the archival collection. Back to Staff List.
John Smith - Sales and Marketing Specialist
John Smith joined the Smithsonian Folkways staff in May 1999. He brings over 12 years of music industry experience to the Center, as his previous work in Seattle included music buyer for an independent music store, account service representative for KOCH International, a nightclub DJ, and Music Director at KBCS 91.3 FM Bellevue/Seattle, WA. Smith also ran his own promotions company, whose clients included Capitol Records and Almo Records. Much of his free time is spent volunteering as a radio producer and programmer at his local community radio station. Back to Staff List.
Stephanie Smith - Assistant Archivist
Stephanie Smith came to the Center in 1995, where she has served as the Center's photo archivist and worked on the Center's Web sites. Smith earned master's and Ph.D. degrees in Scottish ethnology from the University of Edinburgh, and a master's degree in library science from the University of North Carolina. Her research specialties are English country dance, Scottish and Appalachian folk music and dance traditions, and the British folk revival. She currently co-directs the English Country Dance Video Documentation Project with Daniel Walkowitz of New York University, working with the Center's Charles Weber on the production of a documentary film. Smith is the Convener of the American Folklore Society Dance and Movement Analysis Section, and she serves on the boards of the Country Dance and Song Society and Pinewoods Camp, Inc. in Massachusetts. In her spare time, Smith is a community dance caller and organizer, likes to play music, is an avid Jane Austen fan, and enjoys meditation and travel. Back to Staff List.
D. A. Sonneborn - Associate Director
D.A. Sonneborn, who holds a Ph.D. in music (ethnomusicology), wrote new music for theater, film, and dance in the United States and Western Europe. He managed productions and artists in addition to producing concerts, festivals, and albums. His articles, reviews, and photos appear in The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music and scholarly journals. Sonneborn co-authored (with drummer Mickey Hart and Professor Fredric Lieberman) Planet Drum (Harper San Francisco, 1991), is a member of ICTM and SEM, chair of SEM's Audio-Visual Publication Committee and a founding member of its Applied Ethnomusicology Committee. His research interests include intentionality in music performance, music and ritual, and folk music of the Veneto (Italy). Back to Staff List.