Board of Directors

TERM 2019-2022

TERM 2020-2023

TERM 2021-2024

Michael Burch-Pesses is Director of Bands at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, where he conducts the Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band, and teaches courses in conducting and music education. He holds Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in conducting from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. Since coming to Pacific University in 1995 he has received two awards for excellence in teaching, and in 2017 Pacific University named him a Distinguished University Professor. In 2018 the Oregon Music Educators Association gave him the John C. McManus Distinguished Teacher Award, the highest award Oregon bestows on a music educator.

He enjoyed a distinguished career as a bandmaster in the United States Navy before arriving at Pacific University. During his Navy career he served as Leader of the Naval Academy Band in Annapolis, Maryland, Assistant Leader of the Navy Band in Washington, DC, and Director of the Commodores, the Navy's official jazz ensemble.

Dr. Burch-Pesses also is the Conductor and Musical Director of the award-winning Oregon Symphonic Band, Oregon's premier adult band. In 2006 the band performed at the prestigious Midwest Clinic, and in 2007 the John Philip Sousa Foundation awarded the band the Sudler Silver Scroll, recognizing them as one of the outstanding community bands in the nation. Dr. Burch-Pesses is the author of “Canadian Band Music: A Qualitative Guide to Canadian Composers and Their Works for Band,” and is a regular contributor to the “Teaching Music Through Performance in Band” series from GIA Publications.

His professional affiliations include the American Bandmasters Association, National Band Association, Association of Concert Bands, Northwest Band Directors Association, Oregon Music Educators Association, and the National Association for Music Education. He is Past President of the Oregon Band Directors Association, and a founding member of the Oregon chapter of Phi Beta Mu.

Starting piano lessons before the first grade, Don picked up the trumpet in the 4th grade and continues as a performing musician (now on euphonium) in his busy retirement. Don completed his Bachelor of Music Education Degree (1965) and his MME (1968) at Indiana University. He led public school bands in Aurora, IL, from 1966-69, then he returned to Indiana University to earn a doctorate in Instructional Systems Technology (Ed.D., 1971). He became the Director of Instructional Media at Indiana Central University and played in a faculty brass group there. While in the Indianapolis area, he was the PR photographer for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra for five years and a bugling Scoutmaster for seven years.

Moving to Jackson, WY, in 1983, Don helped form a brass quintet, and he became the founding conductor of the Jackson Hole Community Band (JHCB) in 1989. He conducted the JHCB for its first seventeen years, usually in excess of twenty performances per year, and he frequently substitutes as the conductor since his retirement. In 1999 Don led the JHCB in performances at the Maastricht Easter Festival in the Netherlands. He conducted two church choirs in Jackson for a total of eleven years, and he taught at the local community college for eleven years. As a park ranger in Grand Teton N.P. (ten years) and at the National Elk refuge (ten years), he used his background in music and his technical editing and mixing skills to produce instructional videos and slide shows for training and public education. He plays his euphonium in ACB convention bands, Music at the Summit, the National Community Band, and the JHCB, exemplifying that the enjoyment of music is a lifetime activity. Don is the Wyoming membership coordinator for ACB and an avid volunteer for Habitat for Humanity.

Mr. Paul M. Furlong, a Western New York native, holds BFA and MFA degrees in Music Education from SUNY at Buffalo. Paul is a retired music educator from Eden Central Schools, having served as department chair  and director of the Junior High Band and High School Wind Ensemble. He maintains an active schedule as a performer of double reeds, particularly bassoon and contrabassoon, and low clarinets. He is on the board of several community ensembles. He is the current president of the Buffalo Niagara Concert Band (BNCB) and the Erie County Wind Ensemble (ECWE), holding tenure with BNCB as winner of the 2019 Sudler Silver Scroll Award. Additionally, he serves as personnel manager for BNCB and the Cheektowaga and Orchard Park Symphonies.

He has served as guest conductor of the Post 264 American Legion Band, Hamburg Village Band, the Amherst Chamber Ensembles, and as an All-County director in Niagara County. In 2017 he was appointed as Associate Conductor with BNCB. Mr. Furlong is principal bassoonist of the Buffalo Niagara Concert Band (BNCB), Cheektowaga Community Symphony Orchestra, Orchard Park Symphony, and Erie County Wind Ensemble. As a bassoonist, he is a founding member of the Metropolitan Woodwind Quintet, the "Reed My Lips" Double Reed Ensemble, BSNQ (a bassoon quartet/quintet). As a free-lance bassoonist and contrabassoonist he has performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic and Erie Philharmonic (PA) orchestras. He also founded Clarinets Unleashed!, a clarinet ensemble, where he plays contrabass clarinet. He was principal bassoonist with the American Legion Band of the Tonawanda's Post 264 for 41 years.

He has been bassoon soloist with BNCB, the American Legion Band, the Cheektowaga Community Symphony, the Erie County Wind Ensemble, Hamburg Village Band, and Orchard Park Symphony in addition to contrabassoon soloist with the Hamburg Village Band and Buffalo Niagara Band. He has performed professionally on bassoon and contrabassoon with the Erie (PA) Philharmonic and Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestras. In November 2013, he performed the premiere of his own wind band arrangement of the first movement of Stephen Frost’s Bassoon Concerto with the Buffalo Niagara Concert Band and performed it again at the Association of Concert Bands National Convention in Allentown, PA in March 2014.

Professional affiliations include the National Association for Music Education and New York State School Music Association (NAfME/NYSSMA), the American Federation of Musicians, and the International Double Reed Society. He is also a NYSSMA certified All-State Woodwind Adjudicator.

Colonel (ret) Larry H. Lang is currently the Executive Director of the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra. He has been a music executive, military commander, conductor, producer and educator. During his distinguished military career, Colonel Lang led five Air Force bands, culminating as Commander and Conductor of the United States Air Force's premier musical organization in Washington, DC, from 2012 to 2019. He has led events for five U.S. Presidents, numerous foreign dignitaries, Congressional leaders, senior Department of Defense officials, and served as a key advisor to Air Force senior leaders on the use of music to demonstrate excellence and build positive community and diplomatic relations around the globe.

Originally from El Paso, Texas, Lang is a graduate of New Mexico State University where he received Bachelor degrees in Music Performance (Trombone) and Music Education in 1980. He received his Master of Music Education degree from the University of New Hampshire in 1982 and joined the faculty there the same year. He went on to serve as the Assistant Director of Bands at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana from 1983 to 1989, where he led the 200-member Cowboy Marching Band and Symphonic Band and created and administered the McNeese Summer Music Camp. In 1990, he was offered a Doctoral Fellowship in Conducting from Florida State University and simultaneously won a conducting audition to become an Air Force bandleader. He deferred the doctoral program and chose to pursue a professional music career in the military, ultimately achieving the pinnacle conducting position in the United States Air Force.

Colonel Lang has produced and performed in multiple Emmy and Telly Award-winning productions for NBC, PBS, and many other broadcast organizations. Known for his innovation, he created several online music videos including the Air Force Band’s popular holiday “flashmobs” that became a viral sensation and reached over 75 million viewers worldwide. He has also been the Executive Producer for over 50 recordings in almost every music genre, released on several major labels and widely distributed on commercial streaming services.

In 2005, he was honored with membership in the prestigious American Bandmasters Association, the professional association of master conductors and composers; considered the highest honor achievable by an American bandsman. His musical leadership has been recognized three times by The John Philip Sousa Foundation with a Colonel George S. Howard Citation Award for Musical Excellence, the highest international award for military concert bands and conductors. He is in high demand as a conductor-clinician, conducting music ensembles around the globe, and has been a clinician for the New England Conservatory of Music Conductor's Forum, Shenandoah Conservatory Instrumental Conducting Symposium, and the National Band Association Young Conductors and Composers Mentor Project.

In 2007, Colonel Lang was presented the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, given to a select group of individuals whose accomplishments in their field and inspired service to our nation are cause for celebration. The Medal has been officially recognized by both Houses of Congress as one of our nation’s most prestigious awards and is annually memorialized in the Congressional Record. In 2008, he was presented the Distinguished Alumni Award by New Mexico State University and inducted into the Faculty Hall of Fame at McNeese State University.

Pam has been a member of ACB for 20 years and is honored to serve on the ACB board. She resides in her hometown, Quincy, Illinois. She received her B.S. at Quincy University and did her graduate work at the University of Iowa where she was a member of the Univ. of Iowa Symphony Band that experienced a 3 month State Department sponsored concert tour of Europe and Russia (8 countries & 36 concerts). A music educator (grades 4-12 & adjunct college) for 46 years, Pam is retired but continues to be actively involved teaching and performing clarinet and alto sax and plays euphonium in the Salvation Army Brass Band. Pam is Conductor Emeritus of the Quincy Park Band having been it’s Conductor for 20 years and associate conductor for eight years prior. Pam and the Quincy Park Band hosted the ACB Convention in 2005. In 2011 she was named the first recipient of the ACB Outstanding Conductor Award. She also was the Conductor of the NABBA award winning Mississippi River Brass Band, and conducted the Junior Honors Symphonic Bands in the New England Region Sousa National Honor Band, 2009 in Harvard, Massachusetts and 2014 in Gorham, Maine. She holds memberships in the Women Band Directors International, the Illinois Music Educators Association, National Association for Music Education, the National Catholic Band Association in which she has served two terms as President, and the John Philip Sousa Board of Directors. In 2004 she received the Studs Terkel Humanities Award from the Illinois Humanities Council.

Robert Pouliot is celebrating his 25th year as Music Director of the City of Fairfax Band Association and conductor of the Association’s flagship ensemble, the City of Fairfax Band (CFB). During this time, CFB has released four compact discs, secured appearances of world- renowned guest artists, commissioned multiple works by noted American composers and instituted the band’s annual Young Artist Competition, which to date has awarded more than $30,000 in scholarships to young Northern Virginia musicians.
Under his leadership, the City of Fairfax Band was invited to perform for the 1996 national convention of the National Band Association and the 2014 ACB Convention in Allentown, PA and hosted the 2002 Association of Concert Bands Convention in Fairfax, Virginia. In 2004, the City of Fairfax Band was awarded the John Philip Sousa Foundation Sudler Silver Scroll Award. In a commitment to expanding community music opportunities and recognizing the organization’s relationship to educational activities, his term as Music Director has seen the City of Fairfax Band Association grow to include two adult ensembles, multiple smaller satellite ensembles and a youth winds division.
A Rhode Island native, Pouliot received his Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees from the University of Connecticut at Storrs, where he studied conducting with Larry Rachleff, Gene Young, and Jerome Laszloffy. In 1984, he founded Connecticut’s Northeast Chamber Ensemble, a group dedicated to performing works written for chamber winds and small orchestral ensembles. Accepting a commission in the U.S. Air Force in 1986, he served as a band officer and spent the next seven years conducting Air Force concert and jazz bands on community and international relations tours in 15 states and in Central and South America. He served as Deputy Commander of the Military Airlift Command Band, Commander/Conductor of the Air Force Band of the East and Executive Officer of The United States Air Force Band in Washington, D.C. His time in the Air Force included a nationally televised performance on ABC’s Good Morning America celebrating the Fourth of July, and performances honoring former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. His military decorations include the Air Force Commendation Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal.
He is a recipient of the National Band Association’s Citation of Excellence and in 2015 was honored with the “John Mason Arts Achievement Award” which recognizes individuals who have made a significant contribution to the development of the arts within the City of Fairfax, Virginia community. In 2018 he was awarded the Association of Concert Bands Outstanding Conductor Award.
Bob and his wife, Louise, split their time between their home in Alexandria, Virginia and their new home in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.

Tom Seaton 
Roseville, CA
e-mail
2020-2022
*appointed to complete term

Tom Seaton has been the music director of the Rancho Cordova River City Concert Band since 2003. He is a 1990 graduate of California State University Northridge. As a performance major, he studied clarinet with Dr. Charles Bay and performed under the batons of Dr. David Whitwell and Mr. Gary Pratt.

Mr. Seaton earned his Master of Science in Arts and Letters Degree in 1998 through the American Band College at Southern Oregon University. Through ABC, Mr. Seaton has had the opportunity to play under the batons of Dr. Frederick Fennell, Dr. Alfred Reed, Elliot Del Borgo, Frank Erickson, Robert W. Smith, Col. Arnald Gabriel, Dr. Peter Loel Boonshaft, Col John R. Bourgeois (former US Marine Band conductor) and other European composers such as Johan de Meij, Jan van der Roost and Australian Composer Ralph Hultgren. He has also had the opportunity to work with Michael Levine and the Dallas Brass for the Nutcracker Project in 1999. Tom was co-chairman of the committee for the Rancho Cordova River City Concert Band in hosting the 37 th Annual Association of Concert Bands convention held in Rancho Cordova and in May of 2018, Tom was a clinician at the 40th anniversary convention for the Association of Concert Bands teaching on small ensembles. Most recently Tom has been a member of the ACB Convention Committee, helping design, create and launch the ACB Connects! Live Zoom presentations. Mr. Seaton has been a music educator since 1990 and is currently teaching 7-12th grade music at Creative Connections Arts Academy in North Highlands, CA.

The ACB has been a big part of Jan's life for 30 years. She has attended all but two conventions and served three board terms and will begin her fourth at VA Beach Convention. As a Life Member, I believe in the organization and promote it consistently. At several conventions Turnage established and led the Round Table Clinics which were well received. Turnage is a Regional Membership Chair for AZ, NM, and UT. For over 36 years she helped organize and manage several community bands including the Plano Concert Band, the San Jose Wind Symphony and am co-founder of the Coastal Communities Concert Band. I have also set up groups for nonprofit status, bylaws, handbooks, and worked with directors and Marketing/Board to prepare new seasons. As Executive Director of the San Jose Wind Symphony, I submitted information for the Sudler Silver Scroll Award, performances at WASBE in Switzerland and San Jose, CA and three performances at ACB conventions. My duties also included planning many seasons of five to six formal concerts per year, and contracting all guest artists. I truly believe in music for life!