Leadership

Karl Berger, PhD, is co-founder and artistic director of the Creative Music Studio, the nonprofit he established in 1971 with Ornette Coleman and Ingrid Sertso. Berger is a musician, educator, composer, arranger, conductor and author.

Mike Gassmann practiced law in Washington, D.C. for thirty-five years, mostly as partner and of counsel with Drinker Biddle & Reath. He specialized in corporate, litigation and insurance law and retired at the end of 2013. Mike is a graduate of the University of Virginia (B.A. 1975) and Harvard Law School (J.D. 1978). He has been involved in music most of his life, and plays guitar regularly with jazz and improvisational groups in the Washington, D.C. area and New York City.

Hollis Headrick is a consultant for arts, education and philanthropic organizations and his clients have included Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), League of American Orchestras, and Lincoln Center Education. From 2003-06 he was the Director of the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall; he was founding Executive Director of the Center for Arts Education (CAE) 1996-2003 and from 1990-96 he was Director of the Arts in Education Program, New York State Council on the Arts. He has a B.A. from the University of Missouri and attended the Berklee College of Music, New England Conservatory, and Creative Music Studio. He plays drums with jazz, pop, and theatre groups in the US and Europe.

Ilene Marder Hinchey has worked in media, communications, politics and the arts for more than 40 years. Highlights of her career include: being spokesperson/press director for the Woodstock Music Festivals 1994/1999; State Capitol political reporter for WCBS News Radio 88; and becoming one of NYC’s most in-demand Argentine Tango DJs. She was the first student of Creative Music Studio/Woodstock and its administrative coordinator for its first seven years. She is married to the Honorable Maurice Hinchey, a retired U.S. congressman from the Hudson Valley.

William Horberg is a film producer whose company Wonderful Films is located in Kingston, NY. Among his many producing credits are Searching For Bobby Fischer, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Milk, The Kite Runner, Cold Mountain, The Quiet American, Black Nativity and Disconnect, as well as The Promise starring Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac. He is currently Chair of the Producers Guild of America East, and was previously president of Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, partner with Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella at Mirage Productions, and a Senior Vice President at Paramount Pictures. Horberg is a flute player who studied performance and composition at the Berklee College Of Music.

Stuart Leigh worked with CMS from 1981 to 1983 recording concerts and conversations with its guiding artists for public radio presentation. From 1984 he has worked in audio and video for education and social development both in the US and overseas – widely across Africa and in the Philippines. Since 2008, he has evaluated numerous education projects funded by US Agency for International Development. He plays guitar with ever increasing focus as a lifelong-learning musician. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.

Rick Maurer is an adviser to leaders in large organizations on ways to build support for change in their organizations. He is author of many books, including Beyond the Wall of Resistance. He has a bachelor’s degree in music, a master’s in education, and significant post-graduate work in organizational psychology. In addition to his consulting practice, he is a part-time jazz musician and performs regularly in DC and NYC.

Ingrid Sertso is a co-founder of the Creative Music Studio. A vocalist and poet, she has performed on numerous recordings, including her own, and teaches vocal workshops around the world.

Mitch Van Dusen  is an entrepreneur by day and a musician by night, inspired by the lifestyle of visionary composer and insurance salesman, Charles Ives. As an entrepreneur, he creates innovative interactive educational programs. As a musician, he pursues the mastery of improvisation, firstly on the piano, but also on the seperewa, a buzzing Ghanaian harp, played by only a handful of musicians around the world. His musical experiences have pursued diversity, from smashing pianos with sledgehammers to singing baritone in a 300-person choir at Carnegie Hall. He received a BFA in jazz performance and a BA in cultural studies from the New School.