Board of Directors
Matt Herbst
President
Matt hadn't sung in an ensemble before coming to the chorus Sing Sing Sing program in 2015, but has been singing lead with Northwest Sound ever since. He was previously a member of the new member orientation team and the attendance administrator. He can occasionally be found singing with various small-time rock bands in the Seattle area. Outside of the realm of music, Matt is active with the United Way and has been known to bake cookies for the concert concession stand.
Keith Bankston
Immediate Past President
Keith Bankston has sung with Northwest Sound as a bass since 2018, after 2 years with Sing Sing Sing. His current official role is Immediate Past President, which basically means providing guidance for the new president and sage advice to the board. Away from Northwest Sound, Keith spends most of his time biking, volunteering with the MS Society, gardening, and making jam from the fruits of his garden.
Secretary
Lee is a very active member of Northwest Sound, joining in 2015 and singing lead. He has been a member of the chapter board, having served as Member at Large, and is currently Secretary. As Secretary he helps make sure that everyone’s registrations are up-to-date and processes new memberships. Lee is very recognizable because he also sets up the rehearsal video and recording equipment and sends the rehearsal out to the membership so everyone can review and members who can’t attend can keep up.
Daniel Iglarsh
Treasurer
Ed Dierdorff
VP Marketing, Northwest Sound
By the time Ed was eleven years old, his dad and his quartet the Tiki Tones were well-known Hawaiian fixtures and Ed was invited to join his Dad’s chorus. That was the Aloha Chapter in Honolulu where they attended together for the next nine years, traveling to district on the mainland several times. Ed sang with the Aloha Chapter until leaving the islands for college at the age of 20. During his college days, he joined and sang with both the Tacoma Totemaires and the Seattle Seacordsmen. He joined Northwest Sound in 2001. He also sings in a Seattle-based VLQ called “What’s Cookin’”.
Ed also serves as Evergreen District Historian. If you want to know anything about Evergreen history, ask Ed…he probably has it in his head, if not otherwise in his district archives.
Paul Renhard
Board Member at Large, Northwest Sound & Northwest Mix
Paul is in his third decade as a barbershopper. He sang with the Seattle Seachordsmen for ten years before moving to Northwest Sound where he has been a member ever since. Paul was a chapter officer with the Seachordsmen for much of his time there and has held offices with Northwest Sound including five years as President, Music Team, Planning Team, Logistics Team, and Riser Crew, among many others.
Steven Maurich
VP Membership - Northwest Sound
Dane Chevassus
Member at Large, Northwest Sound
Dane Chevassus serves as Board Member at Large. His music credentials include a BA in Musical Theatre, experience singing in school choirs and musical productions, and several years of singing with the Seattle Seachordsmen as well as Northwest Sound as a bass. Dane has also impressed on stage with two quartets: Buzz Boys and Blue Skies. He was brought into the barbershop style by a YouTube video of Crossroads singing "Lucky Old Sun" and has been inseparable from the form ever since. A Washington state native, Dane has never lived too far from home and is spending most of his non-singing time cooking, playing fantasy football, and thwarting his daughter's attempts to eat things she finds on the floor.
David Williams
VP Fund Raising
James Williams
Board Member at Large, Northwest Sound
Eileen Kelly-Meyer
VP Membership, Northwest Mix
Matt Astle
VP Music and Performance, Northwest Sound
Matt found Northwest Sound and barbershop in general through the "sing! Sing! SING!" program in 2011, soon after moving to the area, and has been hooked ever since.
Jim Civarra
VP Marketing, Northwest Mix
Jim is the rare Seattle native. He started barbershopping in a production of “The Music Man” back in 1971. He joined the Barbershop Society in 1983 while living in New Jersey and then returned to Seattle and joined the new Northwest Sound Men's Chorus in 1985. He has sung in a number of quartets including Pieces of Eight, which sang together for 21 years, and Premium Blend prior to singing with Vocal Vintage and In The Mix. In addition to barbershop and school and community choirs, Jim has sung in the Seattle Opera chorus and in over a dozen musical comedies and operettas. He has been Harold Hill in “The Music Man”, Daddy Warbucks in “Annie” and the Major General in “The Pirates of Penzance”.
Queenie Con
Board Member at Large, Northwest Mix
As the second of five siblings, Queenie grew up in Vancouver, Canada, in an immigrant home where she first heard classical music from after-school cartoons, pop songs from the Ed Sullivan Show, and Chinese opera from a scratchy record player. She fell in love with choral singing in the 9th grade. There under the direction of a beloved Polish music teacher, she honed her harmonizing skills in the first soprano section along with mostly Mennonite classmates. While working towards her teaching credentials, she also led her tiny church choir and even ventured a couple of wedding singer stints, one notably with her now-husband, Aaron. With the big family move to the Seattle area, she traded her job as head high school counselor for stay-at-home parent of three young children. Fast forward past many years of PTA, soccer team managing, singing alto in a 70-plus voice church choir, and serving in the kids' minstrel ministry, Queenie is back to singing soprano as a charter member of Northwest Mix and the newly formed quartet Mixed Meta 4. Now empty-nesters and new grandparents, she and Aaron love traveling, visiting their grown children, and singing silly songs with their two adorable granddaughters. They explore at least one new National Park each year where she can also hunt for old-timey machines that crank out park logos on pressed pennies. When not learning new music, Queenie finds extraordinary delight in word games, jigsaw puzzles, reading, golf, scrapbooking, and rocks.
