The Board

 

The AmSAT Mission

To establish the Alexander Technique as a basic and recognized resource for health, productivity, and well-being.

AmSAT Board of Directors 2023-2024

Lisa DeAngelis

Chair

Lisa DeAngelis

Email Lisa

  • AmSAT Chair - June 2023 - present
  • AmSAT Chair Elect: July 2022 - June 2023
  • Board of Directors, Member-at-Large: July 2019 - July 2022
  • AmSAT Chair, Management Review Committee: 2015 - present
  • Organizer/Assistant to the Directors of the 9th International AT Congress, Limerick, Ireland, 2015
  • Organizer/Assistant, Presence in Performance Workshop, Pomona College, Pasadena, CA, 2015
  • Faculty Member, Alexander Technique with Elm City ChamberFest in New Haven, CT, 2015-2017
  • Organizer/Teacher, Alexander Technique Workshops International in Malibu, CA and Winston-Salem, NC 2013-2015
  • Organizational Coordinator for Rachel Zahn's "Experiencing the Embodied Mind" Project in Gargonza, Italy, 2013
  • AmSAT Chair, ACGM and ACGM Planning Committee, Chicago, 2013
  • AmSAT Certified Alexander Technique Training with Joan and Alex Murray at Alexander Technique Center Urbana (ATCU) 2009
  • Private teaching practice in Chicago since 2010
  • Co-founder, Chicago Alexander Teachers (CAT)
  • President, Lyric Opera of Chicago's Young Professionals Board, 2017-present 
  • BME in Music Education (Voice) from University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign

Geordie MacMInn

Past Chair

Geordie MacMInn

Email Geordie

  • AmSAT Past Chair - June 2023 - present
  • AmSAT Chair: July 2022 - June 2023
  • AmSAT Chair Elect: July 2021 - July 2022
  • AmSAT Training Course Approval Committee Member: August 2020-July 2021
  • AmSAT Higher Education & Professional Training Committee Chair, September 2003-June 2010
  • Professor of Voice & Alexander Technique, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, School of Drama, 2003 - Present. 
  • 2013 University of North Carolina Board of Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching
  • Alexander Technique Certified from ATI-LA, June 2001
  • Designated Linklater Voice Teacher, 2007
  • Jessica Wolf’s The Art of Breathing, Certified Teacher 2003
  • Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, expected completion 2022
  • Other trainings and modalities of practice: Psychodrama, Psychodramatic Bodywork, The Actor’s Secret with Betsy Polatin, Michael Checkov Acting Technique, Pure Movement, post-graduate training with John Nicholls 
  • B.A. Theatre Arts, Acting: California State University Fullerton, 1998

Eleanor Taylor

Chair Elect

Eleanor Taylor

Email Eleanor

  • AmSAT Chair Elect, June 2023 - present
  • AmSAT Board Member-at-Large: 2021
  • AmSAT Committee for the Alexander Technique in the Performing Arts (CATPA): 2018-present
  • AmSAT Marketing Committee: Head of Strategic Brand Initiative Team 2020-present
  • AmSAT Slogan Committee: 2019-2020 (committee retired upon completion of charge)
  • Faculty at Riverside Initiative for the Alexander Technique (RIAT) AmSAT Teacher-Training Course, 2017-present
  • Alexander Technique Faculty at Manhattan School of Music, American Academy of Dramatic Arts and Respiro Opera
  • Completed Teacher Training at ATNYC with John Nicholls and Nanette Walsh, 2014
  • Post-graduate training in Jessica Wolf’s Art of Breathing and Betsy Polatin’s The Actor’s Secret methods
  • B.M. Vocal Performance from New England Conservatory (1993) and M.M. Vocal Performance from University of Minnesota (Graduate Fellowship Recipient, 2000)

Marisa de Silva

Secretary

Marisa de Silva

email Marisa

  • AmSAT Secretary: June 2023 - present 
  • AmSAT Treasurer: July 2015-2016
  • AmSAT Board Member-at-Large: July 2014 - 2015
  • AmSAT Nominating Committee Member: 2011 - 2014
  • AmSAT Teacher Certification: Alexander Technique Urbana 2009 
  • Faculty, Loyola Marymount University: Voice, Alexander Technique, Opera 2015- present
  • DMA USC Thornton School of Music 2019
  • Other interests: Being a mom, Historic gestures in Baroque opera, Music Performance Anxiety, Vocal Pedagogy

 

Jared Negley, Member-at-Large

Jared Negley, Member-at-Large

Email Jared

  • AmSAT Board, Member-at-Large, July 2023–present
  • AmSAT Archivist, July 2018 - present
  • Alexander Technique Liberation Project, Volunteer Organizing Team, 2019 - 2022
  • Guest lecturer in Musician’s Health Class, Slippery Rock University, 2018 - present
  • AmSAT Teacher Certification, ATNYC with John Nicholls and Nanette Walsh, 2013
  • M.A. in Jazz History and Research, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ
  • M.S. in Library and Information Science, The Pratt Institute, New York, NY
  • B.A. in Music, Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, PA
 
 

 

Erin O'Leary, Member at Large

Erin O'Leary, Member at Large

Email Erin

  • AmSAT Board, Member-at-Large, July 2021–present
  • AmSAT Committee for AT and the Performing Arts (CATPA); 2017-present
  • AmSAT certified, ATNYC (J. Nicholls / N. Walsh); 2013
  • Private teaching practice in NYC; 2013-present
  • Guest Faculty at National Theater Institute, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center; 2019-present
  • Adjunct Faculty at The Juilliard School, Drama Division; 2015-present 
  • Associate Faculty at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts; 2015-present
  • Guest Faculty at University of TN, Dept of Theater and School of Music; 2013-2015
  • MFA Acting-  The University of Tennessee, Clarence Brown Theater, Knoxville, TN
  • BFA Acting- DePaul University, Theater School, Chicago, IL

 

Alice Olsher, Member-at-Large

Alice Olsher, Member-at-Large

email Alice

  • AmSAT Board of Directors Member-at-Large, June 2023 - present
  • Grew up in California where she did theatre in high school. She then studied and worked in the theatre in England.
  • Trained to teach the Alexander Technique at the Constructive Teaching Centre in London with Walter and Dilys Carrington.and taught with them for 15 years before returning to California.
  • In London Alice served on both the Training Course Committee and the Professional Conduct Committee for 7 years.
  • Alice became Director of her own teacher training course in San Diego (2008) where she was assisted by Rome Earle and Eileen Troberman gave Anatomy talks
  • Alice also does a lot of postgraduate teaching both in person and online and has been an active member of The Teacher Training Directors committee.
  • In 2017 Alice was chair of the ACGM committee.
  • In 2019 she helped on the ACGM committee and mentored the chair, Renee Schneider.
  • Alice had also offered workshops and private lessons at many ACGMs and joined the Constructive Teaching Centre team at the Chicago Congress in 2018 and 2022 in Berlin.
  • She has given talks for Huddle and The Judith Leibowitz Scholarship Fund.