Chapter Election 2024
Below are those individuals running for a seat on the Executive Committee of the Worcester Chapter, American Guild of Organists. Voting is open from April 1-May 1, 2024.
Candidate for DEAN (2-year term):
Randy Steere holds MM and MDiv degrees from the Yale University Institute of Sacred Music. He has served on Executive Committees of both Hartford and Merrimack Valley AGO chapters and is currently the treasurer of the Merrimack Valley chapter. Randy has held both full and part-time Director of Music positions in various Protestant churches over the years. He has presented numerous sessions for AGO chapters, been a consultant to churches, taught at the community and undergraduate levels, and concertized widely. After successfully running his own software and consulting company for 20 years, Randy recently retired to concentrate on supporting the cause of organ and church music.
Candidate for SUB-DEAN (2-year term):
Kevin Neel enjoys a versatile career as organist, collaborative pianist, conductor, and singer. Originally from the Charlotte, NC area, he made his way to New England for graduate school at Boston University (Choral Conducting) after earning a BM at Indiana University (Organ Performance). Having previously served as Organist and Chapel Choir Director at Emmanuel Church in Boston from 2015-2021, he now is Director of Music and Organist at All Saints Episcopal Church in Worcester, where he directs the All Saints Choir (choristers and adults), manages the Music Series, oversees music education programs, plays the Rice Memorial Organ (IV/132 Aeolian Skinner Op. 909), and collaborates with Worcester-area music and arts organizations. As an AGO member, he has served in multiple capacities, most recently having served as a member of the Executive Committee in the Worcester chapter. He has also served on the National Nominating Committee and served as the first Convener for AGOYO (AGO Young Organists). He has been heard at the organ in numerous venues including Symphony Hall (Boston), Old South Church, Emmanuel Church, Trinity Church Copley, Old West Church, Methuen Memorial Music Hall, as well as numerous venues in the southeast. He also has appeared as organ and piano accompanist for multiple choral ensembles in the New England area, and looks forward to working with more Worcester music colleagues!
Candidate for SECRETARY (2-year term):
Robert Potterton III has served the Worcester Chapter as Secretary (2022-present), Webmaster (2018-present), and Member-At-Large (2018-2022). A New England native, he has been an active keyboardist, composer/arranger, and conductor for 25 years, including work at eight parishes across five denominations in three states. He became a member of the AGO in 2002 and served the Northeastern Connecticut Chapter as Dean and Webmaster from 2007-2012. Robert completed a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition & Organ Performance at Houghton College (NY) and Master of Sacred Music & Master of Sacred Theology degrees at Boston University, as a student of Peter Sykes. He is currently Minister of Music & the Arts at Christ Church (Episcopal) in Fitchburg and resides in Spencer with his wife, Carissa, and children, Adam (10) and Kimberly (6).
Candidate for TREASURER (2-year term):
Kristjon Imperio
Candidate for MEMBER-AT-LARGE, REGISTRAR (2-year term):
Deborah Page has been a member of the Worcester AGO for 23 years. She has studied organ with Dr. Marjorie Ness and William Ness. Presently, she is the organist at the Barre Congregational Church, a position Deb has held for 20 years. Deb retired from teaching special education in 2021. In her spare time, she accompanies the Hubbardston Swinging Singing Seniors and is an adjunct professor for Fitchburg State University. Deb resides in Gardner with her husband Charlie. Together they share 4 children, 6 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren.
Candidate for MEMBER-AT-LARGE (2-year term):
Stan Hanson earned a Bachelor of Music degree in organ performance at the University of Akron where he studied organ with Farley K. Hutchins and Richard Shirey. He also studied piano with Arthur Reginald and Marian Lott. For several years prior to graduation he was assistant to Robert Quade at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Akron. He has also studied organ with Max Miller at Boston University. He has studied improvisation with Otto Kramer at Westminster Choir College, and participated in a Mildred Andrews week at Colby Institute of Church Music. He is also earned a Leadership Program in Music certificate in a course of study sponsored nationally by the Lutheran and Episcopal churches. He has performed locally as accompanist for the Worcester Youth Chorus, the Youth Pro Musica, and performed the organ part of the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony with the Symphony Pro Musica a number of years ago. He has held a variety of church music positions locally, and has been music director at St. Stephen Lutheran Church in Marlborough, MA for the past 15 years. His latest public performance was at the Worcester AGO’s REGER 150 celebration.
Candidate for MEMBER-AT-LARGE (2-year term):
Johnna Renée Ross began her organ studies in the Worcester area as a teenager, won first prize in the American Guild of Organist’s Region I Young Organists competition and was a featured artist in two AGO national conventions (New York City and Dallas) before enrolling in the IU Jacobs School of Music (Bloomington, IN) where she studied harpsichord and obtained a B.Mus. in performance. Johnna is a passionate teacher, performer and devoted church musician. She is currently a piano and organ instructor at the Nashua Community Music School and recently joined the faculty of the Young Organist Collaborative, based in Portsmouth, NH. Johnna has twice performed in the First Music Concert series at First Church in Nashua where she enjoys introducing students to the 60-rank Anderson Memorial pipe organ. In 2020 Johnna served as interim organist for First Baptist Church, Worcester. She performs regularly at One Church in Bedford, NH and serves as a substitute organist throughout southern New Hampshire.
Candidate for MEMBER-AT-LARGE (2-year term):
Dan Moriarty lives and works at Groton School in Groton, Massachusetts. In a chapel designed by noted architect Henry Vaughan, Dan directs the choirs and plays daily services on the school’s 1935 Aeolian Skinner. In the summer months, Dan is the Organist of St. John’s Church on Fishers Island, home to Bigelow’s opus 42, built in 2018. Prior to his appointment to Groton, Dan was Music Director at St. Stephen’s Church in Richmond, Virginia. Both at St. Stephen’s and previously as Director of Music at Church of the Redeemer in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, Dan founded and directed choirs for children. His first appointment after graduating from the Curtis Institute of Music was to St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York City where he was Associate Organist and founding Director of St. Bartholomew’s Boy and Girl Choristers. His principal teachers have been John Binsfeld, John Weaver, Ford Lallerstedt, Peter Sykes and Barry Rose. Dan also serves as the chapter’s appointed liaison to The American Organist magazine.
