David Kauffman is currently the Senior Manager of the Apex Arts Magnet program in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. For over 30 years, he has served in various roles as an educator, clinician, adjudicator, guest conductor, performer, promoter, businessman, and elected official.

Performance credits as a saxophonist include Aretha Franklin, Louie Bellson, and The Dells. He was the founder of the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Jazz Orchestra, a collegiate honors band whose performance credits include Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and the Jazz Education Network National Conference in New Orleans. For eight years, he hosted a weekly jazz radio program, “Searching for Birdland,” on NPR Affiliate WFWM.

Kauffman has also supervised teacher interns for Towson University and the University of Maryland Baltimore County and has been director of the Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra’s Jazz
Combo since 2021. He is the President of the Jazz Education Network, and has served on the organization’s Board of Directors since 2019. He was a member of the National Association for Music
Education’s Council for Jazz Education from 2013 to 2022 and served as its chair from 2018 to 2022.

He has received numerous awards over the years for his work as an educator and community engagement, and was recently inducted in the Maryland Music Educators Hall of Fame.

John Kimble serves as the Band Director at Lincoln Middle School and Assistant Band Director at Lincoln High School in Shinnston, West Virginia. Mr. Kimble holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from West Virginia University and a Master of Music in Music Education from the University of Florida.

Recognized as the 2019 Braxton County Teacher of the Year, Kimble has been honored to work with colleagues and students across the Mountain State.

Kimble has recently guest-conducted the Southern West Virginia and Glenville State
University Honor Bands. Additionally, Mr. Kimble is a proud member of NAfME
and WVMEA. Above all, Kimble is passionate about inspiring the next generation of students to believe in themselves, support one another, and become lifelong learners of music.

Outside the band room, Mr. Kimble enjoys family outings to the park with his wife and two daughters, as well as streaming his favorite movies on Disney+.