Photos are of:
Joe Lamond, President and CEO, NAMM
Mary L. Luehrsen, Executive Director, The NAMM Foundation
Before there was an industry or an association, there was a belief…in music. That belief led to a mission: to unify, lead and strengthen the global music products industry and increase active participation in music making.
More than a century later, that mission has attracted a growing, thriving worldwide community of thousands of deeply passionate, talented companies that make, buy and sell the instruments that allow millions of people to make music. That community is called NAMM, the trade association of the international music products industry.
NAMM is able to support the association's mission with a business model based on a circle of benefits that promotes industry growth. The circle begins with the revenue derived from NAMM's trade shows, which is channeled back into the industry through the NAMM Foundation's funding of industry charities and in the form of advocacy and market-building programs and initiatives, further increasing public awareness. This leads to increased demand of music products, growing the industry and, ultimately, promoting trade show growth, which completes the circle. To support individual Members, NAMM offers industry education through NAMM University, publishes valuable one-of-a-kind statistical reports, and brings the industry together at events and global meetings.
Founded in 1901, NAMM has been the engine driving the music products industry, enabling both large and small businesses to maximize productivity and reduce the costs of doing business. With more than 9,000 Members in the United States and 100+ other countries, NAMM is ultimately dedicated to expanding the market and giving people of all ages the opportunity to experience the proven benefits of making music.
Click here to visit our national public awareness campaign called Wanna Play? www.wannaplaymusic.com
BIOGRAPHY
JOE LAMOND
PRESIDENT AND CEO, NAMM
Music has always been the focal point of Joe Lamond's life. After graduating from The State University of New York, Lamond worked in music retail stores by day and pursued his rock star dreams at night. Starting in 1982 as a bookkeeper for a small, independent retailer in Sacramento, Calif., he then moved to Skip's Music in 1989, where he started in the warehouse. Armed with passion, drive and a natural ability for marketing, he ultimately rose to the position of executive vice president, overseeing the $12 million corporation. Those years of retail experience were critically important in shaping Lamond's views about the industry, specifically, the important relationship between supplier and dealer.
In 1998, Lamond joined NAMM, the trade association of the international music products industry, as its director of market development. During this time, he launched and managed a number of innovative programs, including Sesame Street Music Works, a joint initiative with Sesame Workshop; increased NAMM's commitment to funding valuable music-brain research to demonstrate the benefits of playing music to parents, teachers and music advocates; the development of the "Einstein Advocacy Kit," an informational toolkit that brings that groundbreaking music/brain research to communities working to strengthen their local school music programs; the expansion of the Weekend Warriors program (an idea developed in part by Lamond while working in retail), which brings Baby Boomers back into active music making; the Smithsonian Institute on program celebrating the 300th anniversary of the piano; and Wanna Play?, NAMM's national public awareness campaign about the benefits of playing music for people of all ages.
Under his leadership since 2001, the association's resources have grown significantly, enabling NAMM to invest more into research, grants and market-building programs than at any time in th
