Board of Directors
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MIKE VALLER
Co-Founder/ Executive Director
Mike co-founded Urban Fusion with Marc Pires back in 2003. Mike serves as Executive Director within the organization. He has also worked with many nonprofit organizations in the past and currently holds positions with the Boys & Girls Club of Greater New Bedford as well as Southcoast Hospitals Group’s RAPPP Program, as a Professional Youth Developer and Youth/Community Educator.
Mike has been actively involvement in music since the fourth grade and continues strongly to this day. His commitment to musical education is seen in every aspect of his work. Mike is also a member of Vic Firth’s Educational Team.
After marching four years within the New Bedford High School Drumline, Mike also marched with the Spartans Drum and Bugle Corps Tenor line in 1996.
Mike attended Daniel Webster College for Aviation Science. He worked for over ten years for Cape Air/ Nantucket Airlines within various Mid / Senior level Aviation Management positions and eventually left the aviation arena to fulfill his devotion to serving youth.
He is also a certified Trainer of the Search Institute’s Developmental Assets Framework – Professional Youth Development Framework (aka: Asset building)
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IAN FLINT
Vice President – Exec Board
He first began as a member of Spectrum Drum and Bugle Corps and then later became a member of The Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps from 1998-2000 as a tuba player.
Since then Ian has devoted most of his time developing his drill writing and program coordination for both the marching band and indoor activities. For the past 8 years Ian has been designing for bands all over the east coast. Many of these programs are at the top of their circuit and have won local and circuit championships. Ian has also d esigned for all levels of the Indoor Percussion activity from the World to A class levels. Most recently he has been involved with Dartmouth Indoor Percussion who is back to back WGI World Champions and is also currently with King Philip Indoor Percussion as their Program Coordinator and Visual Designer. He served as a visual instructor for the Cadets Drum Corps from 2004-2007 working with both the brass and percussion sections. He is also an adjudicator for USSBA.
Ian holds a Bachelors in Music Performance (Tuba) from West Chester University of Pennsylvania. He recently accepted a position as Director of Music at Westport High School in Westport, MA. Ian also works as the brass director and show designer for the marching band at Dartmouth High School and is the visual caption head and cymbal technician for the indoor percussion program.
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Tim Mederios
Treasurer / Executive Board
Tim has served on executive boards in various other non-profit organizations, including as treasurer of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Percussion Club. He also served as a regional chairman in a statewide non-profit organization. He has been actively involved in the local community for many years, including serving as a town meeting member in Dartmouth.
Tim was involved in the winter percussion activity for many years. He performed in the front ensemble, in the Dartmouth High School Percussive Theatre from 2002-2005 and also marched in the Boston University Winter Percussion Ensemble from 2006-2007. He was also a member of the UMass Dartmouth Percussion Ensemble from 2005-2009.
Tim has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Marketing from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and currently resides in Dartmouth, Massachusetts.
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Mike Smith
Secretary / Executive Board
Michael Smith is currently the Co-Founder/Director of Education for Urban Fusion Performing Arts. Michael holds a B.A. in Music education from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Michael was the timpanist for East Coast Jazz Drum and Bugle Corps from 2000-2004. In addition to his work here with Urban Fusion he has been a percussion instructor for the past 10yrs, and Percussion Director at numerous high schools and middle schools in the New England area as well as a former Assistant Band Director at New Bedford High School. He continues to work as a percussion consultant for area schools. Michael has studied multiple areas of music and cultures including but not limited to Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, Western Classical, Jazz, Contemporary, Caribbean and many more. He also performs as a member of El Caribe Steelband and as a freelance percussionist for the New Bedford Choral Society, Occasional Brass, St. Josephs Church in Newport RI, and many more. We are very pleased to have Michael on board as part of the Urban Fusion family.
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Tom Aungst
Advisory Board Member
Tom Aungst has been involved in the drum and bugle corps activity for almost thirty years. Tom started marching in 1979 with the Reading Buccaneers Senior Drum Bugle Corps. In 1981, he became a member of the Garfield Cadets and continued to march with the corps until his age-out year in 1984. Aungst became the lead percussion technician for the Cadets from 1985 until 1989. From 1989 through 2008 Tom was the Director of Percussion and Arranger for the Cadets. In his 27 years with the Cadets, Aungst has been involved with winning nine DCI World Championships, six Fred Sanford High Percussion Awards, and nine runner-up titles. Tom was inducted into the Cadets’ Hall of Fame in 2004 and the DCI Hall of Fame in 2006.
Aungst is currently the Percussion Director for the Dartmouth Public School System in Dartmouth, MA. His position includes teaching percussion students from fourth grade through high school. He also carries with him great success on the Winter Guard International Percussion circuit with Dartmouth High School capturing 3 World Championships in 1998, 1999, and 2008, and placing in the top three every year since.
Aungst has a Bachelors in Music Education from West Chester University in PA, and a masters in Jazz Performance from Rutgers University. Tom lives in New Bedford, Mass., with his wife Darcie and his two Sons, Alan and Noah.
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Marc Pires
Co-Founder / Advisory Board
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