Board Of Advisors
With the organization of the KHMA it was realized that our journey would require expertise in several fields beyond what the Executive Committee possessed. Therefore the ByLaws established a President’s Board of Advisors. These individuals represent a variety of disciplines useful to KHMA, and have, and will continue to have, positive impacts.
Josh Williams
Josh Williams is the Curator at Historic Washington State Park. In this job he oversees the museum collection of the park which focuses on collecting 19th century objects and items. Historic Washington State Park is a 19th century village museum that interprets and educates visitors about the history of the community of Washington and the surrounding area. He currently serves as the President of the Arkansas Living History Association and is a current board member of the Arkansas Museum Association. He has published two pictorial histories on Hope and Washington, Arkansas through the Images of America series by Arcadia Publishing. He has served on the board of the Arkansas Historical Association. He has a Bachelor of Arts in History from John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, a Master of Arts in History from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, and a Master of Library and Information Science degree with an archival emphasis from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. He lives in Washington, Arkansas.
Chris Thomason
Chancellor Chris Thomason received a Bachelor of Arts (Cum laude) in Criminal Justice from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 1995. He graduated with High Honors from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Bowen School of Law in 1998. Chris began practicing law in Hope in 1998. In 2003, he opened his own private practice law office. Chris served as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for the 8th Judicial District North from 1999-2002. In 2002 he was elected to his first of two terms representing District 3 in the Arkansas House of Representatives. He served on the House Transportation Committee, State Agencies and Government Affairs Committee, Joint Budget Committee, Judiciary Committee and Insurance and Commerce Committee. He was the Chairman of the Rail and Mass Transit Subcommittee and Chairman of the Joint Performance Review Committee. Chris has been recognized by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette as one of the “Top Ten Legislators” in the Arkansas General Assembly. In addition, he received the “Advocate of Justice Award” by the Arkansas Prosecuting Attorneys Association, the “Advocate of the Year” by the Advance Practice Nurses Council, and was named a “Champion for Children” by the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. Chris was elected Prosecuting Attorney for the Eighth North Judicial District in 2006 and took office January 1, 2007. In 2008, Chris became the Chancellor of the University of Arkansas at Hope and Texarkana. He previously served on the UAHT Foundation Board and as an adjunct faculty member for the College. Chris was elected to the Arkansas Association of Two Year Colleges Executive Committee. He is the chairman of the Southwest Arkansas Community College Consortium, a group made up of Presidents and Chancellors of five of Southwest Arkansas’ Community Colleges that are committed to working together to develop a regional vision for education and economic development. He currently serves on the Arkansas Board of Law Examiners and the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute Board.
Andy Leach
Andy Leach is the Senior Director of Library and Archives at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where he has overseen the establishment of the Rock Hall’s Library and Archives, the hiring of its staff, and the development of its policies and procedures. Andy manages the Library and Archives’ general operations, works with donors to facilitate donations of archival materials, develops library collections, provides research assistance to visitors, and hosts public events. Andy has worked in music libraries and archives since 1993. Before joining the Rock Hall, he worked at the Center for Black Music Research at Columbia College Chicago, the UIUC Music and Performing Arts Library, and the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music. Andy is also an active musician in Cleveland.
Dave Mallette
David Alan Mallette is truly a “Texarkana Baby”, born to a fence-riding west Texas cowboy father, and a mother from the hills of Arkansas. He joined the high school band and stayed with it through college on a band scholarship. As a teenager he spent his money on music and the equipment required to play it back accurately. While in school in Magnolia, AR, he was introduced to Paul Wilbur Klipsch, at whose feet he learned the basics of Klipsch’s philosophy, both of loudspeaker construction and of recording. During the Vietnam War, he served in the Army with the Armed Forces Radio and Television network. His first job upon discharge was Director of Sound Production for a company producing educational sound filmstrips, and then for Southwest Films Associates who had an Air Force contract to produce 16mm training films. These experiences led him to the University of North Texas where he completed a B.A. in TV/Film Production and an M.S. in Instructional Systems Technology. He taught media production there for a total of 9 years. However, a three-year interruption resulted when he was called to the National University of Singapore to direct development of their Centre for Educational Technology. Subsequently Mallette headed the Technology Transfer Group for the Atlantic-Richfield Corporation. This small group of advanced computer hardware and programming experts developed one of the first portable, self-contained computer simulation and training systems. From 2006 to 2016 Mallette worked with Helmerich and Payne Int’l Drilling Company designing and developing their worldwide computer-based training system. Still having a passion for music and sound, he also invented “SoundCube,” a microphone system designed specifically to record and reproduce an accurate 360° sound field. In the past few years, Mallette has spent much time researching and contacting others about the four-state area’s musical heritage. The Regional Music Heritage Center was incorporated as an Arkansas Non Profit Corporation in 2015.
Don Keele
Don Keele has worked for a number of companies in the area of loudspeaker R&D and measurement technology including Electro-Voice, Klipsch, JBL, Crown, and Harman International. He holds eight patents with topics including "constant-directivity" loudspeaker horns, loudspeaker arrays, and signal processing. He is a fellow of AES and a member of ASA. For ten years, he wrote for Audio Magazine as a Senior Editor performing loudspeaker reviews. More recently, he worked for Harman/Becker Automotive Systems in the advanced technology development group and was a member of the Harman corporate acoustics engineering group working under Floyd Toole. Currently he heads his own consulting company DBK Associates and Labs. His passion for the last 17 years has been to promote the use of CBT (Constant Beamwidth Transducer) loudspeaker technology in the loudspeaker industry. He has written 11 AES papers on this topic. Mr. Keele holds two BS degrees in EE and Physics from California State Polytechnic University and an MSEE degree from Brigham Young University where he minored in acoustics. He has presented and published over 45 technical papers on loudspeaker design and measurement methods and other related topics, among them the paper for which he won the AES Publication Award, "Low-Frequency Loudspeaker Assessment by Nearfield Sound-Pressure Measurement". He is a frequent speaker at AES section meetings and workshops, and has chaired several AES technical paper sessions. Mr. Keele is a past member of the AES Board of Governors and the AES review board, and is past Vice President, AES Central Region USA/Canada. Mr. Keele received the TEF Richard C. Heyser Award in 2001. In 2002, he received a Scientific and Engineering Academy Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for work he did on cinema constant-directivity loudspeakers. More recently in 2011, he received the ALMA Beryllium Driver Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Louis Manno
Educated in classical music, acoustics and recording engineering, Louis Manno's career highlights his broad range of credits which includes classical music mixing, Foley, and live sound. He has extensive experience in theater sound reinforcement and residential and commercial sound system design and installation. In addition, he has experience in film stage and studio construction, radio broadcasting, and record pressing quality control. His credits include 14 years at Broadway's Mark Hellinger Theater, 20 years providing sound for presidents of corporations and heads of state at the Waldorf Astoria, and live mixing in Central Park to an audience of 250,000. His largest project to date is the establishment of the Audio History Library & Museum, dedicated to the history of the sound industry. "The Audio Industry’s Archive", the Audio History Library's collection is comprised of files on over 2000 audio equipment manufacturers from 37 countries spanning 160 years. The goal is an Internet Digital Library, Museum, & Center ("Communications House") bringing together under one roof myriad organizations involved with all aspects of sound recording, storage, broadcasting and reproduction. Mr. Manno is a 30+ year member of the Audio Engineering Society, Life member of the Antique Wireless Association, Audiophile Society of NY, Michigan Antique Phonograph Society, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Fellow & Board member of the Radio Club of America, and the Society for the History of Technology’s Mercurians. Former memberships include the IEEE's Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing Group, and serving as a charter member on the AES' Digital Audio Standards Technical Committee.
Colleen Murphy
Colleen ‘Cosmo' Murphy is the founder of Classic Album Sundays, and an authoritative commentator on music, sound and the vinyl renaissance. Her Classic Album Sundays sessions take place in cities all over the world and feature the stories behind our favorite albums often with a guest musician or producer. The sessions also feature an uninterrupted vinyl playback of the featured album via some of the world’s best audiophile hi-fi sound systems, many of which feature Klipschorns and LaScalas. She was turned onto Klipsch by her mentor David Mancuso, known for his seminal Loft parties in New York City which were the genesis of the dance clubs of today. Together they have musically hosted parties throughout the world and co-produced the compilation series David Mancuso Presents The Loft. Colleen has been a radio broadcaster since the age of 14 and recently authored and hosted her ‘Sounds of a City’ series for BBC 6 Music and the documentary series ‘Turntable Tales' on BBC Radio 4. She is also a music journalist having written for magazines and blogs including Stereophile, Hi-Fi +, The Vinyl Factory and RBMA. She is an international DJ and producer, and has remixed artists including The Rapture, Desmond Dekker, Horace Andy and Chaka Khan. As Wild Rumpus, Colleen released an album with former Captain Beefheart guitarist Gary Lucas on her own label Bitches Brew. She is a lecturer, panelist and moderator at institutions including the University of East London, Goldsmiths University, The British Library, Institute of Contemporary Arts and The Barbican.