AmSAT Board
The AmSAT Mission
To establish the Alexander Technique as a basic and recognized resource for health, productivity, and well-being.
AmSAT Board of Directors 2023-2024
Lisa DeAngelis
Chair
- AmSAT Chair – June 2023 – present
- AmSAT Chair Elect: July 2022 – June 2023
- Board of Directors, Member-at-Large: July 2019 – July 2022
- AmSAT Chair, Management Review Committee: 2015 – present
- Organizer/Assistant to the Directors of the 9th International AT Congress, Limerick, Ireland, 2015
- Organizer/Assistant, Presence in Performance Workshop, Pomona College, Pasadena, CA, 2015
- Faculty Member, Alexander Technique with Elm City ChamberFest in New Haven, CT, 2015-2017
- Organizer/Teacher, Alexander Technique Workshops International in Malibu, CA and Winston-Salem, NC 2013-2015
- Organizational Coordinator for Rachel Zahn’s “Experiencing the Embodied Mind” Project in Gargonza, Italy, 2013
- AmSAT Chair, ACGM and ACGM Planning Committee, Chicago, 2013
- AmSAT Certified Alexander Technique Training with Joan and Alex Murray at Alexander Technique Center Urbana (ATCU) 2009
- Private teaching practice in Chicago since 2010
- Co-founder, Chicago Alexander Teachers (CAT)
- President, Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Young Professionals Board, 2017-present
- BME in Music Education (Voice) from University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign
Geordie MacMinn
Past Chair
- AmSAT Past Chair – June 2023 – present
- AmSAT Chair: July 2022 – June 2023
- AmSAT Chair Elect: July 2021 – July 2022
- AmSAT Training Course Approval Committee Member: August 2020-July 2021
- AmSAT Higher Education & Professional Training Committee Chair, September 2003-June 2010
- Professor of Voice & Alexander Technique, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, School of Drama, 2003 – Present.
- 2013 University of North Carolina Board of Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching
- Alexander Technique Certified from ATI-LA, June 2001
- Designated Linklater Voice Teacher, 2007
- Jessica Wolf’s The Art of Breathing, Certified Teacher 2003
- Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, expected completion 2022
- Other trainings and modalities of practice: Psychodrama, Psychodramatic Bodywork, The Actor’s Secret with Betsy Polatin, Michael Checkov Acting Technique, Pure Movement, post-graduate training with John Nicholls
- B.A. Theatre Arts, Acting: California State University Fullerton, 1998
Eleanor Taylor
Chair Elect
- AmSAT Chair Elect, June 2023 – present
- AmSAT Board Member-at-Large: 2021
- AmSAT Committee for the Alexander Technique in the Performing Arts (CATPA): 2018-present
- AmSAT Marketing Committee: Head of Strategic Brand Initiative Team 2020-present
- AmSAT Slogan Committee: 2019-2020 (committee retired upon completion of charge)
- Faculty at Riverside Initiative for the Alexander Technique (RIAT) AmSAT Teacher-Training Course, 2017-present
- Alexander Technique Faculty at Manhattan School of Music, American Academy of Dramatic Arts and Respiro Opera
- Completed Teacher Training at ATNYC with John Nicholls and Nanette Walsh, 2014
- Post-graduate training in Jessica Wolf’s Art of Breathing and Betsy Polatin’s The Actor’s Secret methods
- B.M. Vocal Performance from New England Conservatory (1993) and M.M. Vocal Performance from University of Minnesota (Graduate Fellowship Recipient, 2000)
Marisa de Silva
Secretary
- AmSAT Secretary: June 2023 – present
- AmSAT Treasurer: July 2015-2016
- AmSAT Board Member-at-Large: July 2014 – 2015
- AmSAT Nominating Committee Member: 2011 – 2014
- AmSAT Teacher Certification: Alexander Technique Urbana 2009
- Faculty, Loyola Marymount University: Voice, Alexander Technique, Opera 2015- present
- DMA USC Thornton School of Music 2019
- Other interests: Being a mom, Historic gestures in Baroque opera, Music Performance Anxiety, Vocal Pedagogy
Jared Negley
Member-at-Large
- AmSAT Board, Member-at-Large, July 2023–present
- AmSAT Archivist, July 2018 – present
- Alexander Technique Liberation Project, Volunteer Organizing Team, 2019 – 2022
- Guest lecturer in Musician’s Health Class, Slippery Rock University, 2018 – present
- AmSAT Teacher Certification, ATNYC with John Nicholls and Nanette Walsh, 2013
- M.A. in Jazz History and Research, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ
- M.S. in Library and Information Science, The Pratt Institute, New York, NY
- B.A. in Music, Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, PA
Erin O'Leary
Member-at-Large
- AmSAT Board, Member-at-Large, July 2021–present
- AmSAT Committee for AT and the Performing Arts (CATPA); 2017-present
- AmSAT certified, ATNYC (J. Nicholls / N. Walsh); 2013
- Private teaching practice in NYC; 2013-present
- Guest Faculty at National Theater Institute, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center; 2019-present
- Adjunct Faculty at The Juilliard School, Drama Division; 2015-present
- Associate Faculty at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts; 2015-present
- Guest Faculty at University of TN, Dept of Theater and School of Music; 2013-2015
- MFA Acting- The University of Tennessee, Clarence Brown Theater, Knoxville, TN
- BFA Acting- DePaul University, Theater School, Chicago, IL
Alice Olsher
Member-at-Large
- AmSAT Board of Directors Member-at-Large, June 2023 – present
- Grew up in California where she did theatre in high school. She then studied and worked in the theatre in England.
- Trained to teach the Alexander Technique at the Constructive Teaching Centre in London with Walter and Dilys Carrington.and taught with them for 15 years before returning to California.
- In London Alice served on both the Training Course Committee and the Professional Conduct Committee for 7 years.
- Alice became Director of her own teacher training course in San Diego (2008) where she was assisted by Rome Earle and Eileen Troberman gave Anatomy talks
- Alice also does a lot of postgraduate teaching both in person and online and has been an active member of The Teacher Training Directors committee.
- In 2017 Alice was chair of the ACGM committee.
- In 2019 she helped on the ACGM committee and mentored the chair, Renee Schneider.
- Alice had also offered workshops and private lessons at many ACGMs and joined the Constructive Teaching Centre team at the Chicago Congress in 2018 and 2022 in Berlin.
- She has given talks for Huddle and The Judith Leibowitz Scholarship Fund.