ROCKFORD, ILL. – Phantom Regiment is pleased to announce that Stan Mauldin has been hired as the organization’s executive director.
“To say we are excited about having Stan join the organization would be an understatement,” said Tim Farrell, who has been board president most of the past 27 years. “Our executive committee interviewed about a dozen of the more than 40 applicants, and it was clear from our first conversation with Stan that he would be a great fit.”
He will lead an administrative team in Rockford that includes David Warren as corps director and Lori Valenzuela as operations manager, as well as several part-time personnel.
“I am thrilled to be a part of the Phantom Regiment organization. I have been a fan ever since I stood in front of the horn arc with my wife in 1980,” said Mauldin, who has been the band director at Seguin High School, near San Antonio, since 2016. “The membership is talented, the teaching staff is filled with all-star educators and designers, and the foundation is in place for a great future.
“I can’t wait to get started, and I look forward to meeting the many volunteers and donors that have contributed to the rich history of the Regiment.”
The timing of his hiring worked out well: the board of directors have a two-day planning meeting in Chicago this weekend, and Mauldin will be in attendance. The lifelong Texan joked this week that he bought a coat for the weekend. Temperatures are expected to be in the single digits.
“Stan and I have already had some preliminary conversations about our roles in pushing the organization into the next decade and beyond,” corps director David Warren said. “I’m anxious to begin working with him as the excitement starts to build for the 2020 season.”
Mauldin has a long history in music education and drum corps. He was a band director for a few years prior to becoming director of the Nighthawks Drum and Bugle Corps in the mid-1980s. He left the music field in 1985 to manage his parents’ construction business and returned to education in 1993 before stepping away in 2007 to start a motorcycle apparel business in addition to flipping houses. In 2012, he returned to music education once again, this time to take over a struggling band program at Pecos High School. In his first two months at Pecos, he led the band to a first division rating, and it qualified for the UIL state marching band contest in his third year.
Under his direction, Mauldin’s ensembles have been Texas Music Educators Association Honor Band Finalists, two time UIL State Marching Band Champions, Bands of America Regional Finalists, Bands of America Grand Champion National semifinalists, Winter Guard International (WGI) World Champions, WGI Indoor Percussion World Champions and WGI Winter Winds World Championship finalists. Additionally, his ensembles have performed at The Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago and New York’s Carnegie Hall.
Mauldin has been brass caption head for the Colts (Dubuque, Iowa) and on the brass staff with the Blue Knights (Denver, Colo.).
He is a frequent clinician and author, having been published in the “Southwestern Musician,” The Midwest Clinic’s “Motif’s,” and “The Instrumentalist” magazines as well as numerous music websites. He was awarded the John Phillip Sousa Society “Legion of Honor” in 2003 and the UIL “Sponsor Excellence Award” in 2007. In 2016, Mauldin was honored as a Grammy Foundation Music Educator Award Quarterfinalist and is currently serving on the Advisory Board of The Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago.
“Stan’s passion for our mission clearly came through when he emailed his desire for the position and then later in conversations,” said Greg Newell, a member of the executive committee with Farrell, Jeff Hassan and Kelly Couvelaire. “He has worked with multiple members of the current instructional staff, and they reinforced what we learned when talking with him. The committee was especially impressed with Stan’s confidence and humility.”
He is not the only musician in the family. Wife Bobbi is a retired orchestra director, oldest son Matt is a Berklee College of Music graduate and works as a freelance musician in Los Angeles, and youngest son Christopher recently completed his doctorate in piano performance at University of Texas and is a studio musician in Los Angeles.
Founded in 1956, Phantom Regiment offers a world-class drum corps as its crown jewel. It also runs brass, percussion, color guard and leadership camps in several states, drum corps shows in Illinois and West Virginia, a high school marching band competition, a concert band festival, and the Rockford Rhythm percussion ensemble for youth in Rockford.
Tickets for several 2020 DCI and Regiment sponsored drum corps shows are available NOW at regiment.org/tickets.
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