Deborah S. Rice

President (Winston-Salem, NC) directs the handbell ministry for Becks Baptist Church in Winston-Salem. This ministry includes multicultural and intergenerational choir groups for all ages. Her bronze group, Rejoice Ringers, has released CDs and been featured in showcase concerts for denominational, regional and national handbell events across the country. She travels frequently as a festival conductor and clinician for national and international events that have included Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and more than 20 states. An AGEHR member since 1983, Debbie began her affiliation with the AGEHR national board in 1995 as Area III's chair-elect. She has written numerous articles for Overtones, chaired several committees, and served as Area III chair (1997-99), area representative to AGEHR executive committee (1998-99), national secretary (1999-2003) and president-elect (2003-2005). When working with handbell ensembles, she is passionate about creating musicianship, involving ringers as active listeners and orchestrating the instrument with various handbell set sounds and handchime combinations. Debbie’s academic degrees include a bachelor's degree in music and a master's degree in opera and musical theatre. As time allows she enjoys performing in concert with her trio as the soprano with organ and trumpet. She particularly enjoys Baroque and 20th Century music.

 

John Pfeiffer

President-Elect (Nashville, TN) is the vice president of technology and chief information officer at Corrections Corporation of America in Nashville. He has held technology leadership positions with several companies, including Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and is a veteran Navy surface warfare officer. He holds an MBA from Belmont University and a BS from Vanderbilt University, both in Nashville. John started ringing in fourth grade under the directorships of Martha Lynn and Felix Thompson at St. James United Methodist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, and remained active in that program throughout high school. While at Vanderbilt, and again after his military service, John rang with the Joy Ringers at West End United Methodist Church under the direction of Don Marler. He also instituted a youth bell program at West End, which he led for eight years, conducting choirs with participation of over 100 youth. John is the co-founder and principal conductor of the Music City Bronze, a community handbell ensemble in Nashville and has served on boards of directors for non-profit organizations.

 

Reiff Lorenz

(Dayton, OH) is the president of the Lorenz Corporation, a publisher of printed music for churches, schools, choirs, handbell choirs, and instrumentalists. The Lorenz Corporation is in its fifth generation of family ownership and is the world's largest distributor of handbell music. Reiff has served AGEHR through the years as an advisor to the board of directors, the executive director, and the music editor. Reiff is a graduate of Northwestern University with a degree in mathematics and the Harvard Business School program for owner-president-managers. He serves on the Church Music Publisher Association's executive committee as the head of the Technology Task Force and on the board of CityFolk, a non-profit organization promoting folk, ethnic, and traditional performance arts. Reiff and his wife, Melissa, live in Dayton, Ohio.

 

J. Michael McCrary

(Tulsa, OK) is a Certified Public Accountant who holds both Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in accounting and is an applied assistant professor in the School of Accounting at the University of Tulsa. Prior to his university appointment in 1996, Mike worked for a large national public accounting firm as an auditor for over 13 years. Then for eight years, he had his own practice as a business consultant and corporate trainer. His public accounting experience included primarily the banking, not-for-profit, and small business areas. In addition to his career in business, Mike has also served churches for over 30 years both as organist and handbell choir director. He currently serves as music associate at University United Methodist Church in Tulsa and director of the Tulsa Festival Ringers, Tulsa’s only auditioned community handbell choir. His community activities include service as treasurer for six different not-for-profit organizations, including AGEHR Area IX and the Oklahoma Sinfonia orchestra. Mike has also served as dean of the American Guild of Organists Tulsa Chapter.

 

David VanderMeer

(Atlanta, GA) serves as director of music ministries at Central Presbyterian Church in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, where he oversees a fine arts ministry that includes a graded choir program of vocal and handbell choirs. David has served churches in New Jersey and Texas and is a graduate of Westminster Choir College, where he studied handbells under Donald Allured and rang in the college's first Concert Bell Choir. David served as the musical director of the professional handbell ensemble The Houston Bronze Ensemble from 1996-2001. Additionally, he has been conductor/clinician for numerous AGEHR events and has served as handbell clinician for denominational conferences on worship and music. David has served as publications editor and Texas representative for Area IX and was chair of the Greater Houston Handbell Association.

 

David L. Weck

(Wheaton, IL) is a music editor with Hope Publishing Company of Carol Stream, Illinois, where he is solely responsible for the handbell catalog. He is founder and director of The Agape Ringers, Chicago's premiere handbell ensemble, which formed in 1992, and performed in July of 2005 for the National Seminar in Dallas, Texas. David is in demand as clinician and director of numerous local and national handbell events, most recently conducting at the 2004 International Handbell Symposium in Toronto, Canada, and for the 2005 summer festival of the Handbell Ringers of Japan. For over 30 years, David has been involved in choral music through music education, church music and as assistant director of the Chicago Community Renewal Chorus. Currently, he serves as adjunct faculty member of Vander Cook College of Music Continuing Education. He and his wife, Jane Holstein, who is a professional organist/church musician and editor with Hope Publishing, live in Wheaton, Illinois.

 

William L. Waggener

(Claremont, CA) William L. Waggener has served on the music staff of the Claremont United Church of Christ since 1973. He and his wife, Lee, current past chair of Area XII, are responsible for the handbell program, which consists of two children's groups, an intergenerational choir with three sets of bells and 27 ringers, and a group of students from the Claremont Colleges. Since 1976, Bill has served on the Area XII board in a number of positions including treasurer (twice), editor of The Twelfth Tone  newsletter (for the third time), and registrar for the 2004, 2005, and 2006 Ringers' Conferences. He has taught workshops at international, national, area, and local events and has conducted events in Canada, New Zealand, and the U.S. In the last three years, he has been conductor for 16 handbell events in Area XII alone. He holds a BA and MA in music and an MS in biology and a PhD in physiology, and recently retired as professor of biological sciences at Mt. San Antonio College after serving as department chairman.