Meet the Team | Make Music Day

Make Music Alliance Team

Aaron Friedman

Executive Director

Aaron founded Make Music New York in 2006, and was Executive Director of the organization for its first ten years, growing it into the most expansive musical event in the city’s history. In 2014 he became Executive Director of the Make Music Alliance, which has spread Make Music Day to over 140 cities in the United States, as well as cities in China, Nigeria, the UK, and Australia. Previously he worked in a variety of music and advocacy roles, including founding “Silent Majority” to combat noise pollution in New York, and consulting for the NAMM Foundation, Make Music Day’s presenting partner. He plays tenor saxophone.

Peter Cobb

Managing Director

Peter is a lifelong musician with a love for jazz saxophone. He has a background in law and has worked extensively in the nonprofit arts world. He previously owned and operated a hybrid laundromat and concert space, and currently serves on the boards of several music and arts organizations.

Kia Baird

Program Coordinator

Kia is a multifaceted professional in the fields of community development, vocational services, and the arts. A classically trained soprano, Kia studied at Winston-Salem State University. Her notable performances include the soprano part in Raymond Wise’s opera “Barefoot,” narrated by Dr. Maya Angelou, and being the featured soloist for RPM Voices of Rhode Island. She is the founder of Girls In Jazz, and has served on the board of the Norwich Arts Center in Connecticut. In 2021, she was appointed Outreach & Impact Coordinator for the Southeastern CT Cultural Coalition. She is also a Certified Employment Support Professional, connecting individuals with meaningful employment opportunities.

Matt Fox

Chapter Advisor

The owner of Fox in a Box Marketing & PR, co-founder of Make Music Nashville and a contributing writer for Nashville’s alt-weekly, Nashville Scene. He has won first place for his cherry tomatoes in the TN State Fair five years in a row.

Frank Garcia

Marketing and Communications Consultant

Frank is the co-owner of Peruke, a ukulele store and community based in Peru which is currently leading the ukulele wave in LATAM. He is also the head of Marketing & Artist Relations at Flight Ukulele, where he currently works with over 100 artists around the world and has helped Flight become the most followed ukulele community in social media.

Board of Directors

Andrea Berman, Chair

Andrea has spent her career working in philanthropy, leading grantmaking at family, community and private foundations. Andrea’s expertise is in nonprofit management and she has led organizations and taught others best practices. Currently, Andrea is the Grants Manager at the Future of Life Institute and is responsible for planning, administering and implementing philanthropic grants programs aimed at reducing global catastrophic risk.

Samantha Campbell

Samantha is a marketing professional who has championed Make Music Day throughout her career. Currently serving as an Integrated Digital Marketing leader at NVIDIA, she has held leadership roles in marketing and events at the historic Apollo Theater and at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, with both institutions as significant Make Music Day presenters. During her tenure at Time Out New York, she established Make Music Day’s first U.S. media partnership. Samantha has also spearheaded projects with partners including Amazon, HBO, YouTube, Genius, SXSW, Tribeca Film Festival, and Anheuser-Busch. Samantha’s background as a dancer of many disciplines led her to pursue a career in the arts, starting out after college as a PR Manager for the world’s first children’s museum, in Brooklyn.

Joe Carroll

Joe is a producer, composer, ad executive and founder of the Manhattan Producers Alliance. He has written and produced hundreds of songs for TV and film including award-winning projects for Disney, Nickelodeon, PBS, Sesame Workshop and The Jim Henson Company. His career highlights include performing with Zippy the Chimp, a tuxedo-clad chimpanzee whose skills included drinking bourbon and roller-skating, sometimes simultaneously.

Aaron Friedman

Aaron Friedman founded Make Music New York in 2006, and was Executive Director of the organization for its first ten years, growing it into the most expansive musical event in the city’s history. In 2014 he became Executive Director of the Make Music Alliance, which has spread Make Music Day to over 140 cities in the United States, as well as cities in China, Nigeria, the UK, and Australia. Previously he worked in a variety of music and advocacy roles, including founding “Silent Majority” to combat noise pollution in New York, and consulting for the NAMM Foundation, Make Music Day’s presenting partner. He plays tenor saxophone.

Mark Green

Mark is an internationally known family business consultant, speaker, author, educator, and researcher. Mark leads his own family business consulting firm, and is co-founder of the Pacific Family Business Institute. He is very active in the arts, music, and civic activities and is the co-founder of Make Music Day Salem. He enjoys life in Salem, Oregon, with his wife, Karen, and daughter, Danielle in their own family business, RiverCity Rock Star Academy.

Andrew Horwitz

Andrew is a cultural consultant, creative strategist and writer living in Los Angeles. He has served as the VP, Director of Programs at the Skirball Cultural Center, and from 2011 – 2013 he curated and produced Manhattan’s free, outdoor, multidisciplinary arts festival, The River To River Festival, for LMCC where he served as Director of Public Programs. He has worked producer at Performance Space. 122, curator of the PRELUDE Festival at the Graduate Center at CUNY and as Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Foundation for Jewish Culture among other positions. He is also the founder of arts website Culturebot.org, launched in 2003, and was a 2014 recipient of the Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant.

Anne Katz

Anne is the executive director of Create Wisconsin, Wisconsin’s community cultural development organization. Before she joined the organization as director in 1995, Anne was the director of development and outreach for the Madison Civic Center. She has worked in administrative roles for the City of Madison Arts Commission, Madison Festival of the Lakes, and Madison Repertory Theatre; Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center in Waterford, CT; The Big Apple Circus; New Dramatists, Inc.; and The Feld Ballet in New York City.

Jack Lang

Jack is President of the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris. In 1982, while serving as France’s Minister of Culture, he created the Fête de la Musique. Along with his celebrated career in government (including eight years as Minister of Culture and four years as Minister of Education), he was the founder and director of the World Theater Festival at Nancy, and Professor of International Law at Nancy and Paris X University-Nanterre.

Max Lester

Max is the Director, Program Management & Business Operations at The Orchard – Sony Music Entertainment, a global leader in music distribution and artist & label services. Max graduated from New York University in 2014 with a double major in Global Liberal Studies & Spanish/Latin American Studies, and received his MA in 2016 from University College London in Art Conservation. Before moving to New York, Max attended the Lycée Français de San Francisco.

Victor Piñeiro

Victor is Director of Digital Innovation at HBO Max. Previously he spent a decade establishing and leading @YouTube, @Skittles and various other brands’ social presences. He also wrote/produced the award-winning metaverse documentary Second Skin, SXSW ’08’s opening night movie, and followed it up with the documentary that launched Motherboard, Vice’s tech channel. Victor is the author of Time Villains, a Kirkus & Amazon best book of the year and winner of the International Latino Book Award.

Mike Rosenthal

Mike is the Head of Strategic Marketing for Mick Management, overseeing brand partnerships and strategy for acts like Childish Gambino, Walk the Moon, Animal Collective, Leon Bridges, and many others. Previously Mike spent five years handling brand partnerships and digital strategy for the band OK Go and running their record label, Paracadute.

James Shackelford

James is VP and Director of Public Information for amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, where he oversees communications, media, marketing, content/editorial, creative and celebrity talent. Before joining amfAR, James held senior global in-house and agency roles, providing communications and brand counsel to leadership at Microsoft, Be The Match, UNICEF, Walmart, Aon, AARP and more.

Aish Sinha

Aish Sinha is an executive in the Digital Media industry and leads New Business Development at TikTok. Prior to TikTok, Aish led Strategy at mobile operator Vodafone. Earlier, as an investment banker, he advised founders in Media & Tech on M&A and fundraising. He has lived on four continents, and is the host of a podcast at the intersection of self-improvement and consciousness. Aish serves on the board of Bellevue Literary Review, and is the founder of a non-profit providing scholarships to underprivileged students in India. Aish holds a BS from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MBA from Columbia Business School.