Board of Directors (2024-2025)

President: Lyn Loewi

Lyn H. Loewi has been a church musician, teacher, and recitalist for forty years. Her interest in women composers began in 1983 with a DMA dissertation on women composers for the organ. She is a member of the AGO Task Force for Gender Equity, President of the Women's Sacred Music Project, and a contributor to the database of sacred choral music by women, A Great Host of Composers. Her leading role in creating our 2023 Resounding Voices hymnal was born of a desire to honor the founders of our 2003 hymnal Voices Found. She is glad that the project

has focused our understanding of what women (those who identify as women) bring to sacred song: the deconstruction of an exclusively White male view of God and a more complete vision of The Holy One. Loewi has held positions at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, (Washington, DC), St. John's Cathedral in Denver, Colorado, St. Mary's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and First Presbyterian Church in Portland, Oregon, and Webster Groves Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, Missouri. She has taught at Portland State University and

the University of Minnesota and played recitals at Notre Dame in Paris, in Japan, and in Germany.

Vice President: Tonya Taylor-Dorsey, Director, Archdiocese of Philadelphia Catholic Gospel Mass Choir

Tonya Taylor-Dorsey is currently the Director of the Philadelphia Catholic Gospel Mass Choir, Archdiocese of Philadelphia—Office for Black Catholics, and the Minister of Music at St. Martin de Porres Church, in Philadelphia, PA. Her vocal compositions have been performed at various venues around the United States, including Juilliard, and she is noted for creating the musical score for the stage play ManShop that debuted on Philadelphia’s Avenue of the Arts. She has held workshops and webinars on such subjects as The Importance of Reading Music, Increasing the Music Ministry, and Music in the Catholic Church from an African American and Hispanic Perspective. Tonya was the first woman to serve as Musical Director of the National Black Catholic Congress, for its twelfth meeting. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio. For more information about Tonya visit her website: www.TonyaDorsey.net

Treasurer: Susan Stern, Self-Employed (Radnor, PA)

Susan Stern currently owns an executive services company, working in the Philadelphia region.  She began her career as a registered nurse, taking time to raise her family.  Upon return to the workforce she spent 15 years as a Business Manager of a local church.  Susan has spent over 30 years volunteering for a variety of organizations, using her financial acumen skills to support the mission of the organization.  She is currently serving on the Radnor Township School District Board of School Directors.  First elected in 2013, she served as President for three years during the challenges posed by the pandemic.  She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania.

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Rosa Abrahams – Associate Professor of Music Theory, Ursinus College

Dr. Rosa Abrahams (she/her/hers) is Department Chair and Associate Professor of Music Theory at Ursinus College. Her research, informed by music cognition and music philosophy, focuses primarily on embodied musical experiences in Jewish liturgical settings and on curriculum expansion and reform in music theory pedagogy. Rosa holds a Ph.D. and an M.Mus. in music theory and cognition from Northwestern University, and a B.Mus. in music theory from the Eastman School of Music. She has served on the Women’s Sacred Music Project board since 2020.

Rev. Sarah Akes-Cardwell – Associate Rector for Parish Life and Family, St. John’s Episcopal Church

The Rev. Sarah Akes-Cardwell, Associate Rector for Parish  Life and Family Ministry at St. John's Episcopal Church on Lafayette Square in Washington, DC, grew up in East Tennessee and moved to the DC area in 2013 to begin her studies at Virginia Theological Seminary. As an undergraduate at Sewanee, Sarah studied U.S. History and International and Global Studies. Sarah served as the Assistant Rector at Middleham & St. Peter’s Parish in Lusby, MD where much of her ministry focused on children, youth, and intergenerational formation. Most recently, Sarah served as the Episcopal Chaplain at the University of Maryland (College Park). While serving at St. John’s, Sarah continues to serve in a part-time capacity as Chaplain to students at Holy Trinity Episcopal School in Bowie, MD. Sarah’s wife, Amanda, is also an Episcopal priest, and together they have a son, Samuel, who brings them immense joy and new learning each day. You can often find them exploring local parks, breweries, and historic sites in their downtime.

  Michelle Kardos – Assistant Organist, Pasadena Presbyterian Church (Pasadena, CA)

Dr. Michelle Kardos, DMA, MT-BC, CAGO is the newly appointed Director of Education for the American Guild of Organists. Alongside this, she is the Assistant Organist at Pasadena Presbyterian Church. She obtained her Doctor of Musical Arts in Sacred Music at the University of Southern California, a Master of Music in Sacred Music at Duquesne University, and a Bachelor of Music in Music Therapy along with the Sacred Music Certificate, Pastoral Ministry Certificate, and a Psychology minor at Seton Hall University.

Louise Mundinger – Music Director, Cathedral Church of St. Paul (Boston, MA)

Louise Mundinger is the Music Director at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston and the Diocese of Massachusetts.  She won the Frank Huntington Beebe award for musicians, for organ study in Germany, and is a prize winner in the San Anselmo Organ Improvisation Competition. She has been commissioned to write new music by the American Guild of Organists, The American Composers Forum, and the Diocese of Massachusetts.  Her articles have appeared in The American Organist and Musforum. Louise Mundinger was awarded the Talbot Baker Teaching Award at Milton Academy.  She is a past Dean of the Boston Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (BAGO),  and was director of the AGO National New Music committee.

Rev. Jack Reiffer – Pastor (ret.); Treasurer, Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC

Jack Reiffer is a retired pastor and current member of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, in Washington, DC. He served for ten years on a denominational hymnal revision committee in the ‘80s and chaired the text subcommittee of that project. Jack has served as organist and choir member in several congregations. He is also a longtime singer and leader in the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC. At St. John’s Church Jack teaches an adult Bible study, chairs the pastoral care ministry team, and fills several roles in worship leadership.

Rev. Victoria Sirota – Chaplain and Canon

  Victoria R. Sirota, an Episcopal priest, organist and author, has degrees from Oberlin College, Boston University, and the Harvard University Divinity School. She       has served congregations in Baltimore, Yonkers and the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City. Former National Chaplain for the American Guild of      Organists and the Association of Anglican Musicians, Rev. Dr. Sirota is the author of articles, reviews and texts for hymns, cantatas and song cycles. She has played   recitals in the United States and Europe, and is recorded on Northeastern, Gasparo, and Albany Records. Her book Preaching to the Choir: Claiming the Role of   Sacred Musician is available from Church Publishing. 

Kaitlyn Waterson – Founder, illumine; Soprano, OperaDelaware 

Kaitlyn Waterson is an American lyric soprano and co-founder of the Philadelphia-based chamber ensemble, illumine. Her opera affiliations include OperaDelaware, Delaware Valley Opera Company, and West Chester University Opera Company, where she has performed leading roles such as Prince Charmant in Cendrillon (Massenet) and Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel (Humperdinck). Kaitlyn has been a featured soloist with the Csik Chamber Orchestra of Csíkszereda, Romania (with which she performed two world premieres) and the Sinfionetta Vidin. Her teachers include Randall Scarlata and Elizabeth de Trejo.

Julia Zavadsky – Artistic Director, Nashirah; Professor of Music Studies, Curtis Institute of Music

Julia Zavadsky is a Ukrainian/Israeli/American conductor and educator who lives in Philadelphia. She joined the Department of Musical Studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in 2019. A recipient of the Elaine Brown Award for Choral Excellence and winner of numerous international choral festival competitions, she has been the Artistic Director of Nashirah, the Jewish Chorale of Greater Philadelphia, since 2015. Dr. Zavadsky’s ensembles have performed in such venues as Carnegie Hall, the New York Theatre Workshop, the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, the Field Concert Hall of the Curtis Institute, and the Temple University Performing Arts Center in Philadelphia. They have also participated in tours to the Middle East and Europe. As director of the Rutgers University Singers since 2006, Dr. Zavadsky has organized and hosted annual choral festivals for high school, university, and community choirs. In 2011 she founded the Singing Hearts Choral Society of Southern New Jersey. Dr. Zavadsky is dedicated to highlighting contemporary political issues through musical collaborations. In recent times, she has worked together with Israeli and Palestinian musicians and, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has performed and educated audiences about Ukrainian musical traditions and repertoire. 

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Lisa Neufeld Thomas – Founder and President Emerita of the Board

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