LEADERSHIP
Staff and Board of Directors
Meagan Bachmayer, Co-founder & Executive Director
Meagan brings nearly two decades of management and fundraising experience to the Minnesota Winds. Most recently, she served as Vice President, Advancement & Chief Administrative Officer at Milkweed Editions and Deputy State Director for U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar.
Meagan played clarinet in band from fifth grade through college. Her favorite band memories include writing Pops Concert skits in high school, traveling to Salzburg and Prague with the Gustavus Wind Orchestra, and hearing Symphony No. 4 by David Maslanka for the first time.
Katherine Bergman, Co-founder & Artistic Director
Katherine is a composer of music for band, orchestra, and chamber ensembles. Her work centers on nature and environmentalism, and often explores the intersection between art and science. She has received commissions and performances from leading ensembles throughout the United States and abroad, and her music is frequently performed at concert halls, festivals, conferences, school band rooms, and national parks.
Katherine has been playing saxophone since fifth grade, and her experiences in band have deeply shaped her work as a composer. Her favorite band memories include touring eastern Europe with the Gustavus Wind Orchestra, hearing the U.S. Coast Guard Band perform her music, and countless musical collaborations with student musicians.
Dr. Karrin Meffert-Nelson, Board Chair
Karrin is the Principal Clarinetist with the Minnesota Opera Orchestra and Associate Professor of Clarinet at Gustavus Adolphus College. She also maintains an active freelance performing career including work with Minnesota Orchestra, and productions at the Orpheum, State and Guthrie Theaters. She has also performed with the St. Louis Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, and as guest Principal Clarinet with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra.
Karrin started playing clarinet in 5th grade band and was active throughout middle school and high school in her band program in Apple Valley, Minnesota. Her favorite band memories include traveling around the United States and Europe on band tours and getting to play Concerto II by Oscar Navarro with the Gustavus Wind Orchestra with Navarro conducting.
Elizabeth Winslow, Board Vice Chair & Treasurer
Liz is the Director of School Partnerships at MacPhail Center for Music and the conductor of the South High Community Band. Previously, she was the Director of Bands at Richfield High School and the founder of the band program at Hiawatha Academies in south Minneapolis. She was awarded Community Music Educator of the Year in 2024 by the Minnesota Music Educators Association.
Liz started playing percussion in sixth grade but switched to flute when the sales associate at the music store convinced her to try another instrument instead of quitting. She continued flute through undergrad and still does some flute and band instruction through MacPhail. Her favorite band memories include honoring her grandfather through a Richfield Marching Spartans show about the Tuskegee airmen and making lifelong friends through the Gustavus Wind Orchestra.
Paul Kile, Board Member
Paul is the Director of Bands at Edina High School and Associate Conductor of the Minnesota Symphonic Winds. He serves as Minnesota State Chair for both the National Band Association and the American School Band Directors Association, and he is the band representative on the board of the Servant Leadership Association for Music.
Paul began his music training singing in the LaCrosse (WI) Boychoir, before joining the Cavalets Drum and Baton Corps (cymbals) and later the Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps (baritone). He continued playing euphonium throughout school and plays today as principal euphonium in the Minnesota Symphonic Winds. Favorite band memories include playing under greats like Frederick Fennell and Frank Battisti, working with amazing composers like Gunther Schuller and Michael Colgrass, and meeting his wife through music in college.