2022 WGAZ Board Nominees
Vice President
Miles Denny
Miles Denny graduated from Arizona State University in 2016, where he received his B.M. in Music Education. During his time there, he Studied under JB Smith, Dr. Mark Sunkett, Simone Mancus, and Roberto Paz. Miles has taught at various ensembles throughout the valley such as Dobson High School, Basha High School, Poston Butte High School, Breakthrough percussion and currently at Vision Percussion With Wardell King. Upon graduation, Miles became the director of bands at Smith Jr. High School and Stevenson Elementary before joining Basha in 2017. In 2020, Miles was awarded the Winter Guard Arizona Percussion Director of the Year award for his continued contributions to the winter guard activity. In addition to his position at Basha, Mr. Denny currently serves as Vice President for Winter Guard Arizona, Member-At-Large for the Arizona Marching Band Association, and is the tenor percussion specialist for Vision Percussion Ensemble. He remains passionate about expanding and enriching the educational experiences for student musicians in Arizona.
Stephen Goodman
My name is Stephen Goodman; I am the director of Convergence Indoor Percussion and in my fourth year as a percussion instructor. I have extensive experience in non-profit organizations, with my current occupation being a Policy and Communications Manager for a national non- profit whose mission is to recruit the next generation of educators from among high school students. Previously, I was the State Adviser Assistant for a non-profit in Arizona that served the high school Career and Technical Education community. I have experience: developing marketing collateral; planning single-day, multi-site conferences; planning multi-day conferences; engaging with and recruiting partners and sponsors; and developing long-term strategic plans for non-profits.
Lydia Page
Lydia Page has been involved in the Arizona color guard community for over 13 years. She has been a student, instructor, and mentor in all levels of our circuit and currently serves as the director of Highland High School and as assistant director of Higley High School and Oasis Winterguard. Lydia also serves as the business manager of Oasis Ensembles.
Beginning in 2017, Lydia began the massive undertaking of establishing Oasis Ensembles as a non-profit performing arts business. With her leadership, the organization has grown to include two high performing winter guard programs, a summer clinic series, and a dance company. Oasis Ensembles now reaches over 100 participants throughout the state of Arizona.
On top of that, Lydia gives back to the circuit by volunteering for various committees and helping the growth of winterguard in Arizona by mentoring new instructors. Lydia is excited to give back to an organization that has given so much to her and cannot wait to help support the administrative goals of WGAZ.
Treasurer
Cari Eng
Cari Eng, originally from Indianapolis Indiana, started out in the marching arts as a clarinet player turned color guard member. She was a member of the band and guard at Franklin Central High School where she had the honor of being a member of the WGI Open Class World Champion team in 2000. After high school, Cari joined the staff with the Franklin Central HS World Guard until she moved to Phoenix in 2003 after graduating from Indiana University with a BS in Computer Science.
In 2003, Cari joined Teach For America and began teaching and coaching here in Arizona. She currently works as a Data Analyst for the Arizona Department of Education. Cari has been actively involved in the WGAZ circuit since 2005. She served as the Mountain Ridge HS Colorguard Director from 2005-2019 where she was responsible for managing both the Regional A JV Guard and the Open Varsity Guard including all of the finances in and out of the program. Cari is now working with the Color Guard programs of Boulder Creek and Desert Vista.
In addition to being a member of the circuit, Cari has served previously on the Executive Board as Secretary for multiple terms before stepping down after the birth of her daughter in 2013. Since stepping away from the Executive Board, Cari has served on multiple committees for WGAZ including the Promotions, Bylaw Revisions, and Show Selection Committees as well as being a member of the Advisory Board each year. Cari is currently finishing her first term as Treasurer where she helped the circuit navigate through the challenging financial situation of the pandemic. Cari is now well versed in Excel, Quickbooks, and filing non-profit taxes. She is eager to continue the role for another term.
Cari believes in the importance of the marching arts and is eager to once again serve the entire community by approaching each decision through the lens of supporting the performer experience because they are why we exist.
Color Guard Liaison
Brandy DuBose-King
Brandy DuBose King is in her fifteenth year as director and choreographer for the Arizona State University Sun Devil Color Guard and winterguard program. Prior to her time here in Arizona Brandy taught the Bobcat Marching Band Color Guard and Millennia Independent Open Winterguard for 11 years. In Texas, she taught the Seguin High School color guard and winterguard for 10 years.
Brandy has served as Caption Head for other organizations such as Tarheel Sun, The Academy and The Blue Knights; as well as a member of the Colorguard staff for the Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps. She marched in the Colorguard at Phantom Regiment as well as a member of the Nouveau (IA), Speakeasy (IA) and Ascension (IW) Winterguard programs. In addition to her involvement with ASU, she is currently the Director of Colorguard at Corona del Sol High School and Designer and Consultant for the ASU SunDevils.
Brandy has served as a board member for the Texas Color Guard Circuit as the Vice President for 4 years, and once in Arizona has served as the V.P. (1) and Colorguard Liaison (8) for the past 9 years. She has developed various opportunities for instructors and students in the colorguard community and has a passion for education and advancement for all. Brandy has served on the Advisory Board for WGI for 5 years and will return again this year after becoming a World Class Finalist for the 6th year with Fenix Independent. With this appointment and dedication to our parent organization this proves to be valuable to the continued growth and knowledge that will help our local community.
Austin Yost
Austin is an Arizona native, growing up in Queen Creek and Gilbert, AZ. He attended Highland High School where he participated in Band, Choir, Orchestra, and of course, Colorguard. After his graduation, Austin marched Drum Corps for five years at The Academy (1) and The Bluecoats (4). He quickly discovered his passion for teaching and has been doing it ever since. Austin currently serves as the Colorguard Director at both Higley High School and Eastmark High School, as the Program Coordinator at Highland High School and does design work for many other schools in the greater Phoenix area. Austin also served as a Colorguard Instructor at the Academy Drum and Bugle Corps from 2019-2021. Austin founded Oasis Ensembles in 2016 and has since pushed to expand the program to include multiple nationally competitive winterguard teams, a dance program, and an annual summer clinic series. Austin’s goals have always been rooted in the education and growth of the next generation. He strives to promote young performers and educators and often acts as a mentor to those entering the teaching community. He has extensive experience in business leadership through Oasis, Retail Jobs, and as a Manager of one of Arizona’s top haunted attraction companies. Austin wants to continue down the path paved by those before him in growing Arizona Marching Arts by focusing on offering accessible education to performers, educators, and designers. He wants to strengthen the community’s ties to each other to foster an environment where young educators feel well supported and integrated. Above all, Austin wants to strengthen WGAZ as a whole through open and clear communication to build trust, promote community involvement, and to help all voices be heard more than twice a year.
Percussion/Winds Liaison
Wardell King
Wardell has been involved with percussion education in Arizona for almost thirty years. Over the years he has worked with many high school ensembles as a clinician, consultant, designer and instructor. Knowing the need to inspire young performers, Wardell would often bring in feature artists like Ralph Hardimon for clinics and invite schools to come out and learn. Percussion in the state of Arizona is synonymous with the name Wardell King. He is widely respected by students and colleagues alike. Anyone who sits down to talk shop with Wardell understands the passion that he can ignite in everyone around him. He is driven to push boundaries and challenge those around him to keep up with him, and can be credited with much of the continuous growth of the percussion community in the state of Arizona. Recently Wardell has founded Vision Indoor Percussion which has seen immediate success, mirroring Wardell himself, the program has quickly grown and thrived. Wardell is currently on the WGAZ board, where he has served the WGAZ community several times over the last ten years. As an educator, Wardell brings a passion for percussion to all the students he works with. He challenges all of his students at all levels, and from all walks of life to be the best they can be. His approach to education holds his students to a high standard. His belief in his own students' success inspires them to be able to believe in themselves. Many of his former students are currently involved in the activity as instructors and continue to bring this philosophy to the next generation of students. Wardell has had a huge impact on the success of percussion and education in Arizona and in WGAZ.