Debi Ruud (Board President) earned her degree in music from Fresno State in 1998. Debi has been teaching voice for 30 years, and she has been singing professionally in top 40, rock, jazz and R & B bands, as well as performing in churches, recording projects, commercials, and special events in the Central Valley for nearly 40 years. She is the founder and owner of the Valley’s largest privately owned music school of its kind, Fresno Music Academy and Arts. She is the founder and director of Fresno’s only Rock and Roll Choir,Hearts on Fire, which has over 60 singers, and is in its 13th year. She is a member of Cultural Arts Rotary, Valley Music Hall of Fame, the Tower District Preservation Association, and the Tower District Preservation Fund.

Joe Catania (Secretary) is a retired nurse and a long-time Tower District resident. He was a founding member of the Tower District Preservation Fund in 1991 and again in 2003. He sits on the City of Fresno’s Tower District Specific Plan Implementation Committee. He was a member of the Mask Media (Fine Art Mask Auction) committee, and he was on the Tower Arts Festival

committee for 8 years. He is Board President of the Tower District Preservation Association, and a Board member of the Tower District Preservation Fund. He sings in The Hearts on Fire Rock and Roll Choir and is a Board member of the 501c3, Peace Rocks, which is associated with the choir.

David Brodie

For about 30 years, until I retired in 2020, I was the President of The Compass Group, a consulting firm I founded in Fresno specializing in governmental relations. I represented individuals or groups who needed to work with local or state governments, for example, land developers, who sought entitlements from county boards of supervisors or business groups, who need to understand government requirements.

Prior to my consulting business, I served as chief of staff to Congressman Rick Lehman for eight years. In addition to managing a large staff & multiple offices, this involved meeting with local stakeholders in a wide variety of issue areas. I also served as district representative for Assemblyman Bruce Bronzon for several years. During all of this time, I also served as a political campaign Director, for various election campaigns for candidates for local, state and national public offices, including two presidential campaigns.

I have served on many boards, commissions & committees over the years including eight years on the Advisory Board of the College of Arts & Humanities at Fresno State and am currently President of the Board of Directors for the Peace Rocks Foundation.

I am a native Californian, born in San Francisco, raised in Merced, and educated at Fresno State University, graduating with a BA in History. I have lived in Fresno since 1966.

Michael Birdsong is a retired Education Specialist with the California Department of Education and is a long-time Tower District resident. Michael was one of the first citizens to encourage the city to take stewardship over the preservation of the Tower District’s at-risk historic resources. His efforts, along with the efforts of others, were pivotal to the subsequent development of the Tower District Specific Plan. In 1990, Michael began serving on the original Tower District Specific Plan Citizens Committee as well as on the Plan’s Implementation Committee. Beginning in 2022, he began serving on the current Tower Specific Plan Update Committee. In addition to being a board member of the Tower District Preservation Fund, Michael is co-founder of the non-profit Tower District Preservation Association, and currently serves as Chief Financial Officer for both the Tower Fund and the Tower Association.

John Alden (Board member) has been a resident of Fresno for most of his life, having lived for a short stent in Los Angeles, he has been back to the central valley since 2001. His work as a photographer and graphic artist for his company, JA Photography, has carried him extensively throughout California. John has been a board member of several local creative groups, most recently with Fresno Film Works. He became a part of Fresno Music Academy & Arts in 2014 (formerly The Voice Shop) and has been the managing director since, overseeing its growth and community outreach. He is also a musician and an artist..

Charlotte Showers (Chief Financial Officer)

Charlotte Showers is the bookkeeper for Fresno Music Academy & Arts. She is a Fresno native and joined Peace Rocks Foundation and has served as Treasurer since 2023. Prior to employment with FMAA, she worked as the Controller for a large Produce Distributor and as an Accountant with various Public and Private companies. Her first job was as a file clerk with Frontier Chevrolet in Fresno. She is a graduate of Fresno State and Bullard High School.