NAMM (The National Association of Music Merchants), the largest global not-for-profit music trade organization, has announced Julia Rubio as the new NAMM Foundation executive director to help fulfill its mission of strengthening the music products industry and promoting the pleasures and benefits of making music. Rubio succeeds Mary Luehrsen, the Foundation’s former executive director and NAMM’s senior public policy advisor, who will be retiring later this year after 22 successful years. Rubio will report directly to NAMM President and CEO, and NAMM Foundation President, John Mlynczak.
“Julia’s abundance of experience and expertise in music education and performance, as well as in the nonprofit world, will have an immediate global impact on The NAMM Foundation and its critical endeavors and activities,” says John Mlynczak, President and CEO of NAMM and President of The NAMM Foundation. “Her business acumen and leadership qualities are an ideal fit for our culture and will be instrumental in driving the Foundation’s mission, values and goals.”
“I am beyond thrilled and honored to be joining The NAMM Foundation,” Rubio said. "I’m eager to lead the Foundation in its mission while representing the generosity and philanthropy of the music products industry.”
Rubio brings a wealth of experience in nonprofit leadership and grantmaking and began her career as a public-school orchestra teacher in Hamilton, Ohio. Rubio comes to NAMM from the Merakey Foundation where she served as the executive director since 2019 and oversaw grantmaking and fundraising for the nation’s largest behavioral health nonprofit. Rubio has also held executive director roles at high-performing cultural, arts, and educational nonprofits and foundations.
With a proven track record of setting organizational strategy, guiding board development, grantmaking and corporate philanthropy, Julia is regularly called upon as a trusted philanthropy advisor to families, foundations and companies to guide charitable giving across diverse areas.
Julia is a certified Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy with the American College of Financial Services and earned a master’s in nonprofit management from Columbia College Chicago and a bachelor’s in music education from Miami University.
Some of the Foundation’s key activities that Rubio will be leading include NAMM’s grant program which funds the creation of more music makers worldwide; Consider a Career In Music, a resource for school counselors, parents, as well as students readying for college that presents the many viable areas of music to consider pursuing; Best Communities for Music Education, celebrating school districts and schools for their support and commitment to music education, that is now in its 25th year; the signature sponsorship of Make Music Day — a celebration of music-making around the world; GenNext, which gives colleges, students and faculty access to career-advancing programs and events at The NAMM Show; and NAMM Foundation-funded music research that continues to advance perceptions and understanding about the role of active participation in music for all people everywhere.