2009 DCA Adjudication Leadership Announced

DCA President, Gil Silva, has announced the election of John Kreitzer as DCA Judging Coordinator for 2009. Kreitzer was the choice of the member corps to fill the void left with the resignation of long time Judging Coordinator Rich Templin. He will be joined by an experienced, and talented team of elected Chief Judges including Tony Smith, Visual Caption Chairman, Rich Guillen, Brass Caption Chairman and the returning Percussion Caption Chairman, John Stauffer. Their first duty will be preparation for and leadership of the upcoming Bi-Annual Rules Congress where each will be charged with moderating the sessions and ensuring that the changes presented are coordinated from caption to caption and result in the fairest and best possible adjudication system for the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

John Kreitzer from Lewes, DE, comes with a solid education background as a special education teacher, high school principal and now education administrator. He received his Doctor of Education degree from Wilmington College in Delaware. In drum corps, John was a performer and visual instructor with the Harrisburg Westshoremen of the 1970’s and 80’s. He became a DCA Judge in the late 80’s and has adjudicated over a dozen DCA World Championships. He has been the Southern Regional Director of Tournament of Bands for over 10 years. John brings to the position of Judge Coordinator a solid background in drum corps leadership and accomplishment combined with a career devoted to education and a fresh enthusiasm that will permeate the DCA Judging community in 2009.

Tony Smith takes over as Visual Caption Chairman. He started as a young percussionist with Boston Crusaders going on to teach, arrange and judge percussion before becoming Boston’s visual arranger and eventually, Corps Director. He turned his attention to visual design and adjudication and has been a DCA Adjudicator for many years. He went on to design and instruct a long and distinguished list of both junior and senior corps including Crossmen, Blue Devils, Skyliners and Caballeros. For the past 3 years he has been visual consultant/arranger for the Blue Devils. Tony owns his own design company specializing in retail store design and marketing. He also has taught retail design and marketing at both the Rhode Island School of Design and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

A familiar name to DCA is Rich Guillen, from the Hudson Valley of Downstate New York. Rich becomes Brass Caption Chairman after a long career in music including both performance and education. He is currently the band director of the Arlington, NY High School Band – often recognized as one of the best programs in the nation. He was a marching member of the Garfield Cadets and the Sunrisers Drum and Bugle Corps, and instructed the Sunrisers, the Hawthorne Caballeros and Dutch Boy Drum & Bugle Corps. He is an active adjudicator for marching band and drum corps circuits throughout the United States.

Returning as Percussion Caption Chairman is John Stauffer. Hailing from Harrisburg, PA, John was a performer and instructor for the Westshoremen for many years. John has been a DCA Adjudicator since 1995, and having led the caption since 2004, he brings a stable and experienced wisdom to the DCA adjudication team.