Faculty and Staff
Panos A. Panay
Senior Vice President, Global Strategy and Innovation
Panos A. Panay '94 is the founding managing director of Berklee's Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship (BerkleeICE) as well as a passionate entrepreneur and active startup mentor in the creative media space. As founder of Sonicbids, Panay succesfully created a platform for musicians to promote themselves more effectively.
He is also cofounder of the Open Music Initiative, which aims to streamline rights management data ensuring proper compensation for rights owners and creators. In recognition of his ability to bring innovation to Berklee and promote the creative entrepreneurs mindset in students, Panay was recently promoted to vice president of Innovation and Strategy at Berklee.
Sarah B. Patrick
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Senior Manager of Strategic Initiatives
Sarah B. Patrick is the senior manager of strategic initiatives for BerkleeICE and the Office of Global Strategy and Innovation. She has forged her career in a myriad of creative and media industries, braiding together project management, program design, and strategic planning. Marrying her right-brained creativity with left-brained actuation, Patrick has created educational programing for the Berkshire International Film Festival and collaborated on cultural engagement with the American Repertory Theater as they mounted the Tony-winning musical Porgy & Bess. She graduated from New York University's Gallatin School in 2008 with a degree in cinema studies, philosophy, and visual arts.
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Tonya Butler
Chair, Music Business/Management
Tonya Butler is the chair of the Music Business/Management Department at Berklee, the first woman to hold a leadership position in that department. A seasoned veteran of the music business, Butler has more than 14 years of experience as an entertainment attorney and record label executive working for various major and independent record companies, music publishers, and film studios, including Rhino Records, Pioneer Entertainment, and MGM Music.
A native of Los Angeles, Butler is an award-winning motivational speaker, Toastmaster, and author of the self-published career guide, The Music Business Is Corrupt, or Maybe You Just Can’t Sing? She is a strong advocate for artists' rights and entrepreneurship education, having served two terms on the Recording Academy’s board of governors and three terms on the executive board of the Music and Entertainment Industry Educators Association.
Her 15 years of undergraduate- and graduate-level teaching experience includes the Los Angeles Film School, Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), the University of Memphis, and the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law. She has a juris doctorate from California Western School of Law and a Master of Laws in entertainment and media from Southwestern University School of Law/Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, England.
Michael Hendrix
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Professor
In his role as partner and executive design director at the global design and innovation consultancy IDEO, Michael Hendrix has worked on everything from home goods to homeland security. A natural trailblazer and collaborator, he has founded several design programs and businesses. Most recently he cofounded the Open Music Initiative with BerkleeICE to simplify how music rights owners are identified and compensated.
Throughout his career as an award-winning graphic designer, he’s also nurtured his passion for music, producing records and recording as dream pop artist R.M.Hendrix. He now is able to bring his love for music and design together as a co-instructor with BerkleeICE's Startup Lab and Creative Entrepreneur's Mindset courses.
George Howard
Faculty Lead
George Howard is an associate professor of music business/management at Berklee College of Music and Brown University, and the founder of GHS, a strategic consulting firm that advises a wide range of clients on how to integrate technology with strategy in order to increase brand awareness and revenue through innovation, social media, digital platforms, and strategic partnerships. A partial list of clients includes Intel, National Public Radio, CVS Pharmacy, and Alticor/Amway.
Additionally, Howard is the cofounder of Music Audience Exchange, which uses technology to redefine the fundamental structure of brand/artist relationships. He is the former president of Rykodisc, the world’s largest independent record label, and cofounder of TuneCore, the world’s largest independent digital music distributor. Howard is a columnist for Forbes, and a frequent contributor to the New York Times and numerous other publications.
Aithan Shapira
Research Lead
Aithan Shapira speaks at global venues and advises senior executives and boards of Fortune 500 tech, financial, aviation, healthcare, and energy companies on creative leadership strategies in uncertain times and how to "lead by seeing and listening differently." His research on how the arts can transform organizations and leadership has guided initiatives, entertainment experiences, curricula, products, and corporate cultures.
Maria Finkelmeier
Associate Professor
Called a “one-woman dynamo” by the Boston Globe and named Boston’s Best Creative Catalyst in 2018 by the Improper Bostonian, Maria Finkelmeier is a percussionist, composer, educator, and arts entrepreneur. She is cofounder of MASARY Studios, an artist collective responsible for turning Fenway Park's Green Monster into an instrument and projection canvas, and Kadence Arts, a nonprofit creating an ecosystem of art-making and learning through innovative music programming and presenting.