Natalia Ramirez is on Board…

The Colombian audio engineer and vocal tuning specialist has won a spot on the Recording Academy’s 40-member Board of Trustees.

Ramirez, who has worked on records by some of the biggest names in Latin music including Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthonyand Aleja ndro Sanz, beat out Sarah Hudson for a seat on the board in the recent trustees elections.

In all, the number of women on the Recording Academy’s 40-member board of trustees jumped from 14 to 17 following the elections, which included, for the first time in academy history, four “at large” trustee seats. In three of those four two-person contests, two women faced off, ensuring that a female would fill that seat.

Trustees are primarily selected by the governors of each of the academy’s 12 chapters. This year, for the first time, voting members selected the winners in four “at large” trustee seats. 

In those elections, Chelsey Green defeated Maimouna Youssef; Ramirez bested Hudson; Carolyn Malachi outpolled Kelly Price; and, in the one all-male face-off, PJ Morton beat Camilo Landau.

In addition to Green, Ramirez and Malachi, three other female trustees were newly elected this year: Yolanda Adams, Lisa Kaplan and Carol Riddick. Three other female trustees were re-elected: Claudia Brant, Terri Lyne Carrington and Leslie Ann Jones. 

Eight others are mid-term: Samantha Cox, Sue Ennis,Trey Fanjoy, Tracy Hamlin, Terry Jones, Emily Lazar, Julia Michels and Piper Payne.

In addition to Morton, six other male trustees were newly elected this year: Doug Emery, Andrew Joslyn, Thom “TK” Kidd, John Legend, Von Vargas and Gebre Waddell. 

Two other male trustees were re-elected: George Flanigen and Fletcher Foster. Fourteen others are mid-term:  Darrell Brown, John Burk, Jimmy Douglass, John Driskell Hopkins, Om’Mas Keith, Rico Love, Jonathan McReynolds, Riggs Morales, Tim Palmer, Justin Roberts, Michael Romanowski, Shannon Sanders, Ken Shepherd and Paul Wall.

While the four “at large” trustees were elected by voters nationwide, Green and Malachi are from the Washington, D.C., chapter, Ramirez is from the Florida chapter, and Morton is from the Memphis chapter.

The Los Angeles chapter accounts for six trustees on the new board, more than any other chapter. Florida, Nashville, New York and Washington D.C. are next in line, with four trustees each. Chicago, Memphis, San Francisco and Texas are next, with three trustees each. The Atlanta, Pacific Northwest and Philadelphia chapters each account for two trustees.

The four officers are all midterm. Harvey Mason Jr., continues as national chair (and also as interim president/CEO of the Recording Academy). Tammy Hurt continues as vice chair, Terry Hemmings as secretary/treasurer and Christine Albert as chair emeritus.