MANAGING DIRECTOR

Rick Meadows has been involved with the Mabel Mercer Foundation for nearly three decades working closely with his mentor, the late Donald Smith, founder and executive director emeritus. In his tenure, Rick has stage managed twenty-six New York Cabaret Conventions as well as conventions in San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, Palm Springs, and London, as well as a series of Cabaret At Sea voyages for the Mabel Mercer Foundation. As a West Virginia native and music student (vocal major / piano minor) he graduated magna cum laude. Highlights from his twenty years as a performer include four years as a featured singer on luxury cruise lines in the Caribbean, South America, the Mexican Riviera, Alaska and from Egypt to Russia. In New York his stage credits include two Carnegie Hall appearances, performances at New York State Theater Lincoln Center, three shows at The Papermill Playhouse, three Drama League Galas (Pierre Hotel), and several tours. Rick is a member of Actors Equity Association and IATSE unions. In addition to his post as the foundation’s managing director he’s worked for twenty-six years behind the scenes at “The Longest Running American Musical on Broadway” – CHICAGO.

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

KT has appeared in every New York Cabaret Convention since the inaugural event in 1989 at The Town Hall. Donald Smith discovered her in a revue of the songs of Bart Howard (Mabel Mercer’s first pianist in the US and composer of Fly Me to the Moon) in 1988, directed by Buddy Barnes, a favorite accompanist of Mabel Mercer. KT starred annually at the Oak Room of New York’s Algonquin Hotel, and also at the Neue Galerie’s Café Sabarsky on Fifth Avenue. She appeared at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC with Brian Stokes Mitchell in “Broadway Today,” and is a regular at London’s newest cabaret Crazy Coqs. KT has headlined at Carnegie Hall, Town Hall, and The Caramoor Festival. She has also performed at The Spoleto Festival, The New York Historical Society, La Nouvelle Eve in Paris, The Chichester Festival in the U.K., and The Adelaide Festival in Australia. She also appeared as a guest star on Garrison Keillor’s “Prairie Home Companion.” KT has seven albums on the DRG label, including “Crazy World” (voted #1 in the vocals category of Tower Records’ Pulse Magazine), and “Live From Rainbow and Stars: The Songs of Bart Howard,” which won Backstage magazine’s Bistro Award. She was twice named one of the top 100 Irish Americans by Irish America magazine.

CHAIRMAN, BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Howard Lee Morgan is Chair of B Capital Group, a multi stage global fund based in Singapore and Manhattan Beach, CA and Co-Founder of First Round Capital, established in 2004 as an early stage venture fund based in Philadelphia, PA, New York and San Francisco. He is also President of Arca Group Inc. in New York and a Director of Idealab, the Pasadena , CA based creator and operator of internet companies, where he was a founding investor in 1996. He holds a B.S. in Physics from the City College of New York, a Ph.D. in Operations Research from Cornell University, and an M.S.(hc) from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Morgan served as Chairman of the Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia from 2000-2007. He and his wife Eleanor created Morgan’s Cabaret, which showcased top cabaret performers for two week runs, so they could perfect a show. After moving back to New York City, he joined the board of the Mabel Mercer Foundation to continue support for this American art form. Dr. Morgan serves as a Trustee of Cornell University, a Foundation Director of the New York Public Library, Trustee of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories, a Director and Executive Committee member of Math for America and as a Chair of the Mabel Mercer Foundation. He was named Delaware Valley Entrepreneur of the Year in the prestigious Ernst & Young competition.