It’s been our great fortune to have Russ Fuquay as the School’s Business Manager for the past 10 years, but he’s crunched the numbers in the big spreadsheet of life and decided it’s time to move on.

Russ and his wife, Holly, own a thriving Knoxville business called Nonprofit Bookkeeping & Consulting. It’s doing so well, they needed to hire somebody else or bring Russ onboard full-time. They chose the latter.

“Russ has been a dependable, intelligent, thoughtful employee who always managed to find ways to make what we do for kids and the community better,” says Frank Graffeo, our executive director. “His keen eye for fiscal savings, solid planning, and exemplary work ethic made him invaluable. We wish Holly and him nothing but the best as they pursue their venture together.”

Happily, this is less “good-bye” than “au revoir.” We’ll still see Russ at least once a week. An accomplished musician who’s comfortable playing any instrument with frets, he volunteers as a guitar teacher on Wednesday nights.

“The greatest thing about working at the School is watching these kids develop,” Russ explains. “For a lot of them, this will change their lives: just the fact of learning how to play and read music and to be part of something bigger than themselves.”

Thank you, Russ, for all you’ve done for the Joy of Music School!

 

Click here to go to the top post.