CORe STAFF & YEAR ROUND Support
Vanessa is a little bit country, and a little bit rock n’ roll. Born and raised in WV, she has spent 1/2 her life now in MA (all but 2 years in southern Peru as a church planter). With a B.A. in Sociology and a passion for using music's ability to rally, encourage, and activate people, Vanessa loves the role she plays in bringing Christian music to New England. As co-producer of the SoulFest, she helps shape the unique platform the festival has to connect thousands of people focused on loving their neighbor and fighting injustice locally as well as abroad.
What she’s listening to: (This is too hard to limit, and highly dependent on mood) Jarvis Campbell, Jess Ray, Liz Vice, Mat Kearney, Coy Roy, Japanese Breakfast, Dawes, Thee Sacred Souls, Semler, Sylvan Esso, Maggie Rogers, Local Natives, Billie Holiday, Brandi Carlile, Mitski, Julieta Venegas, Joseph, Helado Negro, We The Kingdom, The Pointer Sisters….(My spotify mixes are pop, jazz, folk-acoustic, latin, classical,
Vanessa Ayersman
General Manager
Sarah first joined the Soulfest crew in 2011 as the Hospitality Assistant, moved over to Production Assistant a few years later, then Soulfest Intern, Stage Management, and finally after a few years off is back as Production Manager! Outside of Soulfest, Sarah works in the Live Event Industry as a stage manager and camera op and for The Art of Growth in Digital Marketing. She loves all things outdoorsy and adventurey and on her time off you can find her on a river, biking, hiking, running some trails, or daydreaming about her future goats and llamas.
Sarah Atherton
Production Manager
Debby Porter
Relationship Builder & Support Specialist + Festival Catering
Heather serves as Hospitality Coordinator for SoulFest. She first volunteered in 2004 and joined the hospitality team in 2011, becoming Coordinator in 2016. She assists in advancing, oversees backstage hospitality areas, and runs around with her team during the festival to make sure everyone is well looked after. During the rest of the year, Heather is a student at Franciscan University of Steubenville where she studies Theology & Catechetics and works in their Christian Outreach Office, assisting with logistics and hospitality for Steubenville Conferences.
Heather Grimes
Hospitality Manager & Database Guru
German is our digital social marketing consultant. He received a BA in music and loves to sing and play in his band DSLA with artist in residence Jesse Russell. He’s also a film enthusiast and creates much of our video content for social media and marketing.
He was born in the Dominican Republic, and is the youngest of 3 siblings. His name is Spanish so the G actually makes an “H” sound, like Hermán”, he’ll leave it up to you whether you feel brave enough to pronounce it in Spanish or not.
What he’s listening to: Unashamed to admit to country music, Latin music, Hillsong, Switchfoot, and more.
German Disla
Video Editor
Renna was a full-time employee with NSC for 6.5 years, starting as a social medial coordinator and stepping over time to be the Associate Producer (focused on logistics, customer service and supporting Dan Russell’s music career.
What she’s listening to: for KING & COUNTRY, John Mark McMillan, Kings Kaleidoscope, Jon Foreman, The Grey Havens, and Disney Soundtracks
Renna Muheidden
Festival Layout
Sarina oversees the year-round graphic designs for print materials (posters, flyers, programs), web & social media content, SoulFest Merchandise, and festival banners. She has been a part of the SoulFest team as the graphic designer since 2012 and has over 15 years experience doing graphic design. Sarina also has the privilege of getting to be a mother, wife, artist, worship leader, ministry leader, administrator, event coordinator, daughter of the best Chinese food restaurant owner in NH (China Station in Lebanon, NH - check it out!), Vermonter by birth, and lover of Jesus.
Who's she's listening to lately: Bethel Worship, Hillsong United, Bryan & Katie Torwalt (Jesus Culture), Jason Upton, Kari Jobe , Lacey Sturm, Blindside, Anberlin, and DC Talk!
Sarina Heroy
Project Based Graphic Designer
SOULFEST ONSITE KEY LEADERS
Brittany joined the SoulFest team in 2009 as a volunteer, and stepped into the coordinator role in 2011. She loves getting to know the many wonderful people who make up the SoulFest volunteer family, and helping to connect them with their volunteer teams. Outside of SoulFest, Brittany works as an office manager at a manufacturing company.
Brittany Frothingham-Epply
Volunteer Coordinator
Darren Pight
Peace Patrol Lead
Kevin Groder
The Tech Guy
Christina is the retail team coordinator and a manager on the artist merchandise team. She has been volunteering since 2005 and managing since 2011. Her main duties consist of scheduling and overseeing the retail volunteers and facilitating the artist merch sales.
Christina Kurtz
Artist Merchandise
Josh Kurtz oversees the merchandise departments up at Soulfest and has been coming to the festival since 2005. He tours full time as a guitar-tech in the music industry. In his spare time he enjoys fishing, playing cornhole, sports, and working on cars.
Josh Kurtz
SoulFest Merchandise
John a computer technician outside of Soulfest. At Soulfest John works on the Grounds Crew doing various jobs during setup. During the festival John manages the Clean Team. John has been volunteering at Soulfest since 2007, and has worked many different job as needed over the last 12 years. John loves the Lord and loves talking with people about the Lord.
John Couture
Clean Team
Kent is the Videographer for SoulFest and has been with the Soulfest team creating video content since 2007. He now produces for Soulfest TV and runs the video crew. He started his own production company in 2003 called Granite River Studios producing television commercials, promotional videos, and live events.
Kent Rich
Videographer
FESTIVAL FOUNDERS
Dan is the president and co-founder of the SoulFest. He started New Sound in 1977, SoulFest in 1998. Dan has worked as an artist Manager, advocate, musician, songwriter, concert and event promoter, record and film/tv/documentary producer and released his first album, Feel the Echoes, in 2017.
Dan Russell
President & Producer
Alison is the CFO of New Sound Concerts and a co-founder of the SoulFest. She joined New Sound in 1983.
Alison Russell
Retired Vice President & CFO