Charles “Chip” Staley directs the Wind Symphony and is a member of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) leadership team at the Merit School of Music in Chicago. Staley is also the Founder and President of ARTSpeaks, a non-profit arts advocacy organization and teaches graduate coursework at the VanderCook College of Music. Staley began his career at Eisenhower High School in Blue Island, Illinois, before moving to Naperville, Illinois to teach at Waubonsie Valley High school. Staley transferred to Neuqua Valley High School when it opened, serving as Department Chair and teaching the Wind Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, Jazz Ensemble and Marching Band before retiring from public school teaching. Under his leadership, Neuqua Valley High School was twice recognized by the GRAMMY® Foundation as the National GRAMMY® Signature School and was awarded the 2009 John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts National Schools of Distinction in Arts Education Award. Staley’s bands and orchestras have performed at the Midwest Clinic, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, and at venues in the People’s Republic of China, England, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Staley has conducted the ILMEA All-State Band and maintains an active schedule as a keynote speaker, clinician and conductor. Most recently, the Merit School of Music Wind Symphony performed at the ILMEA Conference and shared a concert with the University of Illinois Wind Symphony in Foellinger Great Hall.