Amanda Casper founded GRYS in 2022 after completing her master’s degree in Horn Performance at Southern Methodist University. Before founding GRYS, Amanda had an active freelance career throughout New York, Cleveland, and Florida. While in Florida, Amanda founded a successful horn studio (the Florida Horn Studio) and taught over 100 horn students at over a dozen schools. Some of her former students have attended prestigious summer festivals including Aspen, Tanglewood and Interlochen. She also had several students receive full rides to programs at Eastman, the University of Michigan, and the Royal Conservatory of Scotland.

Amanda began her classical training at an early age and quickly excelled in the Juilliard Pre-college program in middle school. In high school, she continued her training at the Manhattan School of Music Pre-college. In 2006, Amanda received her Bachelor of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with members of the Cleveland Orchestra. Amanda offers a unique perspective as an educator, as she was a licensed clinical social worker for many years. She received a Bachelor of Psychology from Case Western Reserve University (’06) as well as a Master in Social Work degree (’11).

Amanda brings a wealth of diverse experience and is excited to incorporate her many skills she has acquired over the past 25 years of teaching, as well as learning and growing in a variety of disciplines.

Russ Porter and his wife, Karen, are the owners of the Rockwall School of Music, which provides weekly private lessons to over 800 individuals in the greater Rockwall area. Russ has always been involved in music since age 4 years old. Even though his musical journey has included piano, cello, and band, singing solos and being in a choir has always been where he found his deepest connection with music. Russ has a bachelors degree in church music from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas as well as a Masters in Church Music from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Prior to becoming owner of the Rockwall School of Music, Russ served churches in Texas and Louisiana for 24 years as a full-time music minister. Russ and Karen have been married for 46 years. They have two adult children and two grandchildren.

David Vega is the Founder and CEO of Rockwall Capital Group. He has been fortunate to have worked with, for and collaborated with a multitude of extraordinary people providing for a wealth of invaluable experiences. Each of which has contributed toward a broad and enriching business career. He has served in a variety of executive roles contributing to Fortune 500 growth/turnaround efforts, entrepreneurial startup/exits and lending strategic support to a myriad of non-profit organizations. He is a native Texan earning a Bachelor of Business degree with a concentration in Human Resources from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Ben Sumrak is GRYS’s Rockwall ISD School Liaison and Board Member Emeritus. He has 20-years of experience in Fine Arts education. He most recently served four years as Director of Bands at Rockwall-Heath High School. Before coming to Rockwall ISD in 2016, he held Assistant or Head Band Director positions in Mesquite and Garland ISD. His UIL Contest record includes 16-years of 1st Division Sweepstakes ratings in Concert and Sight Reading as well as 16-years of 1st Division Sweepstakes ratings in Marching Band.

Kevin helps to build, manage, preserve, and transition wealth for not only individuals, but businesses of all sizes. As a Wells Fargo Advisors VP, he provides Wealth Planning, Private Banking, Trust and Mergers & Acquisitions

Kevin graduated from SMU with a Bachelor of Arts in 1990. Upon graduation, I worked at BofA and Merrill Lynch. Later, I joined Wells Fargo Advisors. I have 24 years of comprehensive wealth management.

Leah Penna is the President and Founder of FP Assistance, Inc., a non-profit organization founded in 1995 for the purpose of reducing hunger and obesity among children and to be a leader in nutrition education. Leah has grown FP Assistance into a non-profit that provides financial assistance of over $30 million per year to low-income child care and after-school programs for over 70,000 children in the State of Texas. Leah has advanced FP Assistance’s mission to include the Garden Project. The Garden Project is a gardening initiative provided to child care centers to provide simple garden solutions and USDA approved educational resources to exemplify the farm to table experience to young children and to encourage them to ‘Choose Fresh First’.

Leah Penna has a strong commitment to serving her community through board involvement and volunteering with her husband, Riley, two children, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren. When Leah isn’t working, you can find her painting with watercolors, spending time with family or bonding with her 3 year old horse Apache.

Miranda Conn was raised in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. In high school, she played clarinet in concert band and qualified/performed with the Oklahoma All-State Symphonic Band. She also competed regionally and nationally with The Pride of Broken Arrow marching band. During college, she marched with the Texas Christian University band her freshman year and also participated in the Fort Worth Community Band. Miranda graduated Magna Cum Laude from Texas Christian University with her Bachelor degree in Accounting and Finance in 2007 and obtained her Master of Accounting degree in 2008. She is a Certified Public Accountant with public accounting experience and is now an Associate Director for a large private equity fund administrator. Miranda and her family reside on a small ranch in northern Rockwall area.

Shannon Thompson joined APlus in October 2020 as the Business Development Manager for the DFW area. Prior to that, she was a Director of Sales in the Hospitality industry. Shannon enjoys building strong relationships within the community and is excited to expand the APlus brand to Texas. In her spare time, Shannon loves camping and spending time with her family and dogs. Her husband and children often refer to her as the “The crazy dog lady.”