1st Place Design Partners
Nicholas D. Hobbs - Percussion
Nicholas D. Hobbs is a composer, educator, and private instructor for the Central Florida area. Nick studied percussion performance and music composition at the University of Tampa.
Nick composes and arranges for many marching bands including Plant City HS, Plant HS, Land O Lakes HS and Weasley Chapel HS to name a few. Nick is the co-arranger and front ensemble caption head for the new FFCC group "Synergy", Bloomingdale High School?s extramural indoor percussion ensemble. The group is first of its kind in Hillsborough County, because it is a collaboration with multiple schools providing the best possible educational experience for all the counties percussion students.
As an instructor, Nick strives to build successful programs from the ground up. He Spent the 2009 season as the caption head of Weasley Chapel High School, helping them place 5th in percussion during the FMBC 1-A State Championships. Nick's latest school, Plant High School, scored a 92.6 in percussion in FMBC 4A placing in the top 10 in all of the state of Florida.
He is a former member of the 2004 and 2006 Magic of Orlando and 2007 Boston Crusaders. Nick was also a member of Orlando’s Infinity Percussion in 2007, the first WGI Independent World Percussion group from Florida.
When not teaching or composing music, Nick works at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Tampa as their Medical Response Technician.
Ed Devlin - Drill Design
Ed Devlin is currently the owner of Devlin Visual Design which provides services for the Marching Arts, and he serves as the President of the Winter Guard International Board of Directors. In this capacity, Ed is responsible for leading the organization’s future growth and development as well as overseeing the activities of the board of directors. He is also past president of the Eastern Massachusetts Color Guard Circuit.
Ed has been the Director of the Blessed Sacrament Color Guard since 1995 and has been with Blessed Sacrament for 26 years. Blessed Sacrament celebrated their 30th year as a WGI World Class Finalist in 2009. Ed also serves on the design staff of the Blessed Sacrament Color Guard.
He is also the visual designer for the Miamisburg High School Winter Guard and is actively involved in the drum corps activity as a designer. Ed previously designed for Academie Musicale, The Boston Crusaders, the Crossmen, the 1999 & 2005 DCI Div. II Champion East Coast Jazz, and the Jersey Surf.
Ed designs for many bands from all corners of the marching activity, most notably King Philip Regional High School, for which he has designed for many years. King Philip is acknowledged as one of the premier Marching Band’s in the Northeast, having won Gold Medals and State and Regional Championships at every level during Ed’s tenure.
Kimberly Bolduc - Color Guard Design
Kim was born and raised in Danvers, MA. She marched with St. John’s of Beverly Winter Guard from 1992-2003 and 2005 and was captain for 7 of those years. Kim started marching in drum corps with the Citations in 1999 and continued with the NH Spartans from 2000-2002 and The Cadets from 2003 through her age out in 2005. She had the honor of being Color Guard co-captain when The Cadets captured the 2005 DCI Div. 1 World Championship. Kim’s last season marching was with The WGI World Class Silver Medalist Pride of Cincinnati winter guard in 2006.
Kim has worked with some amazing kids and incredible staff members including: St. John’s of Beverly, MA, Cheshire High School, CT, East Haven High School, CT, Salem High School, MA, Malden High School, MA, Danvers High School, MA, Greenfield Central High School, IN and Carmel High School, IN, which claimed the 2007 WGI Scholastic Open Class World Championship.
Kim has been on the guard staff of the Boston Crusaders since 2008, and spent the previous two summers working for Fred J. Miller Inc. as a summer clinician. In that capacity, she had the opportunity to work with hundreds of students and teachers across the country.
She is a graduate from IUPUI in Indianapolis with a degree in Tourism, Convention, and Event Management. She is presently the Executive Director of Mass Bay Music Festivals. Mass Bay offers music performance opportunities for scholastic groups around New England in a unique format that includes clinics and master classes for participating ensembles.
Frederick Ford - Percussion
Fred Ford has been involved in the marching music activity for over 35 years as a performer, instructor, arranger, program coordinator and adjudicator. For fourteen years, Fred served as the assistant director and staff/program coordinator at the East Coast Jazz. He helped lead the corps to eleven Division II/III Finalist berths, six medalist spots and two Division II World Championship titles in (1998 and 2005). As the program coordinator for The Jersey Surf Drum and Bugle Corps, Fred led the corps to the Silver Medal in 2007 and Bronze in 2008. Fred still serves as the show coordinator for the Surf as they’ve moved to the World Class stage. Fred has also taught numerous high school bands in Massachusetts. Fred also serves on the Board of Directors for The Boston Crusaders. He is also the present percussion caption chairperson for Mass Judges Association as well as a music and percussion adjudicator for the NESBA, MAC and MICCA circuits.
Fred is a graduate of Suffolk University (B.A in Liberal Arts) and Lesley College (M.M.A in Management) and resides in Wakefield, MA with his wife Cheryl and 2 children, Sarah and Andrew. He is currently employed by The iconGroupe in Sales and Development.
Jeff Bolduc - Wood Wind and Brass
Click here to view Jeff's Bio and credentials.
