2024 – 2026 FCLMA Board of Directors

Mario Circelli – (Founder & Chair)

Sarah Hoy – Officer

James Reaney – Ex-Officio

Past & Present Steering Committee Members

(In No Particular Order)

We invite those we missed (unintentionally) let us know & we will add your name.

Ian Gifford, Catherine McInnes, Johann Kinting, Garwood Wallace, Jenny Nauta, Adam Debevc, Paul Breau, John Teeter, Marc Gammal, Meghan McCready, Lynn Dubuc, Matt Weston, Brendan Couture, Demetri Manuel, Alexandra Kane, Brady Parr, Jim McCormick, G. Scott Bollert, Alex Foster Roman, Andrew Purdy, Amanda Lynn Stubley, John B Young, Brandon Eedy, Brian McMillan, Brian Mortimer, Christine Paterson, Joseph Parry, Jacob Parry, Greg Hatchette, Ian Davies, Linda Wharton, Janis Wallace, Kevin Dunklee, Matt Farrant, Matt Grady, Tyler Hetherington, Melissa Parrott, Sarah Burke, Skye Sylvain, Simon Larochette, Fred Smith, James Tanney, Melissa “MO” Ogden, Greg Simpson, Michael Marucci, Darin Addison, Jenny Nauta, James Reaney, Adam Plante, Patrick Maloney, Andrea Dunn, Brad Gibb, Pierre Bussierre, Bianca Marcus, Josh Clark, Lauren Denualt, Matt Weston, Derek Leung, Cam Paton, Kathy Navackas, Kaarlo Koskiala, Steven Aziz, Janice Mills, Chris Parr, Steve Ward, Adam Dafoe, Edward Platero, Bob Breen, Brian Lambert, Christian Lewis, Marty Ryersee, Don DiCarlo, Aaron Murray, Glenn Waugh, Tommy Alcatraz, Silence Genti, Michael DeeVee, Steve Kopp, Barb Whitney, Gina Farrugia, Kate Milner, Andrew Petrasiunas, Tara Scott, Sarah Smith, Jody Stockfish, Dave O’Halloran, Rene O’Halloran, Dan Brodbeck, Kelly Ziegner, Sylvia Pozeg, Howie Kittelson, Vera Kittelson, Joel Jacobs, Aaron McMillan, Richard Gracious, Ryan McNevin, James O’Rourke, Bob Klanac, JW Huff, Carolyn Mitchell, Jeff Blake, Juliana Kopp, Destiny Q, Scott Hill, Demetri Manuel, Shannon Murray, Victoria Lee-Hudson Morse, Lucy Gravelle, Janice Drysdale, Will Haas, Maddox Bourdeau, Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Willie Loman, Stephen Harding, Ryan Spence, Colin Stewart, LaDel Sanders, Brian Lambert, Jeffy B, Grant Stein, Kate Young (MP), Donna Currie, John M. Sharpe, Paul Sharpe, Trish Kiwanuka, Marsha Haggarty, Ian Gillespie, Jacky El, Jade Bennett, Karie Wells, Cindy Allison, Karen & Adam Grant, Dave Kinchlea, Fred Young, Nicole Bain, Kathy Bulmer

We’re always looking for passionate people who can help make the awards program and Forest City London Music Week happen every year.
Please contact us to inquire about joining any of our team.

WEBSITE:

Board Chair Bios

Mario Circelli, Founder & Chair 2002 – 2007, 2015 – Present

Mario Circelli

Mario is a broadcast journalist, documentary filmmaker, communications expert and musician. His love of music began in elementary school. He soon began playing in bands in high school and continued throughout university and college before switching to behind the scenes work as an audio engineer and producer. He has produced and/or engineered over 45 records and compilation albums over his career. 

Circelli worked in the radio and television industry for 20 years as a reporter, newscaster and radio station manager.  Later, he was a senior producer at A-Channel/CTV London before moving into the communication industry as a government and community outreach specialist.  His documentary credits include, “Stinkin’ Out the Joint”, the story of London Ontario’s Punk Rock music scene, “In Our Own Words”, which chronicled Italian immigration to south-western Ontario, “Everyday Heroes”, a look at London Ontario and our response to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as work for the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and several student films. 

He is the founder and chair of the Forest City London Music Awards (2002 – present) and the London Music Hall of Fame. Mario also operates a private consultancy practice focused on marketing, communications, media and event management and is the founder and Manager of Youth Programs and the Digital Creative Arts Centre at BGC London. 

Grant Stein, Chair 2013 – 2015

I was born into a transient family background, my father was in the Canadian artillery, his father was a Scottish orphan, virtually sold into Canadian history in 1904. My mother’s family has been in Ontario since the mid-1800s. Growing up, I moved around quite a bit, I was born in Oakville, ON, moved to Kingston, Gagetown, Montreal, Hemer West Germany, Ottawa, Lahr West Germany, Stuttgart West Germany, Ottawa, and during the next few years got into the radio broadcasting and lived in London, Toronto, Sarnia, and now…back to London, ON where I’ve been for 15 years….I’ve wanted to belong somewhere and I’ve chosen London, Ontario (believe). I Managed CHRW radio until I moved back to Ottawa.

John b. Young, Chair 2008 – 2012

John b. Young was a fixture at the Fanshawe College working for more than 34 years at the Fanshawe Student Union.

Over the decades, John championed programs that supported Canadian entertainers. Students were treated to free events during their lunch hours as 450 different acts performed at noon in the Student Union Building. Among them were comics Jim Carrey, Shaun Majumder, Russell Peters and McLean & McLean. Variety acts included America’s Got Talent finalist Stevie Star — “The Human Regurgitator” — and hypnotists Mike Mandell and Tony Lee.
Also performing were musicians Dayna Manning and Derek Trucks, both then in their teens. Canadian icons Ron Sexsmith and Sarah Harmer had gigs. Local ally Colin Stewart and the London Musicians’ Association helped bring in Forest City performers such as Paul Langille.

John was committed to presenting rising stars in the Canadian music scene. That brought Barenaked Ladies, Great Big Sea, Amanda Marshall,Treble Charger, Jeff Healey, Blue Rodeo, Molly Johnson and hip hoppers Maestro, k-os, Kardinal Offishall, Shad and Classified to Fanshawe.

On the bill at Thursday night pubs were bands such as The Tragically Hip, Big Sugar, Doug & The Slugs, Headstones and The Tea Party— who were all to become big stars across Canada.

In the early 2000s, he landed Alexisonfire at a Fanshawe Orientation concert in for a few hundred dollars. The following year, Alexisonfire was commanding $6,000 a performance on the campus circuit.

John grew up in the Chatham-Kent community of Ridgetown. Music always had a powerful influence in his life. His two older sisters made him sing along to TV’s American Bandstand when he was 10. He listened to Windsor’s hit-making radio station CKLW during his teens. At Ridgetown District high school, he was the DJ at the weekly school dance.

By Grade 11, John was booking bands at the high school. He spent his summers in the early 1970s going to the Rondeau Pavilion (about 10 km from his home) seeing Bob Seger, Alice Cooper, Rare Earth and many other Detroit- and Toronto-based bands. He was a part-time DJ at Lake Erie pavilion and remembers the night Parliament-Funkadelic took the stage with the horn section dressed in pink satin Ku Klux Klan outfits.

In January 1972, during his senior year, he booked Randy Bachman’s post-Guess Who band Brave Belt for a high school dance. That summer John attended a number of Brave Belt performances. In late August, the band offered him work as a roadie. He accepted and was in the Toronto studios when Brave Belt recorded its third album — and changed its name to become Canadian superstars Bachman Turner Overdrive.

He still remembers a great cover that did not make the album. It was The Letter (the 1967 Box Tops hit). Randy Bachman’s guitar solo with Fred Turner’s deep vocals were very memorable.

During his years as a Fanshawe student, John became the VP Entertainment, presented his former bosses BTO in the cafeteria and organized many memorable evenings of entertainment. In his final year, he was elected the FSU President.

For a few years after graduating, he was off-campus, working in the Canadian music industry.

In the spring of 1981, the FSU opened the first Student Centre owned by students on a college campus in Ontario. John returned to Fanshawe after being hired by FSU president Tim Wharton. John and Tim are friends
to this day.

The following year the annual Campus Entertainment Conference (CEC) was about to be cancelled. John presented a plan for the FSU to host the CEC in London.

Schools involved helped establish a board for the new Canadian Association of Campus Activities (CACA) with John as the chair.

CEC 72 was a financial success and the FSU Executive agreed to donate $3,500 from the profit at that conference to help establish the CACA successor, the Canadian Organization of Campus Activities (COCA).

During his tenure at Fanshawe, John’s involvement with COCA included hosting or co-hosting three national and two regional conferences. He also sat on its board. He helped present many educational seminars and assisted on all supporting committees.

John credits his success to the scores of student leaders he has worked with — and their willingness to take risks and enthusiasm in supporting projects. Many of those leaders are now long-time friends.

He also would like to thank all the full-time staff at the FSU who supported him plus many peers in the industry, including Earle Taylor, executive director of COCA.