UMass drumline alum Ian Wudyka has been named the new northeast district manager of the band and orchestral division at Yamaha Corporation of America, the world’s largest musical instrument manufacturer.
Wudyka joined Yamaha in January 2014 as a percussion intern soon after receiving his bachelor’s degree in entertainment marketing from UMass Amherst. By gaining hands-on experience organizing and managing promotional material, as well as creating content for Yamaha.com and catalogs, he was promoted to percussion product specialist and in 2016 became an associate district manager. Wudyka earned the Yamaha Note Award and the division’s Marketing Star Award.
An avid percussionist, Wudyka has a rich history with Drum Corps International, performing with the Cadets Drum & Bugle Corp from 2009 to 2011 and winning a DCI championship with the corps in 2011. He also played with the Minuteman Marching Band at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and arranged works for the school’s Marimba band. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, majoring in entertainment management.
“Ian came to Yamaha with an unusually high level of achievement for a recent college graduate,” said Troy Wollwage, marketing manager, Percussion Instruments, Yamaha Corporation of America. “The range of his experience includes performing, composing and valuable business experience that will help Yamaha serve dealers and end users with the excellence they have come to expect.”