The Mixed Barbershop Harmony Association (MBHA) is a 501(c)3, non-profit charitable organization serving the needs of mixed barbershop harmony in North America. Established in 2014, its leadership comprises men and women with vast experience and participation in the barbershop style and performing in the mixed barbershop harmony genre. The MBHA is an affiliate of the Barbershop Harmony Society.
The MBHA seeks to provide a "voice" for the community of barbershop singers whose ensembles include a mix of men and women singers. Through the MBHA, mixed barbershop harmony ensembles will find opportunities for competition and the ability to represent North America on the world stage at the World Mixed Harmony Competition in Germany, hosted by Barbershop in Germany. (BinG!)
About Our 2025/26 Board of Directors
Janine Roberts - President (2028)
A passionate barbershopper with close to three decades of Sweet Adelines experience as well as competing with various quartets, Janine took over as Membership Chair for the Mixed Barbershop Harmony Association in November 2017 and was appointed to the Board of Directors in January 2018. In 2019 she stepped out of the Membership Chair role and into Governance and Bylaws and then "created" the new role of Project Manager in 2021 to bring some of her "other life" to MBHA.
After seeing an ad in the local paper for “free singing lessons,” Janine joined SAI Region 26 Westcoast Harmony Chorus in late 1995. She transferred a couple of years later to Lions Gate Chorus, where she held numerous Music and Management Team positions.
In 2005, she attended the Buckeye Invitational and caught the mixed barbershop bug. She sang briefly with mixed quartet By Invitation Only, which included members from Manhattan, NY, Indianapolis, IN, and Vancouver, BC, Canada. She is also a founding member of Afterglow Quartet, a mixed quartet based out of the BC lower mainland which started in 2003 (Janine was replaced in 2006 when she left barbershop but has continued to sub in for holiday performances over the years).
Following a 12- year hiatus from barbershop during which she served on the board of a newly formed non-profit and continued her administrative and management career, Janine returned to barbershop as a sub in for Afterglow at the Evergreen Division 2 contest in the spring of 2017 which was such an awesome experience, she decided to start a new mixed quartet and Full Measure was born. After many performances and and an invite to the 2020 BinG! World Mixed Quartet Competition to represent Canada, COVID hit and unfortunately, Full Measure decided on an "indefinite hiatus". She's now singing with Wild Applause mixed quartet with shows and contests on the horizon.
Among the experiences she counts as highlights of her barbershop life:
- traveling to England and Scotland with mixed chorus Pacific Coast Sound in June 2017;
- the opportunity to serve as MBHA Membership Chair and being appointed to the Board of Directors in 2018.
- Winning a 2nd place International Sweet Adelines Chorus medal with Lions Gate chorus in October 2019
- Being invited to represent Canada at the 2020 BinG! World Mixed Quartet Competition in Dortmund, Germany (unfortunately cancelled due to COVID)
- Singing with 4 SAI choruses in 2022/2023 - Pacific Edge Chorus (2023 Maritime Tour), Westcoast Harmony Chorus (2022 SAI International competition), Peace Arch Chorus (2023 SAI Region #26 competition & 2024 dual member) and Lions Gate Chorus
- Winning the 2023 Sweet Adelines International chorus contest with Lions Gate Chorus
Dick Powell - Vice-President (2027)
Dick Powell has held many leadership positions in the BHS at the chapter, district, and Society levels culminating as Society President. He also served as President of the Mid-Atlantic District. Dick served as a certified Contest Administrator and is a member of the Mid-Atlantic District Honor Society and the MAD Hall of Honor.
As well as singing lead in his local chapter and singing bass with both a mixed-voice community chorus and a mixed-voice barbershop chorus, he serves as Secretary of the Board of the Linwood Center, a facility dedicated to the support of autistic children and adults and their families in their quest to lead extraordinary lives.
Currently retired, Dick has over 60 years of experience in strategic planning, organizational development,
education and training, and leadership consultation for senior executives. He has held a variety of positions in strategic planning, human resources, banking, and research and development organizations.
Dick and his wife Roxanne have seven children, six grandchildren, and three great grand-children. They reside in Crofton, Md.
Bill Colosimo - Treasurer (2027)
Bill is a passionate and experienced vocal music performer, educator, coach, clinician and choral director with over 40 years of active professional engagement in the vocal arts. Trained at Cranbrook (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan) and Brandeis University in vocal music and choral direction, Mr. Colosimo has produced, performed in or directed over 300 professional or educational vocal music programs and workshops all over the East Coast, particularly in the Washington, DC area, including such venues as the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Constitution Hall, Lisner Auditorium, Philadelphia’s Academy of Music, the National Mall and countless places of worship, Georgetown and Salisbury Universities, as well as major concert venues like Nationals Park, RFK Stadium, Camden Yards, the Patriot Center, Verizon Center and convention centers nationwide.
Having achieved regional and international recognition as an award-winning quartet and chorus singer in the Barbershop Harmony Society, Bill currently sings in Serendipity, the 2017 MBHA Mixed Quartet Champion. Bill was elected as a Director-at-Large on the Board of the MBHA in July 2017 and elected Treasurer in February 2018. He is Music Director of the 80-voiced mixed gender pops chorus, The Alexandria Singers. From 1991 to 2017, he was Music Director of the award-winning Barbershop Harmony Society’s Singing Capital Chorus.
A sought-after clinician, workshop leader and ensemble coach, Bill’s passion for music education and vocal performance for children and teenagers prompted his establishment of the Choral Foundation of Northern Virginia, providing vocal music educational and performance opportunities to young people, in 2005. He is currently the Foundation’s Founder and Artistic Director. He serves (or has served) on numerous boards and advisory committees dedicated to vocal music activity, including the Alexandria Arts Alliance, the Arlington Arts Commission, the Barbershop Harmony Society, and the Curriculum Committee for the Diocese of Arlington. He taught music for ten years in Arlington Diocesan schools, currently directs the St. Luke Catholic Church Contemporary Ensemble in McLean, Va., and maintains a private vocal instruction practice.
Bill is a member of NAfME (formerly MENC), VMEA, ACDA, VCDA, National Association of Pastoral Musicians, and numerous nationwide men’s vocal music organizations, in which he holds executive and committee chair posts dedicated to education and choral director development. He is a faculty member at the Barbershop Society’s Harmony College-East and Harmony University, and currently keeps his own tenor voice active as a regular soloist and cantor in the area and by serving Saint Luke Catholic Church as a cantor and Festival Choir Section Leader.
Bill and his family live in Arlington, Virginia. He can be reached by email at billcatps@aol.com or by phone at 571.213.7376. You can review his most recent activity on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/billcolosimo.
Sheryl Berlin - Director (2026)
Sheryl Berlin is an experienced vocal music teacher and choral director. She most recently served as the Director of Choral Music Programs at Gaithersburg High School in Gaithersburg, Maryland until her retirement from public school teaching in June 2016. Her 37-year Montgomery County (MD) Public Schools career provided vocal music education for children, grades Pre-K to 12. She is currently continuing to serve MCPS as the Coordinator of Choral Adjudications. A graduate of the prestigious University of Maryland’s music program (BS in Music Education, 1979, with a concentration in vocal music), and a member of Sigma Alpha Iota (Music Sorority) and the Phi Kappa Phi academic honor society, Ms. Berlin has dedicated her professional work to the education of young people in the choral arts throughout the Washington area.
Sheryl has earned the honor of Certified Director in the Barbershop Harmony Society, having gone through their intensive education curriculum, and most recently served as the Associate Director of the BHS's DC Chapter performing ensemble, the Singing Capital Chorus, from 2007-2017. She has been on the faculty of the Mid-Atlantic District’s Harmony College East since 2010, serving as an instructor in Beginning and Intermediate Music Theory and Intermediate Directing, as well as instructing and coaching youth choruses and quartets and providing private vocal instruction to HCE participants. At the present time, she serves as Co-Dean of Harmony College East. She also serves as Education Director for the Alexandria Harmonizers and coordinates its annual Youth Harmony Festival. Additionally, Sheryl currently serves as a Board Member at Large on the Mid-Atlantic District's (MAD) Board of Directors.
Not only is she a voice teacher, adjudicator, clinician, workshop facilitator, director and advocate of the vocal arts, but she is an accomplished singer as well, having performed under such nationally and locally-known conductors as Antal Dorati, Paul Traver, Leon Fleming, Roger Folstrom, Edward Polochick, Jeffrey Rink, Phyllis Isaacson, Paul Skevington, Michael Cedrone, Cheryl Branham, A. Scott Wood, and Thomas Colohan. Local churches and synagogues have benefited, too, from her vocal talents in ministry, including St. Luke Catholic Church in McLean, Virginia, where she has been alto section leader since 2006, and her own congregation, Temple Beth Ami in Rockville, Maryland.
Sheryl is proud to be the tenor singer in Serendipity, the Mid-Atlantic District’s 2017 MBHA Mixed Quartet Champion, and the baritone section leader/music team member in Metro Voices, the treble chorus in the Alexandria, Virginia, chapter of BHS. She is also happy for the opportunity to serve as a Board Member in charge of Communications. Sheryl lives in North Potomac, Maryland, just outside of Washington, DC, and is the proud mom of two grown sons and an energetic 55-pound lab mix named Camden, who thinks he is a lap dog.
Mike Wood - Director (2027)
Mike is a lifelong musician whose life purpose is creating harmony, with a combined 53-year vocal and instrumental music history. Mike joined the Barbershop Harmony Society with the Chorus of the Genesee, Rochester, NY in 1974, and competed with them at three BHS International Chorus competitions. Over the years, Mike has also sung with the York White Rose Chorus, where he was the associate director in 1999-2002. He then moved to Texas, sang with the Heart of Texas Chorus in San Marcos, TX, where he was the Chapter President in 2005.
Mike competed with them at four BHS International Chorus competitions, finishing in the top 10 internationally in 2007 and 2008.
Mike’s love for barbershop music has also provided him with numerous quartet opportunities.
He has been the Lead in quartets in Rochester, NY, York, PA and San Marcos, TX.
Mike and his wife Charlene retired to Clearwater, FL in 2017. He joined the Florida Suncoast Chorus (Barbershop Harmony Society – Sunshine District), a mixed barbershop chorus in Largo, FL. Mike is currently the FSC Treasurer, Associate Director and Lead section leader. Along with his chorus duties, Mike sings Lead with the Mixed Barbershop Quartet Skirt and Ties, with quartet memberships in both the BHS and MBHA, and has competed regionally in both association contests.
Mike’s other musical endeavors of note include a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Southwest Texas State University (1981), Principal Tuba with the Starlight Symphony Orchestra, Wimberley TX (2002-2017), Contra (tuba) player with the Harrisburg Westshoremen Drum and Bugle Corps (1998-2002) and currently plays Contra (tuba) with the Florida Brass Alumni Drum and Bugle Corps, Tampa FL.
Sue Casey - Director (2028)
Sue became a member of Baldwin Blend Chorus in August 2024. As a mezzo-soprano, Sue can sing Bass,Baritone or Lead but performs best in Bass for women voices and in Baritone in mixed voices.
Sue enjoys going to Music Seminars as well as Regional/District & International Conventions. Baldwin Blend Chorus has helped Susan channel and expand her musical inclinations, find new friendships and enjoy great adventures! Bonus is having fun singing at Harmony Ranch (a trailer park north of Toronto, Ontario, Canada) with enthusiastic barbershoppers!
The parents of Sue recognized her musical talents early and hustled her to keyboard lessons from the age of 9, till a near family tragedy caused her to quit at the age of 14. While in public school, Sue discovered she had a singing voice. Her public school choir afforded Sue the opportunities to see Ottawa and Washington DC while performing songs in English and Latin! In high school, Sue took up the clarinet, then the oboe and bassoon while in high school. In church, Sue sang solos and in the ladies ensemble and continues to sing in her church’s choir and worship team. As a matter of fact, Sue’s very first solo was on a 2001 Carnival Cruise for a passenger talent show—she won!
In 2009, Sue went back to school to upgrade her job skills and graduated with honours in 2010, being in the top 5 of her class.
With a diverse work background in dental assisting, event coordinator, customer service, accounting clerk, marketing assistant, receptionist and community greeter, Sue brings a lot to the MBHA table.
When not at Harmony Ranch, Sue currently works as an Office Administrator for a local car carrier company.
Gary Raulerson - Director (2028)
Gary has been singing barbershop music (mostly baritone) since the 1990’s in choruses and quartets.
He's served as a BHS Chapter President, VP Music, Member-at-Large, and Section Leader for different chapters during his journey as well as being the MBHA Corporate Secretary since late 2022.
Gary's current chorus, the Florida Suncoast Chorus, became mixed in 2019 and he was lucky enough to start singing in Skirt and Ties Quartet that same year (and they're still active!). In 2005, in Salt Lake City, Gary was honored to be on the BHS International stage with the Sarasota Chorus of the Keys. Gary lives in Largo, Florida, with his wife Jennifer, and is an environmental scientist with a Ph.D. in Wetland Ecology.
Deb Catton - Director (1 year term to 2026)
Deb’s introduction to barbershop happened in 2005. She and a coworker were discussing where they might find a group to sing with other than church. While a rock band could be exciting, it was likely not their thing at this stage of their lives. The topic of ladies’ barbershop came up and with no knowledge of what that really was, Deb and her friend went to a local Harmony Incorporated group’s rehearsal and Deb never looked back – she was hooked!
Deb embraced the commodery, the challenge of 4-part harmony, the thrill of competing and then fully stepped out of her comfort zone to join a quartet. She quickly learned that fear and excitement go hand in hand! And that travel and performances built many great memories and friendships – it’s more than the excitement of ringing beautiful chords.
When Pentatonix was taking the world by storm, Deb was intrigued by the different blend of male and female voices. Then she discovered MBHA existed and with the help of new friends, her humorous but persuasive style of leadership, and of course a talented director, Undercover MIX was formed and has led to another exciting chapter in her musical journey! BinG! was in their 2020 future but Covid happened so the group is thrilled to have been invited to compete in March of 2026 and it was unanimous yes to this fabulous opportunity!
Joining the MBHA board is Deb’s way of thanking MBHA for creating these amazing opportunities for mixed singing. She’s looking forward to helping the organization grow.
Barry Towner - Immediate Past President
Barry has been a member of the Barbershop Harmony Society since 1975, when he joined the Scarborough Dukes of Harmony in the Ontario District. He has won two International Chorus Gold Medals with them, and also had the privilege of directing them in the 1988 International Convention in Atlanta, Georgia. He is presently a member of the Toronto Northern Lights (2013 International Chorus Champions) and also directed the Barrie County Chordsmen for 12 years from 1992 to 2004 and in 2023 returned as the director of the chorus. He has sung in many District level quartets, and has two 5th place bronze medals in International Seniors Quartet contests. In 2023 Barry retired as a certified BHS Performance judge, where he was a past Category Specialist for Presentation and Performance after serving the judging community for 31 years. Barry also sings with MBHA mixed quartet Prime Time.
Barry’s wife Sharon is a Sweet Adeline, singing with the 5-time SAI Chorus Champion North Metro Chorus. They have three daughters, all of whom sing with North Metro and whose husbands are all barbershoppers, Their three grandsons sang with the Ontario Youth A cappella (O YA) Chorus which Barry and Sharon founded in 2012 for young men between the ages of 12 and 25.
Barry’s involvement with mixed quartet and chorus singing began with his involvement with BinG! (Barbershop in Germany, a mixed organization and alliance of the BHS) in 2006. He has judged 4 of their national contests which pits male, female, and mixed quartets in the same contest against each other. He and Sharon have also coached for 6 years at the BinG! Harmony College, as well as coaching many quartets and choruses (male, female, and mixed) in Germany. Barry was instrumental in assisting BinG! to make the step to host the First World Mixed Quartet Contest at their national contest in 2012, and worked with Renate Klocke from BinG! in the development of the rules related to that contest. He has been on the judging panel for the first three World Mixed Quartet Contests in 2012, 2014, 2016 (their contests are held every other year). He was on the judging panel in Munich Germany in April 2018 for the Fourth World Mixed Quartet Contest, and the First World Mixed Chorus Contest. Barry and Sharon are committed to the growth of the Mixed Barbershop Harmony Association and are charter members. Barry serves as a Director of the MBHA with major responsibility being interfacing with the Contest & Judging Committee of the Barbershop Harmony Society in addition to his role as President. He is also the MBHA representative to the World Harmony Council.
