A Jefferson resident is calling it a career holding a state-level position for the past two decades.

Alan Greiner is retiring as the Iowa High School Music Association (IHSMA) Executive Director after 22 years. The Blairsburg, Iowa native grew up in a musical family with his mother as a choir director. Then after college, Greiner was a band director at Northwest Webster for two years and then went to Prairie, which later became Prairie Valley, for the next 14 years. 

Greiner tells Raccoon Valley Radio when he was president of the North Central Iowa Bandmasters Association, he created the website for that organization. He then was asked to create the website for IHSMA, which he maintained for eight years during his time at Prairie Valley until the IHSMA Director at the time was retiring and told Greiner to apply for the job. Greiner says being the IHSMA executive director wasn’t on his radar, but when he accepted the position, he owed a lot of his knowledge to his predecessor, Everett Johnson, who was his mentor for several years.     

“One of the pieces of advice he gives me, ‘Alan,’ he said, ‘You can come ask me anything you want. I will tell you exactly what I think, but you will be the only person that knows that.’ He says, ‘If I disagree with you, you’ll know it, but you’ll be the only person that knows that.’ Just to know that he had my back and that he was that supportive was just an incredible feeling.”     

Greiner points out two major challenges he tackled during his tenure were copyright law and the covid pandemic. He says a third party company was trying to get schools in trouble for not adhering to copyright laws when performing songs. Greiner notes from that issue came a newly developed course that covers that and is now widely used across the country. Another major accomplishment was an aerosol study that was done through a national music organization in order to create guidance so that band, choir and orchestra could continue.

Greiner states his most enjoyable part about being the IHSMA executive director was the relationships he has and everyone he’s worked with over the years, which came to climax at a recent retirement party.

“As I looked through that room, it was literally every single one of my heroes through the years. The people who I looked up to, the people who I had on a pedestal in the music world, the cream of the crop, the very finest human beings I know.”  

Replacing Greiner is Thad Driskell, who was the band director at Jefferson High School in Cedar Rapids. Greiner adds he will serve as a mentor for Driskell, much like his mentor did from him. Driskell officially takes over as the new IHSMA executive director on July 1st.