MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Soulsville Foundation named Pat Mitchell Worley as its new President and CEO Monday, as current CEO Richard Greenwald is stepping down.
Mitchell Worley will take over effective Aug. 1, 2022. She has been with Stax Music Academy since 2012 when she began part-time teaching and was promoted to executive director in 2018. For about two decades, Mitchell Worley has also been the co-host of Beale Street Caravan. A syndicated roots radio show broadcast from Memphis. She’s also a former development director for the Memphis Music Foundation, and served on the staff of the Blues Foundation in the 1990s.
Production Director and longtime music producer and engineer Isaac Daniel will take over as the Stax Music Academy's Executive Director. Daniel has been with the academy for more than 10 years.
Greenwald will remain involved as a member of the Soulsville Foundation board of directors.
“It is very exciting to take the helm of an organization that means so much to Memphis’ past, present, and future,” Mitchell Worley said in a news release. “The legacy of Stax Records is in this city’s DNA and has been since the late 1950s. Now, an entire generation of young people are still being influenced by that legacy more than 60 years later and, hopefully, will continue long after my work is done.”
“It has been an absolute pleasure to have worked with the Soulsville Foundation staff and board of directors for the past five years,” said Greenwald. “I have met so many fascinating people, from music stars and Stax Records icons to the students and families we work with every day. It has been incredibly rewarding to have served as CEO of such a vital organization and I look forward to its continued success.”
“People all over the world know about the Stax Music Academy and the wonderful work we do, but many people don’t know what it takes to accomplish the results we see,” said Daniel. “This is hard work, but we have a team in place that’s up for the challenge.”
