Distinguished as a prominent thought leader in public music education, Chiho Okuizumi Feindler is the Chief Programs Officer for the award-winning Save The Music Foundation (STM). Chiho is responsible for designing and overseeing the implementation of STM’s national programs aimed at ensuring equity and access to comprehensive music education in America’s public schools. Externally, she builds strategic relationships with school districts, charter management organizations, coalitions, peer organizations, donors, and thought partners to influence systems to advocate for sequentially-taught standards-based music education for students in historically marginalized communities.

In addition to overseeing the overall implementation of STM’s programmatic work nationwide, she directly manages large-scale transformational projects impacting thousands of students in Miami, FL; New Orleans, LA; Newark, NJ; New York, NY; and the state of West Virginia in partnership with West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History.

Ms. Feindler has presented at numerous state and national educator conferences, including at the National Council on the Arts/National Endowment for the Arts Meeting, SXSW Edu, KIPP Summits, Arts Education Partnership National Summit, and National Association of Elementary School Principals Conference. Chiho is regularly invited to provide consultation to help address challenges that jeopardize arts education in communities throughout the United States. She was a recipient of Honorary West Virginian Award and 2017 Casio Leadership in Music Education Award; and currently serves on the Senior Advisory Board of The Center for Arts Education and Social Emotional Learning, Advisory Board of Cultural Connection by Design, Arts Ed Newark’s Executive Board and Grantmakers for Education Arts Education Impact Group.

Originally from Japan, Chiho holds Bachelor of Science Degree in Music Therapy with emphasis in Special Education and Psychology from Augsburg University (MN); and Master of Arts degree in Euphonium Performance from Montclair State University (NJ). Prior to her work with Save The Music Foundation, Chiho was a Director of Education and Community Engagement at New Jersey Symphony Orchestra where she was responsible for the Symphony’s education and outreach programs reaching over 900,000 residents in New Jersey.