The Savannah Music Festival is pleased to announce Mary Armstrong Dugas as the Savannah Music Festival Board Chair for 2023-2025 and to welcome Olivia Parker and David Sneed to the nonprofit organization’s Board of Directors. The Savannah Music Festival Board of Directors is dedicated to presenting world-class live performances, fostering regional economic growth, expanding community outreach and supporting local music education initiatives.

“We’re thrilled that Mary Armstrong Dugas will serve as the Chair of our Board of Directors and are delighted to welcome Olivia Parker and David Sneed as new board members,” said Savannah Music Festival Executive Director Gene Dobbs Bradford. “The Savannah Music Festival Board of Directors shares our strong commitment to artistic excellence and powerful dedication to community outreach.” 

An accomplished local business leader, Mary Armstrong Dugas is the owner of MAD Skills LLC, a successful digital content management and consulting firm in Savannah, Ga., and serves as a member of the Management Team for the Gregg Allman Estate. She previously served as the Director of Operations and Artist Management for Brown Cat, Inc./Widespread Panic in Athens, Ga. Dugas succeeds Vicki McElreath as the Chair of the Savannah Music Festival Board of Directors. 

A member of the Savannah Music Festival Board of Directors since 2018, Dugas is the former Executive Board Chair of the March of Dimes South Georgia Board of Directors, a former member of the Savannah Scottish Games Committee and a longtime Telfair Museums volunteer. Originally from Savannah, Ga., Dugas attended Savannah Country Day School and The University of Georgia.  

“My career as an executive in the music industry makes the Savannah Music Festival board a great fit, and I’m looking forward to digging into a leadership role,” said Dugas. “I've worked with artists that have played every major festival in the country. There truly is nothing like the Savannah Music Festival anywhere in the United States.”

Olivia Parker serves as the Community Outreach Manager at Parker’s, a nationally acclaimed convenience and foodservice company headquartered in Savannah, Ga., where she is responsible for planning and implementing charitable programs designed to support Parker’s nonprofit partners, involving associates in giving back to the community and ensuring that philanthropic efforts are aligned with the company’s core values. She oversees the Parker’s Fueling the Community charitable giving program and manages charitable giving through the Parker’s Community Fund.

Parker earned a B.A. in Marketing and Events from Ohio University and is passionate about giving back to the community. Honored as a member of Savannah Magazine’s New Guard in 2022, she currently serves on the board of directors for the Red Shoe Society and is a member of the Savannah Community Fund’s Emerging Leaders Committee as well as a Union Mission volunteer. 

For over 25 years, David Sneed has served as a trusted business advisor and corporate attorney for global, national and regional organizations based in Basel, Switzerland; New York City; Washington, D.C.; and Savannah, Ga. He has advised executives at a range of companies, including Jet Aviation (General Dynamics Aerospace Group, current employer), Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation (General Dynamics Aerospace Group), Nextel Communications and HunterMaclean, in aviation, commercial real estate, telecommunications, commercial contracts and corporate law. 

A graduate of Yale University and Cornell University Law School, Sneed is a former Assistant District Attorney in the Chatham County District Attorney’s Office. He has served on boards and advisory councils for a number of nonprofit organizations, including Leadership Georgia, Mercy Housing Southeast, The Hodge Foundation, Hospice Savannah, the Georgia Appleseed 

Center for Law & Justice, Go South, StepUp Savannah, Employability, the West Broad Street  YMCA and the Savannah Economic Development Authority. He has also served on the Judicial Council of Georgia‘s Access, Fairness, Public Trust and Confidence Committee.