Dr. Ramona Wis is the Mimi Rolland Distinguished Professor in the Fine Arts at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois, where she is Conductor of the Women’s Chorale and Chamber Singers, and Co-Conductor of the Concert Choir as well as Chair and Professor of Music.

Dr. Wis holds degrees from the University of Illinois, Northern Illinois University, and Northwestern University (Ph.D.). An active festival conductor, clinician, writer, and public speaker, she specializes in the areas of rehearsal techniques and teaching, gesture as metaphor, and leadership. She has presented workshops around the country and in Canada, including presentations for the International Conference of the Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership, British Columbia Music Educators Association, GALA Choruses, Tennessee Arts Academy, Alabama ACDA, and Illinois Music Educators Association. Her book, The Conductor As Leader: Principles of Leadership Applied to Life on the Podium, has become a leadership classic for those in and outside the field of music. Dr. Wis has written for The Choral Journal, Music Educators Journal,The China Europe International Business School Review, and Teaching Music, and is a contributing author to Strategies for Teaching: Guide for Music Methods Classes and Toward a Description of Musical Experience, edited by Bennett Reimer and Jeffrey Wright.

Dr. Wis has served as President of the American Choral Directors Association in Illinois and on both ACDA and IMEA executive boards. She has sung under Robert Shaw, James Levine, and Margaret Hillis, and has conducted and performed in professional, theatrical, community, and academic settings for more than 30 years.