He came up in live music. Zach got his start at two of Nashville’s most iconic institutions, the Grand Ole Opry House and the Ryman Auditorium, where he learned how to combine music, people, and storytelling into events that people remember. He graduated from Columbia College Chicago in 2013 and moved to Nashville to chase that work, and he has watched the city grow ever since, which only sharpens his sense of what is still possible here.
At NMAAM, Zach has built a reputation for exceeding annual sales goals year after year, leading successful third-party rental buyouts, and maintaining a client retention rate above 60 percent. He has sustained partnerships across Nashville’s cultural ecosystem, from publishing companies and record labels to the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corporation, and dozens of national and regional organizations. In an industry built on relationships, he is known for one of the fastest phone response times in the city, a small detail that says a lot about how he works.
Zach’s love for music started early, watching his mother perform with the Evansville Symphony Band. A clarinet and saxophone player who taught jazz students, she spent summers performing live while Zach snuck into the living room to watch her teach and play. Those moments shaped everything that came after.
Some of his favorite events at NMAAM are the ones that shine a light on unsung heroes, from trailblazers like Kid N’ Play, Linda Martell, and Joy Oladukan to a world-class puppeteer like Megan Piphus of Sesame Street. Honoring people who rarely get the spotlight is what makes the work meaningful to him.
Outside the museum, you will probably find Zach with his two dogs, Shocka and Cassandro, out to dinner with his partner, or cheering at a local pro wrestling show.