About
Mission Statement
SaVoa’s mission is to establish and maintain an accreditation program for voice over artists, and to support continuing education for the advancement of the voice over industry.
Organization and Membership
SaVoa Incorporated is a not-for-profit corporation based in North Carolina. Your membership in SaVoa depends on your successful completion of the peer review process. It tells your clients that you meet or exceed established standards for vocal delivery (performance and technique) and technical delivery (audio quality and technique), and that you conduct business in a manner that enhances the voice over community as a whole.
SaVoa does not and cannot provide the services offered by AFTRA, SAG, ACTRA, EQUITY or any other union. It is not intended to replace or compete with these fine organizations. Similarly, these unions do not provide the specific support and services offered by SaVoa to voice over artists.
Although the Board of Directors of SaVoa and its supporting members are located throughout the world, SaVoa currently conducts business only in English. In addition, at the present time we have sufficient members to qualify voice over artists in English, French, Spanish and German. We cannot yet qualify voice talents in other languages. This is a temporary limitation of the organization and is not meant to exclude voice over artists providing services in other languages. As SaVoa’s peer review roster grows to include bilingual speakers of a qualifying language and any other language, we expect to expand our accreditation program accordingly.
Read our FAQ. Learn more about SaVoa’s goals, peer review and accreditation criteria. Apply today to become a member of the fastest growing organization in the voice over industry.
Ed Gambill – Founding Member, President – Ed is a media producer with a background in radio and television advertising as well as acting. He currently produces “Jazz Out of The Mainstream,” a jazz program featuring unsigned artists and airing on WFDD, a public radio station in Winston-Salem NC. Ed is the President of SaVoa’s executive board of directors. He, along with others, saw the need for an organization dedicated solely to enhancing the voice over profession. As a member of several organizations that were guild-like in structure, Ed drew upon what he learned to help organize SaVoa for the benefit of the voice over community.
Rowell Gormon – The many voices of Rowell Gormon are heard across the country in radio and tv spots, corporate videos, e-learning, animation, and the occasional talking toy. An award-winning audio producer and copywriter during his radio days, RG has worked from his own studio over the past 20 years.
Many people are lucky to have a “second childhood”. Rowell is well into his fifth. More at www.voices2go.com
Chris Mezzolesta – Chris Mezzolesta has been a professional voice talent since 1990, and has provided a wide range of voices for a wide range of clients and projects. He has appeared on MTV2 in an animated program produced by the network, as well as commercials for LEGO, Herbalife, Golf Digest, and the Midwest-based Dairy Mart chain. His non-commercial credits include Microsoft, Cisco Systems Webex, Goodyear Tires, the London Science Museum, and many others. Chris was also the station announcer for 2 Fox Television Network stations in central Florida. In addition to voice over and jingle vocals, Chris is a professional musician and music producer, concentrating on the comedy music of his band Power Salad, which has appeared many times over the years on the syndicated “Dr. Demento” radio program, including being the show’s #1-requested artist of 2008. Chris has been a member of SaVoa since just after its inception, and is very proud and humbled to have been asked to sit on the Board of Directors of SaVoa and to help further the education of voice artists and maintain the quality of the voice over craft. To learn more about Chris, please visit his web site: VoiceGuy1.com.
Thom Wilkins – Founding Member – Thom Wilkins is a voice-over talent and well traveled storyteller with over 30 years experience in broadcasting and multi-media development and public speaking. He started in broadcasting at the age of 16 as a licensed broadcast engineer (First Class Radiotelephone License) and has worked in AM, and FM, in Country, Easy Listening and Progressive Rock formats and in Commercial Television. He has also designed and managed multinational corporate interactive satellite television networks. Thom has been on-air talent, announcer, director, editor, producer, and manager of several multi-media production groups. Thom holds an MBA and is currently focused on voice-over full time from his private professional ISDN studio located in Columbus, Georgia. More information including demos and current clients can be found at ThomWilkins.com.
Members of the Advisory Board
Dave Courvosiier Advisory Board Member – 07041
Bio: Dave is a TV News Broadcast veteran of 30 years, and has won numerous regional Emmys for excellence in anchoring, writing, producing and reporting. 5 years ago, Dave began in earnest the segue into full-time voice acting, and has pursued this endeavor with a singular passion. Dave is especially good at fostering relationships between members of this community, and enabling others to rise to their potential. Dave lives in Las Vegas, NV, and has 3 daughters. He’s married to his first wife of 26 years, and enjoys blogging, racquetball, and an occasional cigar.
What I bring to the SAB: “I realize the power of forming and encouraging relationships to succeed in this business. I also fully support the overall goal of SaVoa from the beginning: to bring a legitimacy to the profession of voice acting by setting standards and protocols that enhance our profession’s standing among other fields of endeavor. I am dedicated to the business of voiceovers, and would work hard to further the mission of SaVoa in raising the standards of our business.” For more about Dave, please visit Cuervo.com
Scott Diskin Advisory Board Member – 08004Bio: From hard-sell to soft-spoken. Scott has a deep, warm, resonant, sexy, trusting voice. A complete professional studio including phone patch. 24-hour turnaround on most projects, and offers full production capabilities, including copy writing assistance.Scott’s clients include: The U.S. ARMY, Hilton Hotels, General Electric, DYMO - Rhino 6000, Yellow Tail Wines, Fidelity Investments, Dictaphone, John Hancock Insurance, Subaru, Somerset Mortgage, Penn State University, and many others. Scott has also narrated 6 audiobooks which are available on Audible.com, and include; Cyrano de Bergerac, Around the World in 80 Days, Silas Marner, The Monkey’s Paw, To-Morrow, and The Moon and Sixpence.
What I bring to the SAB: “I am really very excited about the opportunity presented to all of us as SaVoa members to have an impact on the VO industry, and to drive change. Participation on the SAB is really cool, and I am honored to serve.” For more about Scott, please visit scottdiskin.com
Dustin R. Ebaugh Advisory Board Member – 08017Bio: I have over 23 years of experience in voice over and worked in radio for over 20 years. I’ve been heard nationally on MTV and regionally for Blockbuster Video, Pizza Hut and Carlos O’ Kelly’s. Some of my corporate narration clients include General Electric, Pepsi, Coca Cola, Delta Airlines, Kraft Foods, The Four Seasons Hotels, The United States Air Force, The American Red Cross and The United Nations. I very much enjoy working with others and teaching. I also enjoy learning. I have a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Development and a Masters of Leadership Studies degree. Specific to voice over, I have attended several voice acting seminars with instructors like Dick Orkin, Christine Coyle, Dan O’Day, Nick Michaels and Marc Cashman. I have also taught voice over seminars at an acting school in my community. I love what I do and can’t imagine doing anything else!What I bring to the SAB: “I believe that audio quality and a good studio sound are paramount. Anyone can develop a clean sounding studio with the right assistance, advice and tenacity. It’s by no means a simple or easy thing, but it’s possible. I have helped others set up studios and tune their sound for optimum performance. I think serving on the SBA would be a great opportunity to give back to the community of voice actors which I love, but also to help grow new talent and work with the stars of tomorrow. I am a very happy member of SaVOA and would like to contribute more to this fine organization.” For more about Dustin, please visit TvandRadioVoices.com
Daniel R. Lenard Advisory Board Member – 07047Bio: Buffalo, NY native Dan Lenard has been a radio personality, an insurance sales consultant, a high school Media and Social Studies teacher, a stay-at-home dad and currently is a free lance producer and professional voice artist. He earned his BA in Broadcasting from Buffalo State College in 1980, a New York State teaching certificate for secondary social studies from Buff State in 1997 and then in 2002, an MA in Creative Studies and Secondary Education from again, Buffalo State College. Also, Dan is an industry recognized expert and consultant on the creation and troubleshooting of home studios for Voice Artists.What I bring to the SAB: “ As a professional voice talent for over 30 years, I am supremely interested in the improvement of our young and growing industry. This is why I joined SaVoa. The best way to ensure that we are going in the right direction is to be involved at a higher level and lend my years of experience to this organization. I have served on many Boards of Directors for community and national organizations and know what it takes to create consensus, along with the intimate knowledge of running the day-to-day operations of a voice talent business. So many people want to join in this growing market place. The only way to succeed is with the help of those who have the knowledge and the proven experience to guide them. We also need to maintain a high level of professionalism by setting the standards that we will all adhere to. This is SaVoa’s mission and it is mine, personally.”For more about Dan, please visit www.dansvoice.com
Rafe Sampson Advisory Board Member – 08023Bio: I have 30 years of experience in front of the microphone; 15 years in radio (production and on air) and 15 as a VOA. I’ve been a full time VOA since 1997 and have had a successful voice/audio production company (Sampson Media inc.) for 10 years. Though the bulk of my business is e-learning narration, I also have extensive experience in website audio, broadcast commercial voice over/production, and animation character voices. Much of my recent work has involved not only being a voice in, but project managing the audio production of larger, multi-voice projects for my client, so I have a rather unique blend of both providing voice services and hiring other VOAs.What I bring to the SAB: “I believe that SaVoa is positioned to be a leading resource for not only VOAs but for those seeking voice/audio services to enhance their product or projects. There is a need for some kind of barometer or standards bearing organization that can validate the expertise and abilities of voice artists as the advent of broadband and other technologies related to the internet and digital audio production have ‘watered down’ our industry. Anyone with a laptop, USB mic and a closet can pay Voice123 or other like showcase sites and declare themselves a VOA. Not only does this drive down prices for VOAs, but it makes it increasingly tedious to sift through the scores of ‘talents’ and find a professional when hiring voice talent. Unions and agents are the only options, yet for most companies and applications needing audio they are cost prohibitive. I think SaVoa can fill a very large void in setting standards for VOAs and through accreditation, creating assurances for voice seekers that they are engaging skilled and experienced professionals.”For more about Rafe, please visit sampsonmedia.com
Robert J. Sciglimpaglia, Jr. Advisory Board Member – 007035Bio: Robert J. Sciglimpaglia, Jr. is a practicing attorney, as well as voiceover artist and on-camera actor in the New York City area. He is also the owner of All in One Voice, LLC, (www.allinonevoice.com) a company that helps beginning and advanced voiceover artists and actors with business and legal issues. His course “You’re on the Air: How to Really Make it in Voice-overs” is taught throughout the NYC tri state area. Robert has appeared in numerous national voiceover projects, including commercials, promos, and narrations, plus on-camera appearances in programs airing on the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, and feature films “Enchanted” and “Music and Lyrics”. For more about Robert, visit his website at www.robertpaglia.com and his Internet Movie Database listing at www.imdb.com.What I bring to the SAB: “I joined SAVOA because I loved the idea that there was some mechanism to differentiate professional voice over artists versus “wannabe’s” since there is no true barrier to entry into the business, and no real educational program to “graduate” to be qualified as a voice over artist. That is the exact reason I teach voice overs to beginners so that they start out the “right” way, versus the wrong ones, and for the right reasons. I believe I can further this goal as a member of the advisory board.”For more about Rob, please visit www.robertpaglia.com
Thom Wilkins Advisory Board Member – 07004Bio: I started in radio at sixteen, earned a First Class Broadcasting license, and worked in AM, FM and Television as on-air talent and in broadcast engineering. I eventually joining Hewlett-Packard company where I was responsible for media based training delivered via satellite to 179 countries. I was involved very early with Internet development, working with Pac-Bell, Netscape, Time Warner/AOL and other early adaptor WWW companies as a member of HP Labs. Well grounded in broadcasting, education, new-media and voice-over, I naturally moved into the voice-over field and now earn most of my income through VO activities, both as a VO artist and producer. With top-tier studio quality equipment, Source-Live, Source-Connect, and ISDN, I service clients worldwide from my home in Columbus, GA.What I bring to the SAB: “I joined SaVoa in August 2007 as one of the founders, and have been involved since it’s very inception. I currently serve on the SaVoa executive Board of Directors and as chair of the Savoa Advisory Board. With a tie breaking vote (only) on the advisory board, I serve to carry recommendations and resolutions to the executive board for formal approval or corporate action.”For more about Thom, please visit www.Thomwilkins.com
Founding Members
SaVoa remains indebted to its founding members. These voice actors volunteered considerable time and attention to developing and maintaining SaVoa’s accreditation program which launched in September, 2007. For that reason, SaVoa wants to acknowledge the contribution of the following founding member(s) who no longer have an active role in SaVoa as a member of the executive board or advisory board:
Robert Jadah – Founding Member
Scott Pollak – Founding Member
Nikki Saco – Founding Member
Erik Sheppard – Founding Membe
Kathleen “Kat” Keesling – Founding Member
