PAT TOPPEL joined the Music Academy Board of Directors in January 2015. Born in Florida, Ms. Toppel earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education at the University of Miami (UM). She is a senior member of the UM Board of Trustees, and together with her latehusband, Harold, provided lead funding for the Harold and Patricia Toppel Career Center at the university and endowed a chair in pediatric oncology/hematology at UM’s Miller School of Medicine. A managing partner in the real estate development firm Toppel Partners, she also serves as chairman of the Toppel Family Foundation, which has supported numerous charitable causes over 35 years. Ms. Toppel served on the Board of the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties for 10 years and is currently on the Board of Friends of the Lynn University Conservatory of Music in Boca Raton, Florida.