Meghan MacFadden is the Director of the Wind Ensemble at Smith College, Assistant Conductor of the Valley Winds, and Staff Accompanist at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst. She is a sought-after guest conductor for student honor bands and festivals across New England and abroad. Meghan previously worked as an Assistant Conductor of the Metropolitan Wind Symphony, and has taught instrumental music at Beaver Country Day School, the Dana Hall School, Clark University, and Tufts University. She is a 2024 recipient of the CBDNA Mike Moss Grant for conducting study with Jerry Junkin and Mallory Thompson. Meghan is a passionate champion of diversity in the wind band world and works to facilitate discussions on gender dynamics in instrumental music and music education.

Since her arrival at Smith in 2022, Meghan has worked to increase the wind ensemble's performance standards while growing the ensemble’s profile on campus and throughout New England. The group has shared collaborative concerts with the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble and The Valley Winds and membership has grown to over 50 musicians. Her administrative and programming philosophy honors Smith College's history and leadership as a women's institution by elevating cis, transgender, and non-binary women composers and guest artists. She is the creator and coordinator of the Smith College Wind Conducting Internship, which provides mentoring and rehearsal/performance opportunities for female-identifying undergraduate students in the Five College Consortium.

Meghan's teachers include Flora May Edmondson and Melody Lord on piano, and Donna Milanovich, Alex Murray, and Jonathan Keeble on flute. She received her Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Illinois where she played piccolo in the Illinois Wind Symphony under James Keene, and her Master of Music in Instrumental Conducting from Sam Houston State University. She is an alum of the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps and a member of the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) and the National Association for Music Education (NAfME).

Meghan lives in Amherst, Massachusetts with her husband Oliver and son Jack.