Lillian Werbin

Lillian Werbin is CEO, president, and co-owner of Elderly Instruments in Lansing, Michigan, the roots-music retailer her father co-founded in 1972. She joined in 2014 after a PR degree at Western Michigan, worked every desk from warehouse to management, and now leads the shop while keeping its original brief: a community store that serves musicians and their instruments for a lifetime. Elderly was named America's Top Small Business in 2023. Werbin also serves on boards including Bluegrass Pride and the IBMA Foundation and co-directs Midwest Banjo Camp, Midwest Ukulele Camp, and The Banjo Gathering. She advises Gearcheck on how provenance and collection records should work in the real trade—buy, sell, trade, consign, appraise, and repair—so an instrument's story stays useful to shops, players, and collectors as it moves through a life, not only when it sits in a vault.