Edward Odell is the great-great grandson of Caleb Sherwood Odell, one of the founders of this firm. Edward began working with pipe organs before his tenth birthday, accompanying his father and uncle on jobs around the New York metropolitan area.

Edward returned to organbuilding after attending Auburn University. In 1996 he was hired by Austin Organs, Inc., of Hartford, and in recognition of his overall skill as an organbuilder was promoted to Foreman after working three years in most of the company's major departments.

Since 2002 Edward has devoted himself exclusively to the work of his family’s historic firm. In addition to management, his responsibilities at J.H. & C.S. Odell include all mechanical and visual design work, cabinet making, tonal finishing and assembly.  

Edward is a member of the Organ Historical Society, the American Guild of Organists, the Association of National Pastoral Musicians and is very active in the American Institute of Organbuilders, having successfully served as Chairman for the organization's 2004 Convention. He is also a member of the Royal Arcanum and the USTA.

In recogition of his contributions, Edward was appointed by AIO President Charles Kegg to the AIO Education Committee in 2005. In 2007 Edward was provisionally appointed to the AIO Outreach Committee, working jointly with Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America to help bring information about the pipe organ industry to the public.

Equally active as volunteer in the AGO, Edward served as Exhibits Chair for the Region II AGO Convention staged in New York City in July of 2007. He will reprise this role as Exhibits Chair for the joint AGO Region I/II Convention in Boston in 2009.

In addition to work in AIO and AGO Convention planning, Edward has participated in discussion panels on solid-state control systems for the AIO and written articles for the AIO Journal, the most recent of which was a discussion on the use of computer-aided drafting and design.