DALLAS BLACK DANCE THEATRE LAUNCHES SEARCH FOR NEXT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Advised by President Emeritus of John F. Kennedy Center of Performing Arts, Five-Member Committee Includes Recognized Nonprofit Leaders and Board Leadership
DALLAS – Led by the Chairman of the Dallas Black Dance Theatre (DBDT) Governance Committee, Jack Skinner, a five-member committee of external nonprofit leaders and board leadership has been formed to begin the search for the institution’s next executive director.
Skinner is the Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Oversee My IT, a Dallas-based technology firm specializing in cybersecurity, compliance and information technology.
Following the unanimously accepted recommendations of an advisory stakeholder task force, a request for proposal (RFP) has been issued to several search firms that specialize in nonprofit, art and cultural leadership.
The five-member committee is comprised of two external members with extensive experience in arts management and organizational leadership, and three members of the DBDT Board of Directors.
“Following our restoration of funding by the Dallas City Council, we are proactively executing on the recommendations made by an independent advisory task force of civic, business and nonprofit leaders,” said Skinner. “Our search for the next executive director will ensure that DBDT continues its mission and serves the community for its next 50 seasons.”
To be advised by Michael M. Kaiser, Founder and Chairman of the DeVos Institute of Arts and Nonprofit Management, the five-member committee includes Skinner and the following leaders:
Kim Noltemy
Noltemy is currently the President & Chief Executive Officer of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Previously, she was the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and the Chief Operating and Communications Officer of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Dr. Zannie Giraurd Voss
Recently retired as Director of SMU DataArts, Voss’ 70+ research articles on arts and cultural organizations have been published in leading academic journals. Her consulting clients have included the Ford Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Wallace Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation.
Christopher Plumlee
Plumlee is the Founder and President of Elevate Strategies, a premier business consultancy. He had a distinguished 25-year career as an executive at Dell and Hewlett-Packard.
Paulette Turner
A retired IBM executive, Turner is the founder of Integrated Leadership Concepts Inc., a leadership development firm. Throughout her career, she specialized in sales training, executive coaching and workshop facilitation.
In addition to being the Founder and Chairman of the DeVos Institute of Arts and Nonprofit Management, Kaiser is the President Emeritus of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Based on his experience as the Executive Director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre and the Royal Ballet and Opera, he’ll provide support to the five-member committee in an advisory role throughout the search process.
ABOUT DALLAS BLACK DANCE THEATRE
Founded in 1976 by Ann Williams, Dallas Black Dance Theatre’s mission is to create and produce contemporary modern dance at the highest level of artistic excellence through performances and educational programs that bridge cultures and reach diverse communities. As the largest and oldest professional dance company in Dallas, DBDT is the fourth-largest Black dance company in the nation, ranks in the top 10 largest contemporary modern dance companies in the U.S. and is included among the nation’s 50 largest ballet companies by Dance Data Project. Located in the thriving downtown Dallas Arts District, the nation’s #1 Arts District (USA Today), DBDT has performed worldwide for over 5 million arts patrons and 3 million students in 33 states and 16 countries on five continents. The performances include three Olympics (1992, 1996, and 2012), the nation’s most prestigious venues (Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Broadway, Jacob’s Pillow and Joyce Theatre), and for such luminaries as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and South African President Nelson Mandela. Since 2020, DBDT performances have been viewed virtually in 43 countries and expanded to include virtual student matinees and cultural literacy programs. Since 2021, the virtual education performances have been viewed by nearly 200,000 K-12 students across 28 districts throughout the nation. The Company has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts as an American Masterpiece Touring Artist (2008) and received the Texas Medal of the Arts Award for Arts Education (2017).
For more details about Dallas Black Dance Theatre, visit DBDT.com.