Ceo jobs in Canada

Participants in OPERA America’s New Works Showcase. Photo by Marcel Sokalski.

OPPORTUNITY

OPERA America seeks an accomplished, innovative, and collaborative strategist to lead this essential national service organization as President/CEO as it shapes an increasingly dynamic approach to supporting and advocating for the opera field in North America. Reporting to the Board of Directors and working closely with a talented staff, the President/CEO will spearhead vision setting for the organization’s next phase of service to the field, oversee the research and dissemination of best practices to member groups and individuals, serve as an advocate for opera on the national stage, oversee the efficient management of the organization, and ensure superb concierge operations of the National Opera Center in New York City. This tested leader will craft and implement bold plans that respond to current trends in the field, ensure operational and financial stability, and generate growing resources to strengthen ongoing service to administrators, artists, educators, trustees, and appreciators of opera. Opera America’s top steward of the future will creatively build energizing new partnerships, both within and beyond the opera community, all in service of a more vibrant and increasingly resilient field.

BACKGROUND & HISTORY

OPERA America’s Mission is as follows:

OPERA America leads and serves the entire opera community, supporting the creation, presentation, and enjoyment of opera.

As the premiere champion for opera in North America, OPERA America is focused on moving opera forward as an industry and an art form. OPERA America was founded in 1970 in Washington, D.C. with an original focus to support K-12 learning and investment in the creation and production of American operas. In 1990, the organization merged with the National Opera Institute and Central Opera Service, absorbing their programs and resources to include professional development and research. OPERA America relocated to New York City in 2005 in order to improve member service, and in 2012, the National Opera Center, a custom-designed facility, was opened.

Currently, OPERA America has a membership that includes nearly 600 opera companies, educational institutions, affiliated businesses, and other entities – representing more than 95% of the opera companies in North America. This reach encompasses more than 40,000 staff members, artists, and trustees at these organizations along with nearly 3,000 individual members.

OPERA America supports the field through a broad array of programs to serve producing companies, administrators, trustees, artists, educators, and appreciators of opera. The quarterlyOpera America Magazinehighlights the progress of the sector, reaching all members. An important and successful part of OPERA America programming is in its peer education, and programs supporting early career administrators, women within the field, and other affinity groups have had great track records of success in training and uplifting next generation leaders serving the field. In addition, The organization facilitates a number of strategic granting opportunities to increase new work, audience engagement, civic practice, business innovation, and inclusivity; over the years, more than $24 million has been invested in the opera field through OPERA America.

OPERA America’s annual conference draws people internationally to share critical ideas and best practices across the multitude of challenges and opportunities facing opera companies today. The annual conference is a major attraction for the broad range of OPERA America’s North American stakeholders, and in recent years global reach has been significant with the introduction of the World Opera Forum, last held in 2024 in Los Angeles as a lead-in to the annual conference and planned in collaboration with Opera Europa, Ópera Latinoamérica, and the Association for Opera in Canada.

NATIONAL OPERA CENTER

The National Opera Center, a leased custom-built rehearsal and performance facility in New York City, serves as the centralized home for the industry, welcoming 80,000 visitors each year. Upon creation, the intention of the National Opera Center was and continues to be to serve as a gathering place for artists, member groups, and those invested in the future of opera as a thriving contemporary art form. Located at 330Seventh Avenue in Manhattan, the National Opera Center was opened in 2012 and is home to the administrative office of OPERA America and has one primary performance venue, the Marc A. Scorca Hall, along with private studios and rehearsal halls available for rental. The lease was recently renewed to last until 2042.

CURRENT ENVIRONMENT

Marc Scorca, OPERA America’s current President/CEO, will be retiring from his position at the end of calendar 2025, having successfully led OPERA America for 35 years. The organization’s current FY25 operating budget is around $7.5 million, with an endowment and Board-designated cash reserves of around $15 million.

The organization is governed by an active and committed Board of Directors of approximately 42 members; it is supported by the National Opera Center Board of 18 advisors and 50 OPERA America Council Members (members of the industry including composers, directors, singers, trustees, and opera enthusiasts). The organization employs approximately 35 full-time staff members as well as a number of part-time associates. The President/CEO currently has four direct reports: Chief Advancement Officer, Chief of Staff, Chief Programs Officer, and Chief Information Officer. More about OPERA America can be found at their website at https://www.operaamerica.org/ .

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

In anticipation of the need to develop a new Strategic Plan and in consideration of this upcoming leadership transition, OPERA America has invested considerable time and deliberate effort in understanding priorities that might shape the future. As the core activity of that consideration, OPERA America surveyed its membership and held a series of discussions over the past year that has resulted in a clear understanding of where the organization is thriving, where there are vulnerabilities, and where refocusing or reimagining may allow OPERA America to better respond to current needs within the field.

The recommendation that has emerged from this process of discovery is for OPERA America to build its next plan around these three Pillars of Service: Education, Connection, Advocacy

OPERA America’s next leader will be called to lead a process to build upon these pillars and develop an activated plan that will position OPERA America to be an even stronger ally to the needs of membership, promoting the art of opera as an essential and vital art form. The next President/CEO will step into this role at a time of tremendous change and challenge within the field. Opera companies are working harder than ever to consider new business models, make the case to contemporary audiences that opera has both classical and contemporary resonance within culture, and respond to new challenges in the realm of advocacy and constraints to once reliable funding resources that are being diminished due to current shifts in levers of support in the public and private sector.

Reflections from this advance work on strategic priorities point to the feeling from those surveyed that OPERA America is perhaps trying to do too much right now, and that focus on key objectives wedded with new efforts to partner with other organizations and entities outside of the field will allow the organization to be stronger in its service to its current and future membership. The foundation of what has been built at OPERA America is solid, but there is a real call for the future of the organization to include more assertive advocacy and a more distributive sense of empowered leadership.

POSITION AND RESPONSIBILITIES

As the organization’s top leader, OPERA America’s next President/CEO will set the tone and sharpen the organization’s vision with an eye towards service and action. While previous work within the opera world is not a requirement for leadership, the President/CEO must be unapologetically passionate about the art form and show that deep love in all professional encounters. Top priorities for leadership include:

Innovation through Strategy and Planning

The President/CEO will take great care to understand the history of OPERA America’s service to the field while also acting quickly and responsively to furthering the idea of service by new innovative and reimagined goals for success. In considering the future of the organization, OPERA America’s President/CEO will always consider the challenges within the field and look at those challenges through the lens of opportunity. The end result of all ideation around big ideas and goals will be the clear articulation of specific actions that OPERA America will take to succeed in uplifting its three Pillars of Service (Education, Connection, and Advocacy).

Resource Development

As a passionate advocate for OPERA America’s Mission, the President/CEO will be critically focused on raising funds necessary to carry out bold and ambitious goals to make the field stronger and more resilient. The President/CEO will work with OPERA America’s development team to engage high-level donors, support through foundations and traditional funding sources, and new ways to inspire giving from supporters dedicated to opera’s importance in the cultural world. Beyond established approaches to fundraising and building a strong philanthropic culture, OPERA America’s President/CEO will extend appropriate energy and time on developing new relationships outside of the field that may lead to transformational corporate or other types of financial support.

Operations and Culture

OPERA America’s President/CEO will set the agenda for how the organization functions, with a core concern for people and how each constituency of the organization is shown respect and empowered to serve. With a deep personal commitment to inclusion and building systems that break down historic barriers to equity, access, and diversity (inclusive of a strategy for audience/stakeholder building as patron attrition continues to be an existential threat to the field), the President/CEO will establish strong relationships with OPERA America’s Board, the Board of the National Opera Center, OPERA America’s National Council Members, Staff, and the member organizations and individuals that OPERA America serves. Finding pathways for a distributive sense of leadership and ownership of OPERA America’s ascendent goals will be a driver for how the President/CEO organizes their own, Board, and Staff time and focus.

Advocacy and Ambassadorship

With excellent skills for organizing, building cases that influence opinion, and motivating people to rally around ideas and actions, the President/CEO will play a critical role in advancing OPERA America’s advocacy efforts industry-wide and on a national level within the public and private sector. OPERA America’s President/CEO will be driven to support the entire opera community, an essential priority as the field encounters existential challenges related to generational shifts in the appreciation of the art form, the basic business model for producing opera, and efforts to center inclusive practice into the manner in which opera is created and consumed.

While no one individual will likely possess all of these attributes, OPERA America is interested in these skills and abilities in qualified candidates:

Curiosity, knowledge, and deep personal connection to opera as a vital and exciting art form.

Demonstrated experience and enthusiasm for fundraising and building a strong philanthropic culture.

Talent for building and maintaining authentic relationships built on trust, empathy, and clear communication.

Superb verbal and written skills as a compelling communicator.

Talent for building and managing strong teams of high performers who are able to add to ambitious ideas and execute successfully towards well defined goals.

An eye for detail, the ability to unify messaging, operations, and policy.

Skill managing the finances of a non-profit organization and working with a team to track and report out progress on operational activities.

Humility, grace, and an open heart, and approachable personality that invites others to be part of something bigger than themselves.

COMPENSATION AND START DATE

The annual salary range for the President/CEO of OPERA America is between $300,000-$325,000 and includes a full benefit package commensurate with other organizations of its size. OPERA America intends to make a hiring decision by fall of 2025, with the selected candidate transitioning into the position with an appropriate and minimal overlap with OPERA America’s outgoing President/CEO.

OPERA America is an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, reproductive health decisions, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, political views or activity, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

OPERA America has engaged Management Consultants for the Arts to facilitate this important search; Jonathan West (Managing Director) and Shruti Adhar (Consultant) are leading the process. Interested and qualified candidates are encouraged to submit in complete confidence a cover letter, resumé, and four professional references. The cover letter of no more than 1½ pages should address how the opportunities and challenges shared in this profile intersect with the candidate’s professional background and what about this opportunity is of greatest interest to them personally. Application materials should have the applicant’s name included as part of each file name and must be submitted electronically by clicking the APPLY NOW button below.

Once all materials have been submitted online, the applicant will receive a confirmation of their submission via the email address provided in the application. For clarification on any of this information, please contact Christy Wall at cwall@mcaonline.com .