NAMT Announces Betsy King Militello as New Executive Director

President Marilynn Sheldon and the Board of Directors of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) announced today that Betsy King Militello has been appointed the new Executive Director of NAMT and will begin her duties on August 22, 2011. Militello succeeds Kathy Evans who left NAMT in June after 9 years to found the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat.

President Marilynn Sheldon stated, "Betsy is a world class administrator and has a brilliant analytical mind with a proven background of not-for-profit management success. She has a true passion for musical theatre and is the right person to lead the organization through our newly approved strategic plan. The Search Committee worked tirelessly with me in the exhaustive search process, which was chaired by Rick Boynton of Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and included Randy Adams, Junkyard Dog Productions; Kathy Evans; Donna Lynn Hilton, Goodspeed Musicals; Jim Mercer, Pittsburgh CLO; and Denny Reagan, The Muny.

Said Militello, "I am excited to work with the Board and staff on implementing NAMT's new, bold strategic plan. Guided by this strategic blueprint, we will expand services for NAMT's members and the musical theatre field and develop a larger, more diverse funding base to support this programmatic growth. Many thanks to outgoing ED, Kathy Evans, for providing such a great foundation on which to build the future."
Betsy King Militello comes to NAMT from Outward Bound where she was Vice President of Development, responsible for an $8M annual fundraising goal. Prior organizations in which she served in non-profit administration and fundraising leadership roles include Hunter College, the NYU Child Study Center, Cooper Union and the Big Apple Circus. She also taught at Marymount Manhattan College as an Adjunct Professor in Non-profit Management. Following completion of her undergraduate degree at Harvard, she began her career in advertising. After receiving her Master's degree in Public and Private Management (MPPM) from the Yale School of Management (with additional coursework in administration at the Yale School of Drama), she worked as a management consultant for Fortune 100 companies prior to moving to the non-profit sector. Betsy has theatre production experience, primarily in stage management and lighting, in both professional and volunteer musical theatre and opera organizations including Glimmerglass Opera and the Blue Hill Troupe.

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre, founded in 1985, is a national service organization dedicated exclusively to musical theatre. Our mission is to advance musical theatre by nurturing the creation, development, production, and presentation of new musicals. Our 150 members, located throughout 34 states and abroad, are some of the leading producers of musical theatre in the world, and include theatres, presenting organizations, higher education programs and individual producers. Among the over 250 musicals launched by NAMT's annual Festival of New Musicals are Thoroughly Modern Millie, Children of Eden, Honk!, The Drowsy Chaperone, Songs for a New World, I Love You Because, Striking 12, Vanities and many others, representing over 475 writers. For more information about NAMT, please visit www.namt.org.

NAMT is very grateful to the following organizations whose contributions support our mission to nurture the creation, development, and production of new musicals: The Ann Palmer Foundation, ASCAP Foundation Irving Caesar Fund, BMI Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Dubose and Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund, The Dramatists Guild Fund, Friars Foundation, Music Theatre International, Stacey Mindich Productions, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, The Rodgers and Hammerstein Foundation, and The Shubert Foundation.