Lyric Opera Welcomes Roberta Lane as First-Ever CFO, Elizabeth Landon as HR Director

Roberta Lane and Elizabeth Landon will join Lyric Opera of Chicago as the chief financial officer and director of human resources, respectively, the company announced today. Lane's role as chief financial officer is a new position and will play a crucial role in developing and analyzing strategic initiatives for the company.

"Both Roberta and Elizabeth come to us with tremendous expertise, vision, and energy. I am thrilled that they will be joining the Lyric team," said general director Anthony Freud. "Roberta has significant nonprofit experience, most recently at Rosalind Franklin University and Feeding America. To hire our first-ever CFO is a crucial move for the company as we implement our strategic plan. I have great confidence in her ability to guide us on this path."

"Elizabeth will bring us important experience as an HR specialist from her decades-long career at Accenture, spanning both HR and consulting roles. I know that she will be a great resource in our ongoing efforts to align Lyric's people, practices, and activity in pursuit of our mission," continued Freud.

Roberta Lane has more than 20 years of senior leadership experience in the nonprofit environment. Her roles reflect her commitment to mission-driven organizations. She most recently served as executive vice president of finance and administration and chief financial officer at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in North Chicago, overseeing all financial, administrative, human resources, technology and learning resources and campus services management. During her tenure, she developed the business strategy for the launch of the university's College of Pharmacy and for the Alliance for Health Sciences, a partnership with DePaul University that increased enrollment, revenue, and brand recognition. As chief administrative and financial officer at Feeding America, she oversaw finance, human resources, technology, enterprise risk management, and administration. Other previous positions include senior vice president for finance and information services at the Children's Home and Aid Society of Illinois, and staff auditor at Deloitte and Touche. Lane is certified public accountant and has an MBA and BA in computer science and accounting from Southern Illinois University. She begins her tenure at Lyric on March 25, 2015.

Elizabeth Landon has held multiple senior leadership positions with Accenture. Her final role was as the global senior director for talent management where she oversaw multiple dimensions of Accenture's workforce architecture, capability planning, and employee retention/engagement. Over her 25-year career with Accenture, she played numerous roles, both with clients and internal to Accenture. She spent a significant part of her career in the management consulting practice with a focus on business strategy, organizational strategy, communications strategy, human performance, and change management. She worked with leading clients including major airlines, telecommunications companies, banks, and insurance companies. She serves on the board of directors of Roycemore School in Evanston. She graduated from the University of Chicago with a BA in economics and an MBA in marketing and quality management from the Booth School of Business, and recently received her MA from the Harris School of Public Policy. She begins her new position at Lyric on March 3, 2015.

Founded in 1954, Lyric Opera of Chicago's mission is to express and promote the life-changing, transformational, revelatory power of great opera. Lyric exists to provide a broad, deep, and relevant cultural service to Chicago and the nation, and to advance the development of the art form.

Lyric is dedicated to producing and performing consistently thrilling, entertaining, and thought-provoking opera with a balanced repertoire of core classics, lesser-known masterpieces, and new works; to creating an innovative and wide-ranging program of community engagement and educational activities; and to developing exceptional emerging operatic talent.

Under the leadership of general director Anthony Freud, music director Sir Andrew Davis, and creative consultant Renée Fleming, Lyric strives to become the great North American Opera Company for the 21st century: a globally significant arts organization embodying the core values of excellence, relevance, and fiscal responsibility.

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