Theatre Bay Area Announces New Board Leadership
By: Julie Musbach Jul. 31, 2019
Theatre Bay Area (TBA), the San Francisco Bay Area's theatre arts service organization, announced today its newly elected slate of officers to its board of directors. TBA is pleased to announce Debbie Chinn, current Executive Director of Opera Parallèle, will serve as board president for the next year.
Chinn has served on TBA's board for two years and has over 25 years of arts management experience. As board president, she wants to amplify TBA's profile as a vital and essential resource to the Bay Area theatre community during this time of economic and social uncertainty. ""Our region is facing numerous challenges, not the least of which is TBA's ongoing responsibility to support our member theatres in their quest for audiences, patrons, supporters, and resources. In addition, we have a specific call to action which pertains to our current real estate climate and its impact on the affordability index for artists, staff, and arts organizations. This is of paramount concern, and TBA will lead the conversations as the local arts community work towards remedial solutions," comments Chinn.
TBA's Executive Director Brad Erickson says, "Debbie has been a great asset to our board for the past two years, and it will be thrilling to have her in this new position, leading our board and overseeing TBA at this critical time in the Bay Area. She is nationally recognized as an innovative leader in the arts field, and her vast experience working with arts companies from around the nation will truly benefit TBA as we tackle the changing needs of our community."
Chinn takes leadership of a board compiled of other Bay Area arts leaders and enthusiastic theatre supporters from the private sector.
Officers of Theatre Bay Area's board, elected to one-year terms, are:
- Debbie Chinn, President; Executive Director, Opera Parallèle
- Michelle Mills Honchariw, Vice President; Marketing Operations and Strategy, Levi Strauss Americas
- Janice E. Sager, Treasurer; Nonprofit Financial and Business Management Consultant
- Andy Chan Donald, Secretary; Associate Artistic Director, American Conservatory Theater
Additional board members:
- Dale Albright, Deputy Director, Theatre Bay Area
- Gina Baleria, Founder & Principal at Baleria Creative; Clinical Professor, Department of Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts at CSU San Francisco
- Michael Bourque, Human Resources Management Consultant
- Brad Erickson, Executive Director, Theatre Bay Area
- Lisa Mallette, Executive Artistic Director, City Lights Theater Company
- John Maull, Product Marketing Lead, Square
- Richard Merrill, Associate Partner of Strategic Advisory Services, Elire
- Alan Olejniczak, Playwright and Librettist
- Julia Stephen Peppard, Director, Client Relations, West Coast Industries
- Joseph Perla, Engineer, Lyft
- Anne W. Smith, Arts Management Consultant and Educator
ABOUT DEBBIE CHINN
Debbie is the Executive Director of Opera Parallèle and is the former Executive Director of the Carmel Bach Festival.
Over the past 25 years, Debbie has held executive leadership positions as Managing Director at CENTERSTAGE (the State Theater of Maryland), California Shakespeare Theater, and Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey. She has served as a strategic consultant for the Philadelphia Orchestra, Ventura Music Festival, Philip Glass' Days and Nights Festival, and Music Camp International.
Debbie began her career at the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) and Center Theatre Group of the Music Center of Los Angeles where she was responsible for event management, volunteer programs, and institutional fundraising.
She currently sits on the board of the San Francisco Community Music Center and on the Advisory Council of West Edge Opera. Her past board affiliations include Theatre Communications Group, the Association of California Symphony Orchestras, Network of Ensemble Theatres, and George Soros' Open Society institute's Leadership Council.
Her transformative leadership work is featured as one of thirteen case studies in "Creative Social Change: Leadership for a Healthy World" in the International Leadership Association Series which assembles thought leaders to reimagine leadership in building a healthy, sustainable, and equitable world.
Theatre Bay Area is one of the largest regional performing arts service organizations in North America. Our members-some 300 theatre companies and 2,000 individual artists-produce thousands of performances and engage more than a million arts patrons each year. The Bay Area houses the third largest community of Actors' Equity (union) actors and boasts more theatre companies per capita than any other metropolitan area in the U.S.
Theatre Bay Area is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to unite, strengthen, promote and advance the theatre community in the San Francisco Bay Area, working on behalf of our conviction that the performing arts are an essential public good, critical to a healthy and truly democratic society, and invaluable as a source of personal enrichment and growth. Visit theatrebayarea.org for more information.
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