“Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, which has operated without a permanent leader since April, has chosen a new president and chief executive from the academic world: Debora L. Spar, the president of Barnard College,” writes Jennifer Smith in Wednesday’s (11/16) Wall Street Journal (subscription required). “Ms. Spar, 53 years old, will be the first woman to lead the performing-arts organization [as president]…. Her appointment, announced Wednesday morning, comes as Lincoln Center and the New York Philharmonic are planning a $500 million renovation of the orchestra’s home at David Geffen Hall.… Ms. Spar will join Lincoln Center in mid-March 2017…. Lincoln Center operations [are currently] run by a transition team led by chief operating officer Liza Parker and overseen by Lincoln Center chairwoman Katherine Farley…. A former Harvard Business School professor, Ms. Spar … joined Barnard in 2008. During her tenure the [school’s] endowment … nearly doubled and applications rose by more than 50%. Ms. Spar shepherded construction of a new student center and oversaw planning for a $150 million teaching and learning center.… Under her leadership Barnard also launched artist and writer residences that brought cultural figure such as choreographer Twyla Tharp to the college’s Manhattan campus.”
Posted November 16, 2016
