Earl R. Merrill: President, The Florida Orchestra

Celebrating its 50th anniversary in the 2017-18 season, The Florida Orchestra is recognized as Tampa Bay’s leading performing arts institution, the largest professional orchestra in Florida. The Orchestra seeks to enrich the diverse communities of the Tampa Bay area through live symphonic music. The mission and goals of the Orchestra encompass creating exceptional experiences centered around; music, entertaining, welcoming and educating a wide audience, diversifying all aspects of the organization, striving for the highest level of artistic excellence, creating effective communication and teamwork and building a financially robust orchestra. HC Smith Ltd is pleased to present the Florida Orchestra in its search for a new President to lead the organization into a very bright future.

Under the leadership of Music Director Michael Francis, The Florida Orchestra performs more than 130 concerts a season, with series of classical, popular, and morning coffee concerts in three concert venues in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater, as well as free Pops in the Park concerts. Dedicated to bringing music to all people, connecting to the community is a priority, with pre-concert talks, family and youth concerts, as well as concerts in hospitals, shopping malls, and many diverse community settings. The Florida Orchestra is committed to helping to provide music education in schools with special teaching instruction programs. Kids and teens get in free to classical Masterworks concerts with Classical Kids tickets.

For the second year in a row, The Florida Orchestra has set a record for ticket sales, with 125,700 paid seats in the 2017-18 season. That’s two consecutive seasons above the 100,000 mark. Add in free tickets and community concert crowds, and the count climbs to more than 215,000 for TFO’s 50th anniversary season. Using the latest figures, The Florida Orchestra’s ticket sales have soared 45% since 2010. At least 18 sell-out concerts fueled the record attendance, topped by TFO’s premier 50th anniversary gala concert featuring Sting, which sold out the Mahaffey Theater in a week and raised a record $1.5 million. Other standouts included Handel’s Messiah, with an eye-popping nearly 10,000 patrons in three days; Carmina Burana; Holiday Pops; Romeo and Juliet & West Side Story; Music of Star Trek vs Star Wars; Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY; and film concerts of the first two Harry Potter series, performed in conjunction with the Straz Center.

The Florida Orchestra has a budget of approximately $12 million and is supported by an endowment of about $20 million. The Orchestra is planning a major capital campaign over the next three to five years and expects to broaden substantially its annual donor base starting immediately.

THE POSITION OF PRESIDENT:
The President of The Florida Orchestra will possess a genuine love of orchestral music, and an engaging and transparent approach to leadership. Reporting to the Board, the next President will be a champion of change and innovation. She or he must enthusiastically lead the Orchestra with a sense of urgency, creativity and respect for ideas from all constituents. We are seeking candidates who like to dream, take risks and inspire others.

KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Reporting to the Board of Directors, lead the Orchestra’s daily operations: develop, propose, and manage operating and capital improvements budgets. Oversee the fiscal operations for the Orchestra as well as venue promotions.
Provide solid financial leadership to diversify and expand the Orchestra’s sources of contributed and earned revenue.
Bring vision and leadership to The Florida Orchestra’s major fundraising initiatives; build relationships with significant individual and institutional donors; identify and encourage opportunities for involvement from volunteer and leadership.
Recruit, lead, manage, and develop staff. Create the necessary work environment for effective operations.
Provide leadership in the negotiation of union contracts; ensure compliance with all contracts and applicable laws and serve as primary spokesperson for The Florida Orchestra.
Collaborate with and support the Music Director on the artistic vision for The Florida Orchestra.
Serve as The Florida Orchestra’s top ambassador locally, statewide, nationally, and internationally; grow the orchestra’s reputation to secure its place in the community and among the leading orchestras of the world.
Make the best use of today’s marketing tools to retain and grow audiences, promote an appreciation of live classical music as well as all genres, and encourage the greater Tampa Bay community to become active participants in offerings at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Mahaffey Theater and the Ruth Eckerd Hall.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

Bachelor’s degree (master’s preferred), with a passion for live performance of classical music and deep understanding of the importance of music in society. Academic or professional background in classical music preferred.
Six-plus years of progressively responsible leadership experience, preferably with a performing arts association, and work with budgets exceeding $6 million.
Sterling business and financial management skills and demonstrated track record in growing and diversifying an organization.
Strong negotiator with experience in a unionized environment.
High degree of comfort as a fundraiser, with the ability to represent The Florida Orchestra to, and partner with, high net worth individuals, foundations of all types and sizes, and corporate and government supporters.
Strategic, decisive, supportive and gracious leader and mentor who performs effectively and with aplomb in a fast-paced and highly complex environment.

H C SMITH LTD – THE FLORIDA ORCHESTRA – PRESIDENT SEARCH
24000 Mercantile Road – Suite 7 – Beachwood, Ohio 44122 (216) 752-9966
E-MAIL: becca@hcsmith.com; www.hcsmith.com

Our client is an equal opportunity employer