Great Lakes Center for the Arts hires new executive director
BAY HARBOR — The Great Lakes Center for the Arts has concluded its search for and has hired its new executive director, slated to start work at the beginning of July.
Jill O'Neill, the previous and founding executive director, made her retirement announcement as the center was preparing for its five-year anniversary season. A nationwide search for her replacement only recently concluded, with the center hiring Marie Klopf to lead the center following O'Neill's departure.
Read More: Great Lakes Center for the Arts executive director to retire
"It was a very extensive interview process but it is a demanding job," said director of programming and current interim director Matthew Kacergis.
"On any given day the director has many things they are expected to be ready for and we wanted each candidate to have a real 360 degree view of what the job entailed," he said.
Kacergis said the center received upwards of 80 initial applications for the position that was whittled down to 22 that were given preliminary interviews. That pool of candidates was then cut down to six who had another interview. From there, three finalists were chosen who all met with the center's staff and search committee.
"We collected data from everyone — even the staff — and it was ultimately a unanimous decision on Klopf and there is a great unified support for her coming in," said Kacergis.
Klopf comes to the center with decade of experience as president and CEO of the Ann Arbor Art Center, where she recently completed a successful capital campaign and a significant space expansion.
Before becoming an arts administrator, she founded iSupplyCon, where she provided strategic advisory and business development services to a variety of businesses throughout Michigan. She also has her master's degree in administration and a bachelor of science in engineering.
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Upon assuming the role on Saturday, July 9, Klopf will manage the day-to-day operations of the center. She will also play a significant role in the stewardship of its donors and provide strategic direction to staff in programming, fundraising, marketing, and community engagement.
Klopf's hire is the culmination of a six-month search led by board chair Kathy Oswald who said "many members of the Great Lakes Center for the Arts community have given input to this process. Following a comprehensive evaluation, our search committee unanimously and enthusiastically recommended Marie.”
Klopf declined an interview with the News-Review, but gave a pre-written statement in a press release about her hire.
The statement reads: "I’m honored to join the talented team at the Great Lakes Center for the Arts and look forward to its impressive season of performance. My husband John and I are enthusiastic about making Northern Michigan our home.”
In the interim, Kacergis said that all things are business as usual and that O'Neill set up the center for success for the upcoming season.
"She did a great job over the last five years and really set us up for success so that when we bring in our new director we can get her and hitting the ground running as she gets to know the community and learns how we operate," he said.
More information about the Great Lakes Center for the Arts and its five-year anniversary and summer season offerings can be found online at www.greatlakescfa.org.
Contact reporter Sean Miller at smiller@petoskeynews.com. Follow him on Twitter, @seanmillerpnr, and Instagram, @sean_everest.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Bay Harbor's Great Lakes Center for the Arts hires new director
