December 14, 2018

Center Board Names David J. Rothman as New President and CEO 

Jackson, WY – Center for the Arts Board of Directors announced today that David J. Rothman has been appointed President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the organization, effective January 7, 2019. In the newly established role of President and CEO, Rothman will be responsible for the overall success and creative growth of the nonprofit including the vibrancy of its programs and campus, quality of its Resident partnerships, financial sustainability, and impact.

“Following an extensive national search process conducted by Arts Consulting Group, the Board concluded that David’s exceptional track record leading arts organizations and educational institutions made him the outstanding candidate for this role,” remarked Center Board Chair Valerie Brown.

Rothman describes the opportunity to lead The Center as a “dream job.” “I’ve known about Jackson’s ambitious commitment to the arts for many years, as a good friend of mine, Harry Hunt, was the lead architect on The Center when he worked for Harry Teague. Ever since then, I’ve imagined what it might be like to lead such an extraordinary organization in a mountain town similar to the one where I have been living and working for the last 25 years. I am grateful to everyone who has brought The Center to where it is now, grateful for the opportunity to help it take its next steps, and I can’t wait to begin.”

Rothman, a prolific author, also co-founded the Crested Butte Music Festival, was the founding Publisher and Editor of Conundrum Press (now an imprint of Bower House Books of Denver), served as the third head of Crested Butte Academy, and currently serves as Resident Poet with Colorado Public Radio and as Poet Laureate of Colorado’s Western Slope (2017-’19). Most recently he served as the Director of the Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Western Colorado University, where he also directed the conference Writing the Rockies and edited the literary journal THINK.

He has run a wide range of nonprofit arts and educational institutions and organizations and has served on many governing boards. Rothman will be relocating to Jackson from Crested Butte, Colorado at the first of the year, and his family will follow as soon as his younger son finishes high school.

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