Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance

President & CEO, Kimmel Center, Inc.

In July, 2007 Anne Ewers assumed the role of President & CEO of Kimmel Center, Inc. The $35 million organization which owns and operates the Kimmel Center and manages the Academy of Music, is home to eight resident companies. Additionally, KCI assumed the management of the University of the Arts' Merriam Theater in August, 2009. The Kimmel Center also presents a panoply of its own offerings including Broadway, world and pop music, classical, and jazz.

In her inaugural year with the Center, Ms. Ewers retired its $30 million construction debt, raised the endowment from $40 million to $72 million, garnered $10 million to establish an annual city-wide festival and closed the 2007/08 fiscal year with a $1.2 million surplus to be directed to capital improvements.

In 2011, her vision to launch the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts was realized. PIFA spanned 25 days, embraced 145 performing, visual and cultural organizations, featuring 1500 artists and touting 32 newly commissioned works. The Festival attended by over 400,000 people drove $55 million into the regions’ economy and generated an additional $5 million in state and local taxes.

Anne Ewers became President & CEO of Utah Symphony & Opera in July 2002 following the merger of the two performing arts organizations. During her tenure, she doubled the organization's endowment from $18 million to $36 million, turned a structural deficit of $1.8 million into a $360,000 surplus, founded the Deer Valley Music Festival which generates $1.9 million annually, launched the symphony on its first European tour in 19 years netting $850,000 and recorded the symphony's first CD in 15 years.

From 1991-2002, she was General Director of Utah Opera. She successfully increased the Opera's budget from $1.5 million to $5 million, grew the subscription base by 20 percent, expanded the seasonal repertoire from three to four main stage productions and surpassed two capital campaign goals raising more than $8 million. Prior to joining Utah Opera, Ms. Ewers' positions included General Director of Boston Lyric Opera from 1984-1989 where she retired a $450,000 deficit, built an endowment fund and added two main stage productions. From 1979-1981 she was an assistant stage director at San Francisco Opera.

An accomplished opera stage director, Ms. Ewers' most recent stage productions include Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins of the Petite Bourgeoisie in 2002-03 and Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire in 2004-05. Both were directed for Utah Symphony & Opera. She made her main stage debut with San Francisco Opera in 1988-89 directing La Gioconda. Other artistic highlights include her direction of Wagner's Ring performed in Boston and New York for Boston Lyric Opera as well as the direction of more than 60 other opera productions over the course of her career.

Active in her community and in several professional organizations, Ms. Ewers is a board member and a member of the Executive Committee of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, is a board member of The Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau and a frequent panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts.

Ms. Ewers holds both a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Bachelor of Music from Fontbonne College (1974) and a Master of Music in Opera Production from the University of Texas at Austin (1977).