Russell Willis Taylor, President and CEO of National
Arts Strategies since January 2001, has extensive
senior experience in strategic business planning,
financial analysis and planning, and all areas of
operational management. Educated in England and America,
she served as director of development for the Chicago
Museum of Contemporary Art before returning to England
in 1985 at the invitation of the English National
Opera (ENO) to establish the Company's first fund-raising
department. During this time, she also lectured extensively
at graduate programs of arts and business management
throughout Britain. From 1997 through 2000, she rejoined
the ENO as executive director.
Mrs. Taylor has held a wide range of managerial and
Board posts in the commercial and nonprofit sectors
including the advertising agency DMBB; head of corporate
relations at Stoll Moss; director of The Arts Foundation;
special advisor to the Heritage Board, Singapore;
chief executive of Year of Opera and Music Theatre
(1997); judge for Creative Britons; and lecturer on
business issues and arts administration. She received
the Garrett Award for an outstanding contribution
to the arts in Britain, the only American to be recognized
in this way, and has most recently served on the boards
of A&B (Arts and Business), Cambridge Arts Theatre,
Arts Research Digest, and Society of London Theatre.
Currently serving on the advisory boards of The University Musical
Society of the University of Michigan, the 21st Century
Trust, The Curtis Institute, and the Center for Nonprofit
Excellence in Charlottesville, Mrs. Taylor is a Fellow
of the Royal Society of Arts.
