Michael M. Kaiser President- Claudette Donlon Executive Vice President
- Darrell M. Ayers Vice President, Education
- Marie A. Mattson Vice President, Development
- David J. Kitto Vice President, Marketing and Sales
- Lynne Pratt Vice President, Finance
- Alan C. Levine Chief Information Officer
- Dan Hagerty Director, Individual Campaigns
- Donna Cutro, Director Designated Campaigns
Darrell M. Ayers Vice President, Education
Darrell Ayers is Vice President for Education at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Since 2004, he has been responsible for the overall planning, management, and supervision of the programs and operations of the Center's Education Department and Jazz Programming. The budgets under Ayers' supervision total more than $20 million with 46 full-time staff.
The Education Department includes performances and performance-related events for young people and families; arts in schools and communities (programs directly involved with pre-k to grade 12 education); career development for young artists; and arts management. The Department includes educational programming for the National Symphony Orchestra, the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage (a daily free performance series) and oversight for the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C.
Among Mr. Ayers' achievements as vice president are the opening of the Kennedy Center Family Theater, the increased development and production of new works for young audiences, the growth of educational resources on the Internet, the expansion of several national programs to international programs, and a focusing and realignment of the 30 educational programs within the department.
In his 20-year tenure at the Kennedy Center, Mr. Ayers has managed grants for the education department, and worked directly with programs in the areas of teacher and artist development, internships and fellowships, adult education, and national partnerships.
Mr. Ayers has served as vice president for the DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative and as a panelist for the DC Commission on the Arts. He also has been a board member for a number of community-based arts organizations and arts councils. He has worked on television specials including the Kennedy Center Honors, the National Literacy Honors at the White House, and the All-Star Salute to Our Troops.
Mr. Ayers has worked as a teacher, choral conductor, singer, dancer, and actor and he has toured nationally and internationally as a performer and stage manager. He attended the University of Miami (FL) as a music education major and has a Bachelor of Science degree in communication arts from Georgia Southern University. Between colleges, he worked for five years as a branch manager for mortgage and loan companies in North and South Carolina and Georgia.
