Dear Friend of Artists Rep,
After a six-month national search, Artists Rep is pleased to announce that J.S. May will join Artistic Director Dámaso Rodríguez to lead the company as Managing Director. May is a fundraising leader whose strategic management experience includes work at the Portland Art Museum and Doernbecher Children’s Hospital Foundation at OHSU.
After an extensive search and interview process involving dozens of highly-qualified applicants, J.S. emerged as the clear front-runner. Mike Barr, Chair of the Board of Directors believes “he’s a great fit at the right time for our organization.”
Artistic Director, Dámaso Rodríguez – who has also been serving as Interim Managing Director since December 2017 – is “thrilled that J.S. is bringing his vast experience as a leader, strategist, and fundraiser to Artists Rep. His passion for our mission is inspiring. I can’t wait to partner with him on all that’s ahead for Artists Rep at this exciting and transformational time for our company.”
J.S. May is “delighted be joining Artists Rep at an extraordinary moment of our history. From the $7.1 million gift that allowed the organization to pay off the mortgage and provide financial stability to the potential sale of half the block, Artists Rep is poised to be more than just a theatre. With world-class artistic leadership from Dámaso and continued collaboration with ArtsHub partners, Artists Rep has the potential to foster more arts initiatives as a thriving arts center in Portland and I’m excited to be apart of that.”
About J.S. May
J.S. (John Stuart) May is a seasoned fundraising and communications professional who has worked with a wide range of local, regional, national, and international nonprofit organizations. He has helped raise more than $500 million over the course of his career. For eleven years ending in 2018, he was the chief fundraising, marketing and communications officer, and strategist for the Portland Art Museum – Oregon’s premier visual arts institution with annual attendance of more than 325,000. For the seven years prior to his tenure at the Portland Art Museum, J.S. led the fundraising practice for Metropolitan Group, a Portlandbased social marketing firm that works to create a more just and sustainable world. For the six years preceding Metropolitan Group, he led the growth of the region’s leading pediatric teaching and research hospital as executive director for the Doernbecher Children’s Hospital Foundation at OHSU. Before Doernbecher, J.S. spent six years supporting the expansion and growth of the region’s most trusted media source as the director of corporate support for Oregon Public Broadcasting. A graduate of the University of Oregon, J.S. has volunteered for numerous nonprofit organizations, serving multiple terms as president of the board for both the Portland Schools Foundation and the Portland Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. He currently serves as president of the Cycle Oregon board, and is a past board member for the Creative Advocacy Coalition. J.S. is an avid yogi, cyclist, and reader.