NJSO Appoints CEO and COO
NEW JERSEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA APPOINTS JAMES ROE PRESIDENT & CEO,
SUSAN STUCKER COO
ROE AND STUCKER BRING UNIQUE EXPERIENCE TO NJSO LEADERSHIP POSITIONS
NEWARK, NJ (June 26, 2013)—The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra has named James Roe its new President & CEO and Susan Stucker its COO. Roe has been NJSO Acting Principal Oboe since 2011 and was previously Artistic and Executive Director of The Helicon Foundation. Stucker, previously the NJSO’s Vice President of Operations & General Manager, had been serving as NJSO Interim President & CEO.
NJSO Board of Trustees Co-Chairs Ruth C. Lipper and Stephen Sichak Jr. said in a joint statement: “Having a leadership team comprised of Jim Roe and Susan Stucker is symbolic of the collaborative culture and spirit that permeates the NJSO. Jim and Susan represent the wealth of talent that is within the organization, and the Board could not be more delighted at the outcome of the search.”
Roe has built a robust musical career with success as both a performer and an arts administrator with a passion for engaging audiences with innovative and thought-provoking concert experiences. He is well known to the NJSO and its audiences through his previous position as Acting Principal Oboe and his eloquent spoken introductions as an NJSO concert host. Roe was previously Artistic and Executive Director of The Helicon Foundation, a subscription chamber music series in New York City that produces and presents original thematic programs on period instruments. Under his leadership, Helicon has experienced an expansion of its performance activities, doubling its concert schedule and audience, renewing commercial recording activities and successfully producing joint ventures with other arts organizations, including The Morgan Library and Museum. A hallmark of Roe’s success at Helicon has been audience engagement and loyalty.
Stucker has held several positions of increasing responsibility within the NJSO since she joined the organization in 1989. She helped found the NJSO’s Greater Newark Youth Orchestra—which has since blossomed into a three-ensemble family of student orchestras—and was its manager for five years, building key relationships with the community and the musicians of the NJSO. She became the NJSO’s Assistant Orchestra Manager in 1991, Orchestra Manager in 1993, General Manager in 2000 and Vice President of Operations & General Manager in 2002. She has been a passionate advocate for the Orchestra’s education and community engagement initiatives in every position she has held with the NJSO. A leading advocate for the NJSO’s philosophy of collaborative culture, Stucker’s expertise and knowledge of the Orchestra provide stability in a time of transition and growth.
Roe says: “I love the pride the NJSO takes in its artistic product. I see this in every corner of the organization and in every department. We all want to reach more people with our music, and audience engagement will be the number one focus of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra moving forward.”
Stucker says: “The formation of this dual leadership team gives Jim and me the opportunity to use our passion for this great organization to further the Orchestra’s standing as a leader in our field, from our high-quality musicianship and artistic programming to the education and community engagement initiatives so important to our mission as New Jersey’s state orchestra.”
Music Director Jacques Lacombe says: “Through his seasons as NJSO Acting Principal Oboe, I have come to know Jim Roe as a talented musician with a deep passion for this Orchestra and our art form. I congratulate him as he joins an emerging trend of musicians stepping from the stage to arts administration, and I look forward to working with both him and Susan Stucker to bring the NJSO into the next chapter of its history.”
New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) President and CEO John Schreiber says: “I am delighted to congratulate Susan Stucker, a marvelous symphony orchestra executive, a trusted colleague and a good friend, as she ascends to her new position as COO of the NJSO. Susan knows the business of orchestra management inside out, and along with the visionary leadership of new CEO Jim Roe and the artistic brilliance of Maestro Jacques Lacombe, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra is poised for a remarkable future.”
Curtland E. Fields, President & CEO of the Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children, and an NJSO Trustee, says: “The NJSO found a way to secure for its leadership two strong and committed administrators with knowledge of and passion for the Orchestra. The appointment of a leadership team with such deep and complementary strengths should serve the NJSO very well.”
Roe and Stucker assume leadership of the NJSO at a time of great critical acclaim for the Orchestra. The Star-Ledger writes that “there were many reasons to look back with admiration” at the NJSO’s 2012–13 season, noting: “Bold programming, particularly in the Winter Festival, continued to push boundaries. Outreach experiments, such as the Orchestra’s first College Night, brought in new audiences. The relationship between the players and music director Jacques Lacombe seemed to deepen.”
The NJSO’s lauded education and community engagement programs have continued to flourish; in addition to its Greater Newark Youth Orchestras, NJSO Early Strings Program and Concerts for Young People, the Orchestra piloted an El Sistema-like intensive violin-instruction program at University Heights Charter School in Newark.
Roe and Stucker begin their tenures as President & CEO and COO of the Orchestra effective July 1.
The NJSO President & CEO Chair is graciously underwritten by Ruth C. and A. Michael Lipper.