David C. Bohnett Named Chairman of the Board at The Wallis Center for the Performing Arts

Philanthropist and technological entrepreneur David C. Bohnett will take the helm as the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts' Chairman of the Board effective November 18.

The announcement was made today by Jerry Magnin, outgoing Chairman of the two-year old cultural hub located in the heart of Beverly Hills. Additionally, Rachel Fine will step into the role of Managing Director on November 11 replacing Tania Camargo who will leave to join Figura Media/Brazil Production Services, a documentary production company based in Los Angeles and Brazil. Fine has been serving as a Senior Consultant to The Wallis through the DeVos Institute of Arts Management, a consultancy Camargo helped establish. This announcement follows the news of the company's first Artistic Director Paul Crewes in September.

"I look forward to working with the Board and staff at The Wallis to help the organization realize its full potential," said Bohnett. "As Board Chair, it is my goal to build on the success of the organization to date and continue to develop a strong presence of The Wallis in our local community and beyond. We will accomplish this through presenting the highest quality multidisciplinary performances across a variety of formats and genres as best suits the unique strengths of the facility and the diversity of our local audience. We look forward to expanding our streaming capabilities in order to reach new audiences beyond our local borders, as well as continuing to fulfill our community responsibility through our education and outreach programs in underserved communities. I'm particularly interested in supporting our efforts to partner with local cultural and performing arts organizations in order to help expand access to the arts across the region."

David C. Bohnett is a philanthropist and technology entrepreneur committed to affecting positive change through community building and social activism. In addition to serving as Chair of the David Bohnett Foundation, he is a Vice Chairman of the Board of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and Trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, amfAR (The Foundation for AIDS Research) and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

"After serving as The Wallis' Chairman for nearly three years, it's time for new board leadership to ensure the success of The Wallis for years to come," said Magnin. "On behalf of the entire Board, we welcome David as our new Chairman, and Rachel as our new Managing Director. At the same time saying thank-you and best of luck to Tania Camargo for helping establish The Wallis as the great organization it now is."

Rachel Fine steps into the role of Managing Director with an 18-year career in the arts as a versatile administrator, educator and fundraiser, most recently as Senior Consultant at the DeVos Institute of Arts Management. Prior to that Ms. Fine was the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO), a position she held from November 2010 through February 2015.

"I am tremendously honored and excited to be taking on the role of Managing Director at The Wallis," said Fine. "I have dedicated my career to helping performing arts organizations thrive, and what that experience teaches me is that The Wallis is supremely well-positioned to take a place among the leading arts presenters in Southern California and indeed the nation. We have so many crucial elements in place: an engaged and experienced board, led by David Bohnett; a truly visionary artistic director in Paul Crewes; a creative and hard-working staff; an informed and enthusiastic group of patrons and subscribers; and -- not least -- a campus of architecturally significant buildings, both new and beautifully restored, that combine state-of-the-art performance space and extensive education facilities with gorgeous reception areas and enviable garden and plaza space. All this in the middle of Beverly Hills, at a moment when Southern California, building on its great diversity and the forward-looking attitude it has always been known for, is increasingly recognized as one of the world's great regions for the arts."

David C. Bohnett is a philanthropist and technology entrepreneur committed to effecting positive change through community building and social activism. In addition to serving as Chair of the David Bohnett Foundation, he is a Vice Chairman of the Board of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and Trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, amfAR (The Foundation for AIDS Research) and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

Since 1999, the David Bohnett Foundation has provided over $85 million in state-of-the-art technology and technical support to hundreds of innovative organizations and institutions in several primary funding areas: The Fund for Los Angeles, supporting a broad spectrum of arts, educational and civic programs including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, LACMA and the Venice Family Clinic; LGBT-related causes; graduate school leadership programs at the University of Michigan, UCLA, NYU and Harvard; voting rights and registration initiatives; supporting research and public policies to reduce the toll of firearm violence; and animal research and rights. He is also a founding contributor to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.

Mr. Bohnett has spent his professional career in the technology and information services industry. He founded GeoCities, an early internet-based social network and e-commerce company cited in the late '90s as the fifth most popular site on the internet. The company became publicly traded on NASDAQ and was subsequently acquired by Yahoo! Inc. Bohnett is the founder and managing member of the early stage technology fund, Baroda Ventures, which he started in 1998.

Mr. Bohnett has been recognized as one of Time Digital's Top 50 Cyber Elite, a Los Angeles Business Journal Technology Leader of the Year and one of Newsweek's "100 People to Watch in the Next Millennium"; Inside Philanthropy listed him as one of the 12 Most Generous Tech Leaders. His academic credentials include a Doctorate of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa from Whittier College, an M.B.A in Finance from the University of Michigan and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Southern California.

Rachel Fine was Senior Consultant at the DeVos Institute of Arts Management, drawing upon an 18-year career in the arts as a versatile administrator, educator, and fundraiser, as well as a professional classical musician. Prior, Fine served as Executive Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO), establishing LACO as orchestra-in-residence for the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA in an ongoing and mutually beneficial collaboration; successfully shepherding LACO through the challenges of the Great Recession; and expanding the reach of the Orchestra with prestigious debuts beyond Los Angeles. In addition, she spearheaded high-profile community events as "Play Me, I'm Yours," an ambitious three-week project that placed 30 pianos in 30 locations across Los Angeles, and Strad Fest LA, a four-day citywide festival featuring eight Stradivarius violins. Strad Fest LA earned press coverage in The Wall Street Journal and on "60 Minutes," and also resulted in a record-breaking fundraiser for LACO.

In addition, she served in leadership positions at such institutions as the Los Angeles Children's Chorus, where she helped found the Young Men's Ensemble, a rare choral group for young men with changing voices, for The Juilliard School, Santa Fe Opera, and the Aspen Music Festival, as well as the renowned San Francisco-based period ensemble Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.

Fine completed a one-year comprehensive Management Fellowship in 2001-02 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts under the guidance of then-President Michael M. Kaiser. Fine was also selected to participate in the 2012 Leadership L.A. program, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission's 2008-09 Arts Leadership Initiative, and the 2007-08 Wells Fargo New Executive Directors Institute of Southern California's Executive Service Corps. She is a founding mentor of the Los Angeles Emerging Arts Leaders' mentorship program.

An accomplished pianist, Fine studied at the Eastman School of Music and the University of California, Irvine, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in music. She also attended graduate school in musicology at Yale University. She served on the Board of Directors of the Association of California Symphony Orchestras (ACSO) for six years and recently joined the Board of Councilors for the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music, where she also teaches a graduate course in executive arts leadership. Fine has been enlisted as moderator and panelist by ACSO, League of American Orchestras, USC Thornton School of Music and Chorus America, and has served as advisor since 2009 to the DeVos Institute of Arts Management with clients that include the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.

She and her husband, Christopher Hawthorne, the architecture critic of the Los Angeles Times, have two children who love the arts.

The mission of The Wallis is to be a vital cultural hub that uses unique arts events and education programming to entertain, enlighten and inspire children and adults in our community and across the nation. Since opening its doors in October 2013, The Wallis has produced or presented over 100 dance, theatre, opera, classical music and children's programs to an ever expanding audience. The 2014-15 season saw audiences at The Wallis grow to over 44,000 attendees with another 50,000 anticipated for the 2015-16 Season which officially began in September with a sold-out and live-streamed conversation with two-time Academy Award winning actor Denzel Washington followed by four sold-out performances of the Twyla Tharp 50th Anniversary Tour.

Located in the heart of Beverly Hills, California, The Wallis brings audiences world-class theater, dance and music, performed by many of the world's most talented and sought-after artists. With eclectic programming that mirrors the diverse landscape of Los Angeles, and its notability as the entertainment capital of the world, The Wallis offers original and revered works from across the U.S. and around the globe.

Nominated for 26 Ovation Awards, four L.A. Drama Critic's Circle Awards and the recipient of five architectural awards since opening in 2013, The Wallis is a breathtaking 70,000-square-foot venue that celebrates the classic and the modern and was designed by Zoltan E. Pali, FAIA of Studio Pali Fekete architects. The building features the restored, original 1933 Beverly Hills Post Office (on the National Register of Historic Places) that serves as the theater's dramatic yet welcoming lobby, and houses the 150-seat Lovelace Studio Theater, GRoW at The Wallis: A Space for Arts Education (a gift of Gregory Annenberg Weingarten and Family and the Annenberg Foundation) and the contemporary 500-seat, state-of-the-art Bram Goldsmith Theater. Together, these structures embrace the city's history and its future, creating a performing arts destination for L.A.-area visitors and residents alike. For more information, visit www.thewallis.org.

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