Heather A. Hitchens
Entertainment Industry Expert
Heather A. Hitchens is a nationally recognized arts leader with 30 years of performing arts administration, policy and program development experience. As President & CEO of the American Theatre Wing (ATW), she is charged with maintaining the brand excellence of the Tony Awards (founded by ATW in 1947), as well as overseeing and shaping the organization’s other vital grant-making, professional development, educational and media programs. Since starting her work at ATW in 2011, she has tripled the organization’s budget and overseen an expansion of its programs that has resulted in a more than triple increase in investment. Highlights include bringing the OBIE Awards into the Wing’s portfolio—ensuring Off and Off-Off Broadway are recognized for the crucial role they play in the theatre ecology—and creating and launching the Andrew Lloyd Webber Initiative, a multi-tiered initiative to advance diversity in the theatre. In addition, Hitchens reconceived ATW’s much beloved “Working in the Theatre” public access television show, into a thrice Emmy-nominated docuseries. A seasoned leader, ATW is Hitchens’ fourth CEO post. Prior to ATW, she was appointed by the Governor of the State of New York to serve as Executive Director of the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), where she oversaw the distribution of over $123 million in grants to more than 2,000 New York State arts organizations in every artistic discipline. Prior to NYSCA, Hitchens served as the President of the renowned national service organization Meet The Composer and as CEO of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra.
