staff bios
Mara Walker
Chief Operating Officer
Mara Walker is the chief operating officer for Americans for the Arts and as such is responsible for the overall performance of the organization, working with all staff to ensure inter-departmental coordination as is directed in the organization’s strategic plan. She works to ensure that the most innovative personnel; finance; operations; and overall organizational planning tools, policies, and procedures are in place to advance the organization’s mission and goals. As the former vice president of field services and planning, Mara developed programs that met the needs of a growing constituency of organizations and individuals that are committed to using the arts to impact communities. To that end, she established programs that served emerging, mid-level, and seasoned leaders to help them in their professional growth and designed programs for targeted sectors such as united arts funds, public art administrators and artists, arts board members, urban and rural arts representatives, grantmakers, arts education decision-makers, and many more. In this effort she led partnerships and strategic alliances and managed a variety of service opportunities including the annual convention, professional membership and publications. Prior to this work she oversaw operations for the National Assembly of Local Arts Agencies and was instrumental in the merger when it joined with American Council for the Arts in 1997 to form Americans for the Arts.
Mara, a native New Yorker, has worked in arts administration for more than 20 years and received an M.F.A. in theater management from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a B.A. in theater from the George Washington University. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County, MD.
E-mail Mara.
