Prior to becoming Principal at Grant Management Group, Jamie cultivated a successful career as President and Chief Executive Officer of several large and important performing arts centers in the United States and Canada.

He was recruited to join McCallum Theatre as President and CEO during the pandemic and prepared the institution for re-opening with an emphasis on safety protocols and investments; donor relations; and change the corporate culture. The Theatre was one of the few in the country to refund 100% of ticket sales for postponed and canceled performances.

Jamie was the President and CEO of Ordway Center of the Performing Arts in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Ordway, recognized as one of the United States’ leading not-for-profit performing arts centers, is home to a wide variety of performances throughout the year that encompass the finest in American musical theater, world music, dance, and vocal artists in its Music Theater and its Concert Hall. Ordway is home to the Flint Hills International Children’s Festival, one of the top festivals of its kind in America. Under Jamie’s guidance, the organization implemented a strategic plan that focuses on diversity, equity and inclusion; community engagement; sustainability; and telling the unique Ordway story. Through Jamie’s leadership, the Ordway expanded education, outreach, and community programs by almost 20% in his first full year and established an audience development strategy that used technology to bring more, and new people to the theaters than ever before.

Under Jamie’s leadership and for the first time in the history of the Ordway, a production of the theatre went directly to Broadway with the opening of the international sensation SIX – this show was the Ordway’s holiday production the last season before the pandemic. SIX received eight Tony nominations.

The Ordway was an early investor in the Broadway production of the Bob Dylan musical called GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY, which they have been involved in since before its London run. The musical is set in Duluth, MN and Jamie and the team at Ordway took a number of donors to see the show in London’s West End. At the cast party afterwards, Ordway donors spent time with the largely UK cast and helped them with their Minnesota accents. Jamie created priceless memories for those donors and the stories that they continue to share are far-reaching. GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY finally opened on Broadway. The success this production received will be in part because of the small group of donors who, on Ordway staff’s recommendation, made a gift to support the potential of the work. No participant in this process will ever forget the experience. GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY, which received seven Tony nominations, is now touring the USA.

The Twin Cities, Minneapolis/Saint Paul is a highly competitive market with over 84 producing theatre companies alone. Within five blocks of the Ordway campus, there are eight places to see live performance.  Jamie managed in this marketplace to grow interest, earned revenue, ticket sales and has fundamentally changed the Ordway’s business model.

The Ordway is part of a unique partnership with the founding resident companies Minnesota Opera, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Schubert Club which raises funds and oversees the physical asset that is the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts.

Appointed by Mayor Melvin Carter, Jamie was a founding board member of the Saint Paul Downtown Alliance, which includes 14 other CEOs of the city’s businesses and institutions. Community service is a hallmark of Jamie’s leadership, and he was the Treasurer of the Minnesota Citizen’s for the Arts, served on the Boards of Texas State Arts Board, Canada’s Technology Triangle, Creative Enterprise, and Grand River Hospital Foundation. Jamie was an active member of the Broadway League, is a current member of the national board of Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP).

Prior to arriving in the Twin Cities, Jamie was the President and CEO of the Long Center in Austin, Texas.  He was hired following an international search to develop a sustainable operating plan for the performing arts center.  The Long Center opened in 2008 to great acclaim, but without a clear plan to meet the very high expectations set for it.  It is a complex organization with many competing interests. Jamie began work in September 2011 and has transformed the organization.  Following four years of shortfalls (the facility opened with seven figure deficits) Long Center had three consecutive years with six figure operating surpluses and a dramatic increase in attendance (all done without any operating subsidy). Highlights during Jamie’s tenure include steady growth in annual attendance, national television focus with “So You Think You Can Dance?”, “Americas Got Talent” and two week-long shoots of Jimmy Kimmel Live during the South by Southwest Festival.  He animated the outdoor spaces and maximized and monetized their use.  His last year at the organization included a significant growth in fundraising, and the endowment fund that went over the ten-million dollar mark.  The Long Center has become a focal point in Austin.

For 13 years Jamie was the general manager of the Centre in the Square in Kitchener, Ontario, an award-winning multi-purpose performing arts center with a main hall of 2000 seats, plus an art gallery and studio theatre.   During his tenure at CITS the venue became and remained debt and deficit-free, with working capital and an endowment fund.

Jamie was the recipient of the 2009 Community Leader of the Year Award, presented by the Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce.  He is the 2007 Association of Cultural Executives Award Winner – Canada’s National Cultural Executive of the Year and is a 2003 KW Arts Award Winner. 

Jamie is a founding member of Canada’s National Theatre Festival - Magnetic North Theatre Festival, and served as Chairman of the Board; he helped to found eye-GO to the Arts, a program designed to encourage youth to attend the performing arts and was the founding Chair (eye-GO, which began in Kitchener-Waterloo has now become a national program in Canada and is also a success in many States in the US); he helped to found the organization that became the Atlantic Presenters Association (APA); he is Past-President of CAPACOA (Canadian Arts Presenting Association) and Ontario Presents; he is the founding Chairman of the Board of the Alliance for a Grand Community (a unique multi-disciplinary alliance of the leading arts organizations in the KW area); and he was instrumental in developing a block booking model which is used throughout Canada today.