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Chuck Reif reflects on a career in the arts

An antidote to cynicism

Chuck Reif

Chief Engineer & Co-Founder, Tessitura

An antidote to cynicism

9/22/2025

16 min

Chuck Reif's story is one of gratitude. 

The Tessitura community knows Chuck as the company’s co-founder and chief engineer. Some members can recall when Chuck implemented the software at their institutions himself. As he prepares to retire at the end of 2025, Chuck shared the story that led him to Tessitura.

Chuck spent his professional life in the world of arts and culture. But, he jokes, he began his career as a cynic at the age of 3. That cynicism melted away when he walked backstage at his high school theater. 

“Arts and culture have been my personal cynicism antidote.”

Whether stage managing at school or a Broadway tour, Chuck found his outlook renewed by the arts. “If I was ever tired or frustrated … all I had to do was sit in the house for an act or two, watch the audience, feel the reaction,” Chuck explained. 

“Arts and culture have been my personal cynicism antidote,” he shared.  

Chuck later joined the Metropolitan Opera’s marketing and development department. At the time, the team was developing a new unified CRM software and invited Chuck to be the project manager. Chuck admitted he had doubts about the project. But he embraced the opportunity. “I am so fortunate that, by then, I learned that if I could just shake off that [cynical] part of myself, something amazing might happen,” he said.  

Indeed, something amazing did happen: Tessitura evolved, and Chuck’s career along with it. He watched as the organization he co-founded helped launch others' careers in arts administration, too. Now, Chuck leaves a legacy of innovation in the sector. Before closing this chapter, he expressed gratitude for the Tessitura community. 

“For the last 24 years, since we started this organization, I’ve been able to walk into your magnificent venues, and I still get excited every single time like I did walking backstage all those years ago in high school,” Chuck said. “Who could ask for more than that in a job?”

•     •     •

Chuck Reif delivered this talk at the Tessitura Learning & Community Conference in Anaheim, California, in August 2025.

Chuck Reif

Chuck Reif

Chief Engineer & Co-Founder
Tessitura

As one of Tessitura Network’s founders, Chuck Reif has been with the company since its inception and remains a technical leader for Tessitura.

As Chief Engineer and Co-Founder, Chuck works closely with Chief Innovation Office John Jakovich to oversee the technical direction of the company and the future functionality of the Tessitura platform.

Chuck joined Tessitura Network from the Metropolitan Opera, where he was project manager for the development of the original Tessitura software. Initially in charge of IT for the Met’s Marketing and Development departments, he became Assistant Director of IT and was responsible for administering the systems that were eventually replaced by Tessitura. Chuck then led the organization-wide effort to design and build what was then called Impresario Software — an extensive project that involved all customer-facing departments over a three and a half year period. 

Prior to his career in technology, Chuck worked in the theatre as a professional stage manager for Broadway and national touring productions of such shows as The King and I with Yul Brynner, Hello Dolly with Carol Channing and The Music Man with Dick Van Dyke. After seven years backstage, he began consulting with Broadway producers, helping them to implement effective uses of computer technology. One of his projects at the time was to write the program that tracked the casts of Cats all over the world. 

Chuck has a Bachelor of Education (Music and Theatre) from Northern Illinois University. The early years of his career found him doing social work in London, managing a marina in the Virgin Islands and renovating apartments in New York City. But from a very young age he wanted to work in the theatre and is therefore thrilled that the arts are still a major focus of his work. Chuck lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, where he enjoys skiing, hiking and cycling.

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