Don heads a dedicated and hard-working team with responsibility for managing our community initiatives and cultivating community connections, including the Tessitura Regional User Groups and events around the globe, our active online community and the annual staging of the highly successful Tessitura Learning & Community Conference (TLCC), of which he is Chair. Don and his team have grown TLCC over the years into the largest, annual global gathering of arts and cultural professionals, promoting sharing of innovative best practice amongst Tessitura users from around the world.

Don joined Tessitura Network in 2003, bringing with him extensive ticketing and fundraising software leadership experience in arts and entertainment markets. He had managed software Installation, training and client support for multiple ticketing and fundraising products. Previously, he had worked in a number of production positons in arts organizations, following his graduation as Master of Fine Arts from Yale School of Drama in Technical Design and Production. Don served as Production Manager in several theatres, and held backstage production roles in various theatre and opera companies, including one of the first adopters of Tessitura, Santa Fe Opera.

Singing and live performance are two of Don’s great joys. He grew up in a household in which everyone sang or played and music was a significant part of his childhood. Today, choral singing remains his passion and is another manifestation of the community values he holds dear. In Connecticut where he lives, Don has been singing in his church choir for 30 years and grabs the opportunity to participate in hymn sings or multi-choir events at Yale whenever he can. Don also takes any opportunity to attend live performances, cultural events and museums in the cities he travels to as part of his work.