The Case for the Arts: A Conversation with Deborah Rutter

Deborah F. Rutter is an internationally respected arts executive with over nearly five decades of leadership at premier cultural institutions. From 2014 to 2025, she served as the first female president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts — the nation’s preeminent cultural center — where she led a period of transformative growth while centering artists in all aspects of the institution’s work.

A fierce advocate of artistic voices, Rutter believes artists hold a mirror to society, and her role is to uplift their work. She has collaborated with and established strong artistic collaborations with renowned artists throughout her career, including Renée Fleming, Jason Moran, Q-Tip, Mason Bates, Gianandrea Noseda, Carlos Simon, Riccardo Muti, and Yo-Yo Ma. During her tenure at the Kennedy Center, Deborah expanded the institution’s artistic and educational programming across genres and audiences including the introduction of Social Impact programming in 2019. She also developed an innovative exploration of arts and well-being in collaboration with National Institutes of Health and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as establishing the Hip Hop Culture Council to create new pathways and deepen public knowledge of Hip Hop, while strengthening the burgeoning Hip Hop Culture.

Notably, Deborah led the planning, design, construction and celebrated 16-day opening festival of the Center’s first physical expansion — The REACH — encompassing 72,000 sq. ft. of indoor space and 130,000 sq. ft. outdoor green space to accommodate an increased number of festivals, exhibitions and community impact initiatives. Deborah led the REACH capital campaign which surpassed its $250 million goal, raised entirely through private contributions. During her tenure, Deborah was also responsible for increasing the Kennedy Center’s endowment by sixty-two percent to $162 million.

Beginning her career at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Deborah went on to lead such esteemed cultural institutions as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (2003–2014), where she secured Riccardo Muti as music director and cemented the CSO’s reputation as a top-tier orchestra. As executive director of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra (1992–2003), she oversaw the construction of Benaroya Hall which accommodates two performing halls in a complex that now defines the landscape of downtown Seattle, occupying an entire city block in Seattle’s downtown core.

Deborah serves on the boards of Vital Voices and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including honorary doctorates at Duke University, American University, Roosevelt University, and Cornish College, among others.

A pianist and violinist, Rutter earned a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and an MBA from the University of Southern California (USC).

Seth Green is the dean of the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies at the University of Chicago.

Before joining Graham, Green served as Founding Director of the Baumhart Center for Social Enterprise and Responsibility at Loyola University Chicago. During his tenure, the Center launched a top-ranked specialty MBA program, a globally significant award for social innovation in business, and an array of educational programs that annually engage more than 4,000 learners. Green also served as an Executive Lecturer in Loyola’s Quinlan School of Business, teaching classes on social entrepreneurship and receiving recognition as the Mission-Driven Faculty Member of the Year in 2021.

Prior to Loyola, Green led Youth & Opportunity United (Y.O.U.), a nonprofit organization that prepares low-income youth for post-secondary and life success. At Y.O.U., Green oversaw the fourfold expansion of programs and a $16.4 million fundraising campaign to build a state-of-the-art youth center. He also spearheaded two strategic planning processes, resulting in an enhanced program model and deepened impact. Alongside Y.O.U., Green taught courses on nonprofit management as an adjunct lecturer at Northwestern University.

Earlier in his career, Green worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company, guiding private sector clients through strategy development and change management. A recipient of McKinsey’s Community Fellowship, he spent one year of his time at the firm supporting nonprofit clients, including the Gates Foundation and United Way.

Green speaks and writes on social innovation. His commentaries and research have appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, Fortune Magazine, the Journal of Business Research, and the Social Innovations Journal, and he previously served on the Editorial Review Board of the Business and Society Review. Green has been a featured guest on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, MSNBC, and CNN, and his efforts have been covered by the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. In 2008, Utne Reader named him one of 50 “Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World.”

Green is civically engaged in Chicago, having served on the Campaign Cabinet of the United Way of Metro Chicago, the Impact Investing Advisory Council of the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, the Advisory Board of Concordia Place, the Membership and Engagement Committees of the Economic Club of Chicago, and the Advisory Board of the Executives’ Club of Chicago.

A Marshall Scholar, Green holds a J.D. from Yale University, master’s degrees from Oxford University and the London School of Economics, and a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University.