Debbie Chinn is in her fourth season as Managing Director of California Shakespeare Theater. Since her arrival, she has stabilized Cal Shakes’ infrastructure by broadening its contributed and subscription revenue and by increasing the operating budget by 40%. She has garnered two challenge grants totaling $400,000 to help the organization retire its accumulated debt, created an endowment fund, and has begun the initial phases of a strategic planning process to position the organization for institutional growth.

Ms. Chinn provided administration and organizational leadership as the Managing Director of the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, and spent over five years as the Volunteer Council Director at the San Francisco Symphony. During her tenure, the Volunteer Council enjoyed unprecedented fiscal success, an expansion of its volunteer base to 1,700 members and national acclaim for its innovative approach to volunteer management.

Prior to joining the S.F. Symphony, Ms. Chinn was the Special Events Director for Center Theatre Group of Los Angeles County where she produced, created and directed major events for the Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theatre and the James A. Doolittle Theatre. She developed new initiatives to broaden corporate support and guided the efforts of the Center Theatre Group Volunteers in areas of event strategy, fiscal planning and membership recruitment. She has been affiliated with University of San Francisco where she created the Student Alumni Association, and the American Conservatory Theatre (ACT), where, as Associate Director of Development, she planned and implemented fund-raising events and nurtured the growth of the Friends of ACT.

She received her B.F.A. from the University of Southern California School of Theatre where she studied under the artistic direction of John Houseman.

Ms. Chinn is a board member of the Association of California Symphony Orchestras (A.C.S.O.), and on the Advisory Board of the East Bay Leadership Foundation. She was recently chosen to participate in the Executive Program for Non-Profit Leaders in the Arts and is a recipient of the Center for Social Innovation (C.S.I.) Fellowship from the 2004 Stanford Graduate School of Business.