Paul assumed the position of Executive Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in November 1995 and is responsible for all management
aspects of the largest professional theatre in the United States,
including strategic planning, budgeting, fund raising, public relations,
marketing, education programs, personnel and Board relations. Paul joined the Festival in 1980, serving as General Manager for 16 years during a period of significant growth and development.
A
New Zealander, Paul was for six years the Administrative Director
of Downstage Theatre, New Zealand's largest and longest-established
professional theatre. Prior to becoming involved in professional
theatre, he worked for ten years in the corporate world as a planning
manager, management accountant and systems analyst.
Paul
has a B.C.A Honors degree (the New Zealand equivalent of an MBA) from Victoria
University, Wellington, New Zealand. He was the recipient of a New
Zealand Arts Council grant to review theatre administration in Australia
(1979) and has been a guest lecturer at Stanford University, Victoria
University of Wellington, the New Zealand Insurance Institute, the
New Zealand Department of Trade and Industry, the Oregon Educational
Media Association, and the B.C. Touring Council for the Performing
Arts. In the United States he has acted as a management consultant
for many arts organizations, including the Roanoke Island (Lost
Colony) Historical Association, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, the Tudor
Guild, the Southern Oregon Historical Society, the Rogue Valley
Symphony, Britt Festivals and Rogue Opera. He is also actively involved
in arts advocacy efforts for the state of Oregon, currently as President of the Oregon Cultural Advocacy Coalition.
He
was a founding faculty member of the Western Arts Management Institute,
presenting classes on management principles, computer systems and
financial management topics. In 1984 he became an Adjunct Professor
at Southern Oregon University. In 1991 he was featured in the PBS
series on management, "Nothing Ventured." He has served on many panels for
the National Endowment for the Arts.
Active
in community affairs, Paul is Chair of the Ashland Community
Hospital Board, is a member and prior director of Rotary, served for many years on
the board of directors of the Ashland Chamber of Commerce, and has
participated in many local committees and boards.