Kim Cook joined Arts Council of New Orleans as President and CEO, May 2013. Her imperative in this work is to drive sector change such that collaborative and innovative projects lead to an acknowledged and celebrated intersection between arts, culture, and civic life. A cross-sector, multi-disciplinary activist by nature, Cook has extensive experience in a broad spectrum of practice related to arts and culture. Most recently, as Associate Director, for the Nonprofit Finance Fund she managed arts and culture initiatives across the country including conducting arts sector research, writing for the NFF national blog, and delivering custom engagements to help clients craft strategy grounded in financial analysis. Prior to NFF she worked as lead consultant for Topline Creative with special projects including resurrecting the Philadelphia Zoo’s corporate leadership program, participating in the launch team for a creative economies project in the Silicon Valley culminating in a new festival of art and technology “ZeroOne”, and serving as director and dramaturg for a theater project on migrant culture touring to Vienna in 2006 and for five weeks in Kenya in 2007. Kim is an avid learner with expertise areas in strategic management, marketing, social enterprise, and the use of electronic media/virtual space. Ms. Cook’s work as an arts manager comprises working as the Artistic Director of Theater Artaud in San Francisco, Executive Director of the Oakland Youth Chorus and free-lance director and producer. She has a BA in the Performing Arts and MA in Arts and Consciousness. In 2004 - 05 she was a management fellow at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.