DEBORAH BORDA, President and Chief Executive Officer, Los Angeles Philharmonic

As President and Chief Executive Officer of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, Borda leads one of the largest music organizations in the United States. Deborah Borda assumed her present duties in January 2000, just as ground was broken for Walt Disney Concert Hall. Deborah Borda led the search which culminated, in April 2007, in the announcement of the brilliant young Venezuelan, Gustavo Dudamel, as the new Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Director effective October 2009. Dudamel assumed that post upon the departure of Esa-Pekka Salonen, who held the position for 17 years.

In 2007 Borda and Dudamel initiated YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles), a project to provide access to instrumental and orchestral education in underserved communities throughout Los Angeles, inspired by El Sistema, the Venezuelan music education system that nurtured Gustavo Dudamel.  Deborah Borda came to Los Angeles after close to a decade as Executive Director of the New York Philharmonic, which she guided through a period of artistic growth and fiscalre-tooling. Her appointment there in 1991 made her the first woman in recent history to manage a major American symphony orchestra.