Executive Director

Susan T. Danis

Susan T. Danis has served as the Executive Director of Sarasota Opera for the past ten years. During this time the opera's budget has grown from $3.2 million to more than $8 million, both the board of trustees and staffing structures have been reconfigured to meet the ever changing needs of the company, a $20 million renovation of the opera’s 1926 historic theater has been completed as well as the renovation of the company’s 16-unit apartment complex. 

Ms. Danis just completed a six year term as a member of the Board of Trustees of OPERA America, where she was treasurer for three years. She was recently elected to the office of Vice Chairman of the Sarasota Convention and Visitors Bureau. She was recently awarded The 2010 Florida Trust for Historic Preservations Award for Outstanding Achievement in Restoration/Rehabilitation and was also awarded the 2008 “She Knows Where She is Going Award” from Girls, Inc. She is also an emeritus board member of the Sarasota Music Archive, and a member of the Community Advisory Board of the Junior League and a past board member of the Sarasota County Arts Council and The New Gate School of Sarasota. She has also served as a panelist for the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs and is currently a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts.  

Danis had previously served as the general director of Lake George Opera Festival for eight years. consultant to both nonprofit performing arts groups and start-up firms in the San Francisco Bay area. She has been a member of the adjunct faculty at Hudson Valley Community College and Siena College, in the Capital Region of New York.

After completing graduate studies in Paris, France, Ms. Danis served as a consultant to both nonprofit performing arts groups and start-up firms in the San Francisco Bay area. She has been a member of the adjunct faculty at Hudson Valley Community College and Siena College, in the Capital Region of New York, where she taught courses in Marketing, Advertising, Human Resource Development, and Business Communications.

Before her graduate studies, Ms. Danis worked in New York City for the Young Adult Institute, where she produced an award-winning educational television show, initiated successful large-scale programs and special events, and served as the agency’s lobbyist.

Ms. Danis holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Hartford’s Paris Program and a Bachelor of Science degree from Indiana University.