Executive Director | Kansas City Ballet

reports to

Board of Directors

the opportunity

Kansas City Ballet (KCB) seeks a strategic and visionary leader to co-lead one of America’s longest-established professional ballet companies. As the organization’s chief administrative leader, the next Executive Director will develop institutional resilience and drive team momentum for long-term success. Partnering with Artistic Director Devon Carney and the Board of Directors, the next Executive Director will champion bold entrepreneurial strategies to build resources, expand connections, and ensure KCB’s continued artistic and operational growth. 

about kansas city ballet

Mission and Vision

Kansas City Ballet’s Mission: 
To Inspire and Engage Through the Beauty, Power & Passion of Dance 

Kansas City Ballet’s Vision:
Outstanding Dance Experiences Accessible to All

History

Founded in 1957 by Tatiana Dokoudovska, KCB has been led artistically by a series of creative and dedicated professionals. These include Todd Bolender, William Whitener, and since 2013, Devon Carney. Learn more about the organization’s history HERE.

Leadership

Board of Directors

Dedicated to the enduring legacy of Kansas City Ballet, the Board of Directors ensures the organization steadfastly fulfills its mission. Organizational leadership is shared between the Executive Director and Artistic Director, with both roles reporting to the Board of Directors. KCB’s 27-member Board includes business and community leaders, professionals, and philanthropists. Julia Irene Dennie-Kauffman is the long-serving chairman. Carolyn Parkerson is the current president. 

Artistic Director

Devon Carney has served as KCB’s Artistic Director since 2013. Mr. Carney brought to the organization a 21-year professional performing career, notably 12 years as a Principal Dancer with Boston Ballet. Subsequently, he held leadership roles as Ballet Master for Boston Ballet and Associate Artistic Director of Cincinnati Ballet. During his tenure at KCB, Mr. Carney has choreographed many works for the company including Opus I, Swan Lake, Cinderella, Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, Romeo & Juliet, and Peter Pan. He created a world-class Nutcracker that is performed annually in Kansas City and was performed at Washington DC’s Kennedy Center in both 2017 and 2022 to exceptional reviews and sold-out houses. Learn more about Devon Carney HERE.

Executive Director 

Mr. Carney has worked in partnership with two KCB Executive Directors during his tenure. Jeffrey Bentley served with distinction for twenty-five years, retiring in 2023. David Gray is retiring from his role this year after a highly successful three-year tenure. Both leaders provided substantial contributions to KCB, each with unique backgrounds that served the organization in dynamic ways. Under Mr. Bentley’s leadership, KCB expanded its efforts in education and grew financial resources, establishing the corpus of the enviable endowment KCB maintains today. Mr. Gray’s contributions include successfully completing the most recent endowment fund campaign and building a management team defined by excellence, accountability, and collaboration throughout all levels of the organization. 

Financial and Administrative

KCB currently operates on an annual budget of approximately $12M with 71% of revenue coming from ticket sales, school tuition, and other revenue sources (including endowment income and a spending escrow), and 29% from contributed revenue. The organization’s current endowment fund is approximately $32M. KCB employs 38 full-time staff members.

Kansas City Ballet’s Season

KCB’s season generally includes a two-weekend Fall Performance, 25-30 performances of The Nutcracker during the holiday season, a two-weekend Winter Performance, a two-weekend Spring Performance, and a series of performances called New Moves in January/February. A Family Series production was added in 2025.

KCB’s 2026-27 season will open in October 2026 with The Wizard of Oz. In addition to the company’s annual performances of The Nutcracker, the season will feature New Moves in January 2027, Romeo & Juliet in March 2027, and an evening of mixed repertory (titled Pulse) in May 2027, with works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Melissa Hough. The third annual production of the Family Series in February 2027 will feature Pinocchio, a one-hour narrated work performed exclusively by KCB’s Second Company.

Kansas City Ballet’s Company and KCB II

There are 30 dancers in the professional company, represented by the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) Union. Under Devon Carney’s direction, the company dances in more than 50 performances per year. There are also 7-8 members of KCB II in addition to 18-23 Trainees, who collectively comprise the KCB Second Company.

Kansas City Ballet’s School

Under the direction of School Director Oliver Till, the KCB School offers a complete, professional curriculum for its Academy students. With 2 locations and access to 11 studios, the School maintains a faculty of over 50 instructors, serving nearly 650 students as well as hundreds of teens and adults in Open Division classes. The School has recently cemented a partnership with the University of Missouri at Kansas City in which Trainees can receive partial college credit for their KCB dance classes. The School also hosts Summer Intensive training for aspiring young dancers, a Junior Summer Intensive for younger students and an immersive one-week Adult Summer Intensive for those who love dance without the pressure of professional expectations.

Kansas City Ballet’s Partnerships Programs

KCB envisions a future where new generations of lifelong arts advocates and participants are inspired by a dedication to education, collaboration, inclusion, and innovation. Over 20,000 people throughout the region – from students to working professionals to retirees – benefit annually from KCB’s community partnerships programs. Programs include workshops, interactive dance demonstrations, adult education, rehearsal watches, discounted and Sensory Friendly performances, Creative Aging classes, and the Reach Out and Dance (R.O.A.D.) Residency and Scholarship programs.

The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

KCB is the resident dance company of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Kansas City – a dramatic, modern building designed by renowned international architect Moshe Safdie and one of the jewels of the Greater Kansas City area. KCB performs in the 1800 seat Muriel Kauffman Theatre in the Kauffman Center.  The Center was born out of the vision of Muriel McBrien Kauffman, whose daughter, Julia Irene Dennie-Kauffman, continues to guide the organization as a vital benefactor and long-serving Chairman of the Board.

The Todd Bolender Center for Dance & Creativity

Located on the west edge of Kansas City’s Union Station campus, the historic Power House building at Union Station was transformed into the Todd Boldender Center for Dance and Creativity, opening in August 2011. The 60,000 square-foot Bolender Center includes seven studios, wardrobe and costume facilities, a physical therapy suite, and administrative offices. The Michael and Ginger Frost Studio Theater seats 180 and has rehearsal space the same size as the Muriel Kauffman Theatre stage at the Kauffman Center.

about kansas city, missouri

responsibilities

KCB’s Executive Director works in a co-leadership, collaborative relationship with the Artistic Director, both positions reporting to the Board of Directors. With a strategic planning process nearing completion, Kansas City Ballet’s next Executive Director will be able to hit the ground running, fully owning the following key areas of responsibility: 

Surefooted and Collaborative Leadership

• Leading by example, set the tone for achievement and accountability for top-level and highly collaborative performance across the organization.
• Inspire and empower a high performing team to individually understand their role in contributing to KCB’s long-term success, establishing a goal-oriented culture where all team members are aware of the direction and intent of operational decisions.

• Forge a winning relationship with KCB’s Artistic Director, one built on trust and respect in which the partnership thrives through shared ideas, healthy debate, and work towards a unified and balanced approach to organizational leadership.

• Collaborate with KCB’s Board in its strategic focus to champion a culture of inclusion, resiliency, and innovation.

• Fully commit and add to KCB’s history of strategic thought and plan development as a thought leader and convener.

Financial Insight and Planning

• Take a long arc approach to building budgets and financial plans that anticipate and address needs, both normal and extraordinary, so that KCB operates from a place of steadiness and solidity.

• Use numbers and facts as a compelling narrative to tell KCB’s story to different constituencies, tailoring messaging on finance and budgetary matters in a manner that is motivating to different audiences.

• Evaluate financial processes in concert with KCB’s finance team and make changes necessary to keep KCB well situated for growth, expansion, and change in financial tracking systems.

• Monitor performance of KCB’s endowment fund with active advice and participation from KCB’s Board of Directors to ensure maximum gains.

• Work with the leadership team of KCB’s Ballet School to develop a framework that invests in improvements in education services and results in positive financial performance.

Fund and Audience Advancement

• As a compelling fundraiser, shape plans with KCB’s philanthropy team, Board, and artistic partners to build strong cases for KCB support in the community.

• Enthusiastically nurture donor relationships, taking a personal approach to forming meaningful connections with supporters to show them how they can contribute to KCB’s success.

• Encourage KCB’s marketing and communications efforts to focus on well-considered growth in the areas of single tickets and subscriptions, boldly messaging KCB’s programming in increasingly innovative and creative ways.

External Relationships and Values Reflection

• As a deeply embedded member of the community, maintain and establish important civic relationships that benefit KCB and the greater Kansas City cultural community.

• Bring KCB’s message to a wider audience through an authentic and personal approach to relationship building locally, while at the same time, look beyond the Kansas City community to shine a light nationally on the organization’s successes. 

• Reflecting a personal commitment to values aligned with greater inclusion and access, be a leader in guarding a fierce dedication to KCB’s equity-based values and celebration of diversity.

qualifications

Additional Qualities of Compelling Candidates 

• An expressed love of dance, either through a personal set of experiences or as a great appreciator of the art form.

• Strong financial literacy, a tactician with a talent for communicating complex financial information in engaging ways.

• The ability to gain energy from new connections with people and ideas.

• A dreamer's heart, combined with the ability to execute on big ideas.

• Experience as a mentor and team leader; someone who thrives on bringing out the best in others and celebrating both individual and team wins.

• A real commitment to Kansas City, its people, places, and potential.

The salary range for the Executive Director role starts at $200,000 and benefits will be highly competitive with other ballet companies of comparable size and stature. KCB has engaged Management Consultants for the Arts to facilitate this search, with the project led by Jonathan West and Shruti Adhar. The search committee, consisting of 8 KCB Board members, is led by Barbara Storm, immediate past president of the Board. Kansas City Ballet plans to make its decision by Fall 2026.

Kansas City Ballet is an equal opportunity employer. The Ballet does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law, and it encourages candidates of all backgrounds to apply.

The search team