Symphony hires Houston’s CEO
Mark Hanson boosted orchestra’s profile with expanded outreach
The San Francisco Symphony has named Mark Hanson, CEO of the Houston Symphony, as its new executive director. On Sept. 1, Hanson will succeed Brent Assink, who stepped down in March after 18 years in the post.
Hanson, 43, has spent seven years in Houston, where he has taken vigorous steps to expand the orchestra’s donor and subscriber base and to broaden the orchestra’s profile throughout the community. Among the initiatives of his tenure were a multiyear plan to strengthen the orchestra’s financial standing, a growth in multimedia performance and outreach programs, and focused outreach efforts to the city’s African American, Hispanic and Asian communities.
“Mark is someone who is very focused and driven,” said Steven Mach, the past president of the Houston Symphony board. “He’s always on. You get him 24/7, 365 days a
year, and he won’t take no for an answer.
“Even before he came to Houston, when he wasn’t even on the payroll yet, he was already working on one of our major funders to make a substantial gift.”
In an interview, Hanson radiated steely energy and an eagerness to get things accomplished.
“I look forward to rolling up my sleeves and working with the staff and (Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas) and the board to build on the San Francisco Symphony’s incredible legacy of artistic performance and community and economic impact,” he said.
“I’m not interested in the least in maintaining the status quo, but I do not believe that anything
“I take very seriously the commitment to expanding the profile of the San Francisco Symphony.” Mark Hanson
is broken with the San Francisco Symphony. This is a gem of an organization, one of the world’s elite orchestras.”
Hanson inherits an organization that is facing increasing challenges in a difficult financial and cultural climate. The orchestra has more competition than ever for the loyalty of patrons, as well as a tough fight to build younger and more diverse audiences.
“I take very seriously the commitment to expanding the profile of the San Francisco Symphony, both internally and externally,” Hanson said. “I want every single member of the Bay Area community to feel a sense of pride in what the San Francisco Symphony is doing, and I’m not yet convinced that that has been accomplished.”
In a statement, board President Sakurako Fisher said, “Mark is an inspiring leader and the board could not be more confident in his ability to build on the Orchestra’s legacy while forging new paths and possibilities of what the orchestral experience can be.”
Thomas said, “I am delighted to welcome Mark Hanson to the San Francisco Symphony family. His excitement about the future of symphonic music, his experience and success working with other orchestras, and his enthusiasm and knowledge of music and musicians will be a major part of the next chapter of our orchestra.”
Hanson will become only the fifth executive director of the Symphony since the position was created in 1939. Like his predecessors, he combines training in arts management with a history as a practical musician.
He began studying the cello as a youth in Boston, where he attended concerts of the Boston Symphony, and once planned to make that his career. But during his sophomore year at the Eastman School of Music, he said, he discovered that he had “other academic itches that needed to be scratched before it was too late.”
So he transferred to Harvard, where he sang in the Glee Club and earned a bachelor’s degree in social studies. He also, he said, discovered an interest in — and a gift for — nonprofit management as the director of a student-run homeless shelter.
Hanson enrolled in a management training program overseen by the American Symphony Orchestra League (now the League of American Orchestras), and went on to hold leadership positions with the Rockford (Ill.) Symphony Orchestra, the Knoxville (Tenn.) Symphony and the Milwaukee Symphony before being hired in Houston.
Hanson’s wife, Christina, who has an MBA and a master’s degree in arts administration, has worked as director of marketing at the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Chicago Symphony. They are the parents of three sons, ages 11, 8 and 6.
“I hope this will be my last orchestra job — and I know that Christina and our boys are hoping that too,” he said. “I’m humbled to have the opportunity to be welcomed into the San Francisco Symphony family, and I’m going to take my responsibility to help steward this organization very, very seriously.”