Welz Kauffman

Since 2000, Ravinia Festival President and CEO Welz Kauffman has been responsible for the artistic and financial integrity of North America’s oldest music festival. Programing 140 attractions annually—ranging from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra summer residency to concerts by Sting and Lauryn Hill—for 600,000 visitors each season, Kauffman has quadrupled the number of donors to the not-for-profit while breaking ticket revenue records nearly each year of his tenure—thus taking Ravinia from a $17- to a $38-million company. He also expanded Ravinia’s education programs to provide equitable access to music throughout Chicagoland. Kauffman has reinvested over $30 million into Ravinia’s infrastructure, and is developing a new “experience center” to help build audience for classical music. Previous to Ravinia, Kauffman worked for Los Angeles Philharmonic/Olympic Arts Festival; the J. Paul Getty Trust; Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; Atlanta Symphony; and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

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