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FOR RELEASE ON JULY 22, 2011
CONTACT: SHAUNA TYSOR
713 535 3226
KIM ESPINOSA
713 535 3224

HOUSTON BALLET'S CECIL C. CONNER JR.,
COMPANY'S TOP ADMINISTRATIVE LEADER,
TO RETIRE IN FEBRUARY 2012 

General Manager James Nelson Promoted to Executive Director
by Houston Ballet Foundation

HOUSTON, TEXAS - Houston Ballet's Cecil C. Conner, Jr. will retire in February 2012, after 17 years of distinguished service to Houston Ballet as the company's top administrative leader. Houston Ballet's current general manager James Nelson, a graduate of Houston Ballet's Ben Stevenson Academy and a former dancer with Houston Ballet from 1990-1996 who has served as general manger of the company since 2000, will assume the position of executive director effective February 2012. Houston Ballet is America's fourth largest ballet company with 52 dancers, a budget of $19.2 million, a state-of-the-art performance space built especially for the company (Wortham Theater Center),  an endowment of just over $57.6 million (as of May 2011), and a new home, the Center for Dance, America's largest professional dance  company facility which opened in April 2011.

This year's Jubilee of Dance held on Friday, December 2, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. will honor Mr. Conner's 17 years of stellar administrative leadership with Houston Ballet as managing director. Mr. Conner helped to secure Houston Ballet's position as one of America's most fiscally stable dance companies while organizing many national and international tours, playing a crucial role in the planning and construction of Houston Ballet's Center for Dance over the last five years, and the fundraising for the $46.6 million cost of the new facility. 

"C.C. Conner has been instrumental in Houston Ballet's success over the last 17 years. In 2003, he skillfully led the company through an artistic leadership transition. Beginning in 2005, he meticulously laid the groundwork for a transformational moment in the life of the company: the capital campaign that lead to the construction of our new $46 million Center for Dance," comments Houston Ballet Foundation President Karl Stern. "In addition to his superb fiscal management skills which have helped Houston Ballet maintain a strong financial position during challenging economic times, C.C.'s knowledge and love for the arts of dance and music have greatly enriched Houston Ballet. The board, dancers, musicians and staff salute him for his passionate, committed leadership."

An attorney and veteran arts administrator with over 30 years experience, Mr. Conner, came to Houston Ballet in 1995, quickly retiring the company's $1 million accumulated deficit, tripling the size of the company's endowment and establishing a series of unique collaborative partnerships with other leading companies across North America to foster the creation of new full-length narrative ballets: Dracula in 1997 with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre; The Snow Maiden in 1998 and The Pied Piper in 2002 with American Ballet Theatre; Cleopatra in 2000, with Boston Ballet and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre; and The Firebird with National Ballet of Canada in 2001. He has also planned and executed numerous national and international touring engagements for the company to such cities as Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, China; Hong Kong; Toronto; London; Moscow (to the legendary Bolshoi Theater); Los Angeles, and to Washington, D.C. (The Kennedy Center).

Mr. Conner, who is 69, has also emerged as a leader on the national arts scene, having served on the board of Dance USA, the national dance service organization; the board of directors of the Cultural Arts Council of Houston and Harris County; and as chairman of the board of the Texas Institute for Arts in Education. He currently serves on the board of the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) Retirement and Health Funds and the Houston Downtown Alliance.

"I am exceedingly grateful for the generous support of the Houston community in helping us to build the Center for Dance, grow our endowment, and establish such a solid financial base of support for Houston Ballet to grow and prosper artistically in coming decades" commented Mr. Conner.

Houston Ballet's New Executive Director James Nelson

A native of Portland, Oregon, James Nelson, 47, has spent his career in the dance world moving from professional dancer to administrative leader, serving as Houston Ballet's general manager since August 2000.

"Jim Nelson is known as one of the rising stars among young managers in the dance field. It is highly unusual, and desirable, to find a chief executive for a ballet company with Jim's unique combination of experience as a ballet student, dancer, and successful administrator. The fact that all that experience has happened at Houston Ballet makes him an ideal choice to partner with Stanton in leading the company," states San Francisco Ballet Executive Director Glenn McCoy.

Houston Ballet Foundation Chairman of the Board Joseph A. Hafner, Jr. notes, "Jim Nelson has over two decades of institutional knowledge of Houston Ballet, and is a veteran member of the senior management team, with 11 years of experience as general manager. He is intimately familiar with the company's financial picture and operations. Jim has raised Houston Ballet's international profile by securing tours for the company to Spain, Canada, and cities large and small across America. He has also organized and executed a busy international touring schedule for Houston Ballet II. The strong working relationships that Jim has developed with both C.C. Conner and Stanton Welch will insure a seamless transition as Jim and Stanton lead Houston Ballet through the next phase of its development." 

As general manager Mr. Nelson administers the artistic operation of the company's 52 dancers, 61 musicians, and 180 production employees. He has budgetary oversight for over half of the company's $19.2 million budget. Mr. Nelson also directs all tours for Houston Ballet and has overseen international engagements of Houston Ballet in Russia, the United Kingdom, and China, and has developed an ongoing company exchange between Houston Ballet and Les Grands Ballet Canadiens de Montreal. Most recently, Mr. Nelson lead a six-city tour to Spain in April 2009 in which the company performed to sold-out houses and received rave reviews.

Mr. Nelson received his professional dance training from Houston Ballet Academy from 1983-1986. As a professional ballet dancer, Mr. Nelson performed a wide range of featured roles with the Cincinnati Ballet from 1986-1990. He was invited by then artistic director Ben Stevenson to join Houston Ballet where he danced from 1990-1996. Mr. Nelson ended his 11 year performing career in 1997 dancing for Ballet de Santiago, in Santiago, Chile.

After retiring from a performing career, Mr. Nelson received his BBA in finance from the University of Houston in 1999. Mr. Nelson was named general manager of Houston Ballet in August 2000. In 2005, Mr. Nelson was selected for and attended the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Executive Program for Non Profit Leaders. In 2006, Mr. Nelson participated in Mayor Bill White's Economic Development Mission to China as a cultural delegate.

Under Mr. Nelson's leadership, Houston Ballet has developed a partnership with The Methodist Hospital Center for Performing Arts Medicine providing health and wellness services to the dancers and staff. In addition, Mr. Nelson initiated the development of the Dance for Parkinson's program in partnership with Houston Area Parkinson's Society resulting in Houston Ballet receiving the 2009 Roy H. Cullen Quality of Life Award for this initiative.

Mr. Nelson is an active member of Dance USA-- the national service organization for dance. In 2009, Mr. Nelson led the Houston dance community in a two-year planning effort in hosting Dance USA's Annual Conference in 2009. The Houston committee set a new record for host committee fundraising.

Mr. Nelson was a board member of the IATSE Pension Plan from December 2001 through January 2011 and has served as a board member of the Performing Arts Alliance (formerly American Arts Alliance). Mr. Nelson is a graduate of Leadership Houston Class XXVI.

About Houston Ballet

On February 17, 1969 a troupe of 15 young dancers made its stage debut at Sam Houston State Teacher's College in Huntsville, Texas. Since that time, Houston Ballet has evolved into a company of 52 dancers with a budget of $19.2 million (making it the United States' fourth largest ballet company by number of dancers); a state-of-the-art performance space built especially for the company, Wortham Theater Center; the largest professional dance facility in America, Houston Ballet's $46.6 million Center for Dance which opened in April 2011; and an endowment of just over $57.6 million (as of May 2011).

Australian choreographer Stanton Welch has served as artistic director of Houston Ballet since 2003, raising the level of the company's classical technique and commissioning many new works from dance makers such as Christopher Bruce, Jorma Elo, James Kudelka, Trey McIntyre, Julia Adam, Natalie Weir and Nicolo Fonte. Under the administrative leadership of managing director C.C. Conner since 1995, the company has maintained a strong financial position.

Houston Ballet has toured extensively both nationally and internationally. Over the last decade, the company has appeared in London at Sadler's Wells, at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, in six cities in Spain, in Montréal, at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., at New York City Center in Manhattan, and in cities large and small across the United States. Houston Ballet has emerged as a leader in the expensive, labor-intensive task of nurturing the creation and development of new full-length narrative ballets.

Writing in The Financial Times on March 6, 2006, dance critic Hilary Ostlere praised Houston Ballet as "a strong, reinvigorated company whose male contingent is particularly impressive, a well-drilled corps and an enviable selection of soloists and principals."

Houston Ballet Orchestra was established in the late 1970s and currently consists of 61 professional musicians who play all ballet performances at Wortham Theater Center under music director Ermanno Florio.

Houston Ballet's Education and Outreach Program has reached over 22,000 Houston area students (as of the 2010-2011 season). Houston Ballet's Academy has 419 students and has had four academy students win prizes at the prestigious international ballet competition the Prix de Lausanne, with one student winning the overall competition in 2010.

For more information on Houston Ballet visit www.houstonballet.org.