Performing Arts Center leader to stay into 2007

Deirdre Newman and Alicia Robinson

The Orange County Performing Arts Center is launching an

international search for a new president, but current President Jerry

Mandel will remain in the post until one is found.

His contract as president has been extended through June 2007,

though Mandel, 63, will become vice chairman of the center’s board of

directors once a new president is hired.

“By 2007, I will have been here 10 years, and this is long enough

in this job,” Mandel said. “Nonprofits need new leadership every so

often. We’re building a new building and need someone who can stay

with that project for seven or eight years. I won’t be able to at

this age.”

The center is in the midst of building the $200-million Renee and

Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, which is set to open Sept. 15, 2006,

just before the center’s 20th anniversary. The 260,000-square-foot

building will include a 2,000-seat concert hall, where the Pacific

Symphony will perform, and a 500-seat music theater.

Keeping Mandel at the center’s helm will be especially important

during such a transitional period, board Chairman Paul Folino said.

“It was a collaborative idea very supported by the board,” Folino

said. “He has some great accomplishments at the center over his

eight- to nine-year tenure, and we felt that we get the best of both

worlds by having him here and recruiting a new president, someone

that will run the center for the next eight to 10 years.”

The building is Mandel’s main reason for staying through 2007, he

said. Until then, he will campaign to raise close to $80 million

still needed to pay for the new concert hall.

Folino expects to have a replacement for Mandel hired within a

year. Mandel’s contract was set to expire in June 2005. Under the new

contract, which the board approved on Aug. 30, he will be paid

through June 2007, regardless of when he becomes board vice-chairman,

which is normally not a paid position.