NAC president, CEO to step down in 2018
Peter Herrndorf will step down as president and CEO of the National Arts Centre late next spring after holding the role for nearly 20 years.
The NAC confirmed the news Monday morning following several media reports.
"After 18 years, our visionary leader Peter Herrndorf will step down on June 2, 2018," the NAC posted in a note on Twitter.
In a CBC interview in December 2015, after 16 years of holding the job, Herrndorf said he was looking forward to leading the NAC into Canada's 150th birthday celebrations in 2017, and that after that, he would make a decision about his future.
"Then I'll decide, or more to the point, my wife will decide," he said at the time.
'The greatest joy of my life'
"Leading the National Arts Centre for the last 18 years continues to be the greatest joy of my life," Herrndorf was quoted saying in a media release issued by the NAC Monday morning.
"The National Arts Centre is a national treasure, and my role was to create the conditions to allow artists to dream, and to do their very best work. It has been a privilege to serve Canadian artists, and to help them define who we are as a people."
"Peter Herrndorf is quite simply the most successful, influential, and beloved leader in the performing arts in Canada," Adrian Burns, chair of the NAC's board of trustees, is quoted saying.
"Throughout his career, he has brought groundbreaking ideas to life. He has helped countless artists and arts organizations fulfil their creative aspirations. More than anyone else, he has helped the performing arts thrive across the country."
Stints at CBC, Toronto Life, TVO
Herrndorf was born in Amsterdam, raised in Winnipeg, and got a political science and English degree from the University of Manitoba in 1962. He later studied law at Dalhousie University and obtained a Master's in administration from Harvard Business School, according to a biography posted on the NAC's website.
He joined the CBC in 1965 in Winnipeg, then moved to CBC Edmonton as a current affairs producer, and then to Toronto in 1967 to be a producer of a current affairs show. From 1974 to 1983, Herrndorf held a variety of roles at CBC, including head of TV current affairs programming, vice-president of corporate planning, and vice-president and general manager of CBC's English-language radio and television networks.
Herrndorf left the CBC in November 1983 and became publisher of Toronto Life magazine in December 1983, a role he held until 1992.
He then became chairman and CEO of TVOntario in March 1992 and served three terms, stepping down in February 1999.
He became president and CEO of the National Arts Centre that fall.
