The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus (SFGMC) announced today that they have appointed George Thompson as Executive Director. Mr. Thompson joins SFGMC during their current 35th anniversary season and- with Artistic Director Dr. Timothy Seelig– will lead the institution to new levels of organizational growth and artistic excellence. Download the press release now (PDF). With over 25 years of senior level management experience, Thompson has worked previously as both a presenter and producer at nationally recognized institutions. Most recently he was the Director of the Office of the Arts at Georgia Institute of Technology in which he initiated cross college collaborations and artist residency programs integrating the arts and technology and secured first time funding from both Chamber Music America and the Doris Duke Foundation. From 2005 to 2009 he served as the Conservatory General Manger at the American Conservatory Theatre here in San Francisco, and was responsible for the overall operation of the conservatory and also line producing 14 shows annually. He was the Senior Vice President of Programming and Operations for Omaha Performing Arts and the Executive Director of The Washington Ballet. He served for seven years as the Executive Vice President, General Manager and CFO of the Straz Performing Arts Center in Tampa Bay. While there, he grew Straz into the fifth largest performing arts center in the U.S. It was during this time in Tampa that he first saw the SFGMC as part of the Gala Choruses Festival. George was raised in Greenwich, Connecticut and began his arts career as a professional dancer with Joffrey II, Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theatre, and American Ballet Theatre, touring internationally and working with George Balanchine, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Antony Tudor, Paul Taylor, Merce Cunningham, Jerome Robbins, and Agnes DeMille. He has a BFA in dance from SUNY Purchase College and attended graduate school at Fordham University and American University in Washington DC, studying arts administration. As an arts administrator, he also worked for PepsiCo Summerfare, and international festival of the arts and at the Purchase College Performing Arts Center.