David Schmitz

Lead Advisor

David is an accomplished nonprofit leader who succeeds in transitional leadership, relationship-based fundraising, facility expansion projects, strategic financial and human resource management, maximizing board impact, leading through an equity lens, and advancing an organization's mission. 

Here’s why he didn’t “jump to the next leadership position” after his last Executive Director role with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival came to completion:

“After leaving the role of Executive Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, I was burned out from managing organizations through the pandemic. I thought I was going to leave the field entirely. Instead, I realized that I had been working my entire career to better the industry, to work towards sustainability and viability of this field I love, and that I am not going to give up on my life’s work.

Inspired by Peter Diamandis’s work in entrepreneurship, I spent some time thinking about my massively transformative purpose, and landed squarely on this personal action statement:

I am working towards a vibrant and sustainable arts industry by 2050.

My efforts strengthen, enable, and inspire arts organizations and their leaders as we co-create this future.

I was clear that I’d have the most industry impact (and the least amount of family disruption–let’s be honest) by creating Amplify Leadership Advisors. 

With ALA, we have built a systemic view of the field, so my team and we can be of outstanding service to our clients who desire a significant impact on their community, expanded audiences, more stability, and to ensure their organization’s legacy lives, breathes, and evolves reliably for generations.”

  • David’s values ALWAYS govern who he (and his team) serve and how they do it:

    • Make a big impact (because otherwise, why bother?)

    • Surround yourself with brilliant people because it inspires bigger, better, and more dynamic thinking.

    • Always be improving & stay curious (so that I don’t miss the brilliance of those with whom I surround myself, and am always growing).

    • Inclusion and co-liberation is key to achieving big things. When the most marginalized among us are free, then we are all free.

    • Don't be an asshole and don't work with assholes. (A useful mantra for EVERY professional situation!)

    • Always ask, “Is the juice worth the squeeze?” by winnowing questions and observations down to the most simple, obvious, and critical concepts. Doing so allows our work to be focused on the most impactful answers and solutions. 

    • Call it like it is - be straightforward and kind.

    • $40,000,000 in combined, career-long fundraising success.

    • Executive leadership at the world-renowned Steppenwolf Theatre Company, American Conservatory Theatre, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

    • Leadership role diversity, including Director of Finance & Administration, General Manager, Managing Director and Executive Director roles.

    • End-to-end leadership of expansion and construction projects from remodels to new construction to building sales and acquisitions.

    • Experience transferring productions to Broadway and to other non-profit regional theatres.

    • Under David’s leadership, Steppenwolf was recognized as one of the nation's top small workplaces by the Wall Street Journal.

    • Founding member of Enrich Chicago, an organization working to end racism in Chicago, an inaugural member of the EDI institute with Theatre Communications Group, and founding leader of the Professional Nonprofit Theatre Coalition.

    • Crisis navigation, including the pandemic shutdowns, the Almeda urban wildfire, and loss of life of key stakeholders and leaders on teams.

  • As the leader of Amplify Leadership Advisors, I acknowledge my overlapping privileged identities and the position of power that they place me in the world. I identify as a middle aged white cisgender straight male, college graduate (with a BA and an MFA) who was raised in suburban Denver and educated in a highly rated, well-funded public school system. I use my privilege to improve the world for all who live in it, I attempt to listen more than I speak, and I am committed to being a teacher and mentor to the next generation of arts leaders, with a primary focus on those from groups for whom systematic oppression has prevented in-roads.

    Part of my privilege has allowed me access to incredible mentors and teachers during my career, and my work at Amplify Leadership Advisors stands on the shoulders of their brilliance and they are an integral part of who I am.

    I have been mentored by Todd Leland, Bart Eilts, David Hawkanson, Martha Lavey, Stephanie Smith, Paul Goodrich, Anna D. Shapiro, Eric Lefkofsky, Angelique Power, Carlos Tortolero, Nina Sanchez, BK Simerson, Nataki Garrett, Dr Kecia Brown and Eric Dishman. My teachers include Carmen Morgan and ArtEquity, the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond, Keryl McCord and Equity Quotient, Sonali Sangeeta Baljee and the Bodhi Project, Seena Hodges, Kevin Fong, adrienne maree brown and the professors of the University of Northern Colorado, Roosevelt University and the Chicago Management Institute at the Booth School of Business.

Contact David