After an intensive eight-month search, the Board of Directors of the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) today announced the appointment of Deborah Jordy as the District’s new executive director.
Jordy follows Peg Long, who will retire at the end of the year after more than nine years as executive director. Jordy currently is the executive director of the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts (CBCA), a post she has held since 2004.
“Deborah’s considerable experience with arts and cultural organizations coupled with her significant managerial skills make her the ideal choice to lead SCFD. Voters overwhelmingly renewed SCFD for another 12 years and Jordy’s leadership will assure their trust in the District is well placed,” said SCFD Board chairman Dan Hopkins. “As we look to further expand access and inclusiveness, Deborah has the relationships and knowledge to make these goals the new reality.”
Her experience with cultural organizations small to large includes being executive director of the Cherokee Ranch and Castle Foundation (2000-2004), executive director of the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities (1996-2000), and an associate curator at the Denver Art Museum (1986-1994).
“I’m honored to be selected as the next executive director of the SCFD following such a distinguished line of directors. It will be my privilege to serve the District working to advance a flourishing cultural community that entertains and enlightens the public,” Jordy said.
Jordy has achieved national recognition as a member of the board of directors of Americans for the Arts.
She also is engaged with many local organizations including the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation where she is a trustee.
She serves on the board of directors of the Denver Theatre District, the Phamaly community advisory council, community board for the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus and the leadership advisory council of the Colorado Nonprofit Association.
The process to find the executive director began in April with a search committee consisting of SCFD Board members Kathy Imel and Elaine Torres, and former Board member Shepard Nevel.
“Because of her many years of working with SCFD staff and data in preparing the CBCA’s biannual Economic Activity Study, Deborah can hit the ground running to ensure no interruption in the quality of service the public has grown to expect under Peg’s leadership,” said Kathy Imel, chair of the search committee. “Deborah will do more than just stay the course. She will lead us in new and visionary directions to help expand access to science, arts, and culture for all communities within the SCFD. We are extraordinarily fortunate to have her as our next Executive Director.”
The SCFD executive director is charged with overseeing the administration of SCFD funds, ensuring that the operations of SCFD comply with the state law and serving the residents of the seven-county District.
Voters created the District in 1988. The SCFD has now been renewed by voters on three separate occasions in 1994, 2004 and 2016. The District benefits nearly 300 organizations in Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas (except Castle Rock and Larkspur) and Jefferson counties.