Michelle Miller Burns
Michelle Miller Burns will begin her tenure as the Ross Perot President and CEO of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra on September 23, 2024. The Dallas Symphony Orchestra is the largest performing arts organization in the Southwest United States, committed to inspiring the broadest possible audience with distinctive classical programs, inventive pops concerts and innovative multimedia presentations.
In September of 2018, Burns joined the Minnesota Orchestra as President and CEO. Under her leadership, the Orchestra launched a multi-year revenue growth plan to increase both contributed and earned revenue for the organization; unveiled a new leadership model for its long-running summer festival and moved quickly in the pandemic to launch This Is Minnesota Orchestra, a multi-channel series bringing the Orchestra to audiences via TV, livestream and radio that is still running today. In 2022 Burns negotiated a new agreement with Orchestra musicians that extends until 2026 and, following an extensive search, announced that Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård would become the Orchestra’s 11th music director beginning in September 2023.
Prior to her Minnesota post, Burns held multiple positions with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, including Interim President and CEO; Executive Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Chief Operating Officer; and Vice President of Development.
Burns began her orchestral career in the administration of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where she held a number of positions over 15 years, including Director of Planned Giving. In 2006 she was named Vice President for Development at the Newberry Library, an independent research library for the humanities in Chicago, where she spearheaded a turnaround of the Library’s fundraising program, including leading a $25 million campaign.
Born in Iowa, Michelle Miller Burns began violin lessons at age four, later performing as a member of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. She earned a B.M. in Arts Administration from Northwestern University, where she studied violin performance with two members of the Chicago Symphony, and subsequently completed an Orchestra Management Fellowship with the League of American Orchestras as well as the Chicago Management Institute program at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Burns serves on the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music Advisory Board, The Solti Foundation U.S. Board and the Minnesota Citizens for the Arts Board. She is a past president of the Chicago Council on Planned Giving and the Junior League of Chicago.