BLUME Haiti announces election of CIM Executive Vice President & Provost Scott Harrison as Board Chair

BLUME Haiti, one of the most trusted leaders in the field of music education and youth development throughout Haiti, has announced the election of Scott Harrison as Chair of the Board of Directors for a three-year term.

Harrison, Executive Vice President & Provost at CIM, is a co-founder of BLUME Haiti and previously served as Board Secretary. He has played a pivotal role in increasing philanthropy, recruiting board members, and instituting best practices in compliance and governance for the organization over its first twelve years.

As board chair, Harrison will focus on increasing the organizational capacity, scale, and impact of BLUME Haiti by attracting new resources and partners, while remaining true to the mission and values that have defined its approach since the beginning.

“Serving BLUME Haiti has been one of the great joys of my life,” states Harrison. “It’s an honor to be chosen by my peers to lead the next chapter, and it’s a responsibility I take seriously. Our Haitian friends and partners are our focus, and I will continue to listen carefully to their wisdom and creativity as we deliver programs that deliver positive change in their communities, particularly during the current difficult and unsettling time for Haiti."

Harrison succeeds Chicago-based attorney and former student of Haiti’s École de Musique Sainte Trinité, Ricardo Lesperance, legal counsel at Marex Capital Markets, Inc. Lesperance will move into the role of Vice Chair and will now lead the Nominations Committee with a particular focus on expanding relationships within Haitian and Haitian-American communities.

Lesperance shares, “As the outgoing BLUME Haiti Board Chair, I am thrilled that Scott Harrison accepted my nomination to step into this critical role, a decision unanimously approved by our Board. Since BLUME Haiti’s creation, Scott has passionately advocated for our organization, its mission, and its beneficiaries. I hope our community is as excited as I am to have someone with the wealth of knowledge, vision, and understanding of the industry that Scott brings to the role.”

“I can think of no one better than Scott Harrison to lead BLUME Haiti at this moment when we are on the cusp of significant growth,” adds BLUME Haiti Executive Director Janet Anthony. “As a founding board member of BLUME Haiti, Scott’s dedication to our mission and cause has been extraordinary. I very much look forward to working together with Scott to move the organization forward.”

In addition to Harrison and Lesperance, the rest of the new Executive Committee includes board members with experience across multiple disciplines:

• New York-based Phil Bravo, arts consultant and former program manager for the LA Philharmonic’s Youth Orchestra Los Angeles, continues as Treasurer and Chair, Finance Committee.
• Greenville, S.C. -based Megan Early-Soppa, trial attorney at Yarborough Applegate, becomes Secretary and Chair, Governance Committee.
• Sharon, CT-based Steven Huang, music director of the New Westchester Symphony Orchestra and the Yale Medical Symphony Orchestra and is conductor of the Norwalk Youth Symphony, becomes Chair, Resource Development.
• Fargo, ND-based Lindsay Schwartz, music teacher for West Fargo Public Schools and cellist in the Fargo-Moorhead
• Symphony Orchestra, becomes Chair, Programming Committee while continuing to serve as Assistant Treasurer.

About Scott Harrison

Having first visited Haiti in 2006, Scott Harrison has traveled across the country as a teacher, performer, and supporter of music programs. Celebrated as a leader with “imagination and ambition” by the LA Times and “a pioneer in the use of digital technology” by the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Harrison has secured tens of millions of dollars in funding for cultural organizations nationwide while designing initiatives that have changed artistic practice, music education, and community engagement via inclusivity and innovation. Currently Executive Vice President & Provost of CIM, Scott has served previously as Executive Director of Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and Vice President of Advancement and External Relations at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, as well as interim executive director at the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra. Harrison’s artistic and teaching career has taken him to Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Teatro Colon, Lincoln Center, and has included serving as second bassoon of the Irving Symphony and performing with the Indianapolis, Shreveport, and Dallas Wind symphonies and Orchestra of the Americas; playing woodwinds in pit orchestras for musicals and operas; and teaching and coaching privately and in rehearsals and master classes for organizations across the United States and Latin America. He is a graduate of Northwestern University (BM, bassoon, and BA, political science), Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts (MM, bassoon) and executive education programs including National Arts Strategies’ Chief Executive Program and Harvard Business School’s Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management.

About BLUME Haiti

Founded in 2012, BLUME Haiti uses music as a tool for social change. Working in partnership with over 60 music schools across Haiti to uplift youth through the creative power of music, BLUME Haiti reaches over 5,000 student musicians annually and has provided advanced training for over 500 music teachers. Centering Haitian voices and the needs of local communities, BLUME Haiti has helped to build a thriving environment for music education that perseveres during even the most difficult times. Learn more at blumehaiti.org or by reading the 2023 Impact Report.