Traverse City News and Events

Meet Interlochen's New Leader

Oct. 27, 2016

Trey Devey has been visiting the Interlochen area since he was two weeks old. Next summer when he arrives he’ll be staying for good. Devey is the new president of Interlochen Center for the Arts, hired after an international search for a successor to Jeffrey Kimpton, who is retiring after 14 years. Devey comes to Interlochen from the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, where he led a remarkable turnaround The New York Times hailed as a “crescendo.” Devey will arrive in Interlochen on June 12. He talked in a local exclusive to The Ticker about his experiences in Cincinnati, how his father’s advice drives his leadership style, and what challenges he sees ahead.

Ticker: The Cincinnati experience was well documented in the orchestra world; a shrinking endowment and performance schedule, layoffs, out of cash, a bad economy…and then you were able to woo a major donor, renegotiate with the musicians’ union and bring back the musicians, restore the schedule, and grow the endowment. It had to be quite an experience on the inside.
Devey:
It was an interesting time for sure. I started January 6, 2009, so we were really in a tough spot with the economy in general. My first day on the job was a negotiation with musicians, and we were facing a $6.5 million structural deficit, the institution had used a number of one-time sources of revenue, and was drawing down their endowment at about ten percent. It was a real existential question, to be quite honest. ‘Are we [Cincinnati] up for sustaining a world class orchestra?’ Fortunately the answer was yes. We negotiated a budget stabilization plan, cut several million out of the operating budget, and that was mostly out of people and compensation. But that was done collaboratively, and sometimes that’s not the case. To me it was a signal of the quality of the culture in Cincinnati; we got it done amicably and we used it as a platform to energize the community. We started to chip away at some of the funding needs and that basically paved the way to an $85 million contribution in late 2009 from one of the major supporters who wanted to see us work cooperatively. At the core of all of it was a really great team; there were a lot of people who had their fingerprints on this.

Ticker: What could we learn about you from your role in all that?
Devey:
I guess where I would start is that you get great progress when you have a great team. The role that I played was really looking around the corner to anticipate what was the next set of challenges to anticipate, and to try to focus the institution around -- not a singular but not a long list -- of issues… prioritizing issues that matter most, bringing the right people together and pretty regularly to a fault focusing on those issues. I remember my dad saying, ‘God gave you two ears and one mouth, so listen more than you talk.’ That served our institution well. Often the answers are around and among us; you just have to pay attention.

Ticker: You had such success there. Why the interest in leaving?
Devey:
When I took job in Cincinnati, I thought at that time about what institutions would ever be of any interest to explore. I didn’t want to be distracted over time by any bright shiny objects. I thought about what institutions inspire me. And Interlochen was one of those; I’ve always throughout my career been an admirer for a lot of reasons. And so over the subsequent eight years, in that ‘sealed envelope’ if you will of three institutions, two fell off the list. I realized those would not be of interest to me. Then my daughters both attended [Interlochen] camp for two summers, and I was just was blown away. Dropping the kids off and picking them up, they were different individuals – the maturity, personal development, artistic growth. It was really inspiring to me. So when the call came about it was a certainty I would explore the opportunity.

Ticker: You talked about looking around the corner in Cincinnati. What do you see around the corner at Interlochen?
Devey:
I think I’ll follow my dad’s advice and listen really hard. I’ve gotten exposure to a broad group of people through the search process, but there’s a lot I need to learn and digest. I’m not going to come out on day one with any proclamations; I owe it to the stakeholders to really authentically listen. Obviously the diversity of programs is phenomenal, so looking at each of those, you can respect they’re in different places with needs to go to the next level. So how do you really discover with the help of everyone involved what are next steps for each of those to grow? To me the multi-disciplinary nature of Interlochen is a huge asset. What I see from being in the professional space is that arts offerings are increasingly less siloed; people are looking for experiences that bring different art forms together, and Interlochen could be a place ripe for experimentation there.

Ticker: There’s nothing that leaps off the balance sheet or in the interviews that demands immediate attention or priority?
Devey:
Maybe it’s a matter of perspective from what I went through in Cincinnati, but I don’t see a burning platform or existential question there. The team has done an excellent job putting the pieces in place. Certainly (there were) a number of themes and interests that came through in the search process around diversity, and also about building the Interlochen brand, the idea of further establishing the global profile of Interlochen as an institution.

Ticker: You have a long-term northern Michigan connection…
Devey:
Yes, I started coming up to Long Lake when I was two weeks old. My grandpa was a physics teacher from Cleveland and he built a cottage on Long Lake Peninsula. My family would go up every summer and I completely fell in love with the place. Then later my wife and I honeymooned in that cottage. A bit of time passes, and when we moved to Cincinnati, we started going up on a regular basis to the point that we ultimately a couple years ago bought a place on Long Lake. It’s always been a plan to spend more time in northern Michigan over time. There’s no place I’d rather be on a personal level.

Ticker: And are your daughters as excited about the move?
Devey:
It’s interesting. As you would expect, there’s a measure of excitement yet trepidation. The positive is they’ve spent time up there, and they love it and have been connected to Interlochen. But it’s also just what you would expect at that age; it will take some time to really understand that there’s a new life and new opportunities and friends.

Ticker: And will your older daughter [now 14] attend Interlochen Arts Academy?
Devey:
We’re looking at that at the moment. This has all been confidential until now, so we haven’t really had the opportunity to consider it. But now she’ll have a chance to look and understand if it’s the right fit for her.

Ticker: You clearly think it’s the right fit for you…
Devey:
It’s a dream come true. It really is.

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