Zak Vassar is the president and CEO of the Toledo Symphony (TSO), where he has built a team that embraces strategy, new technologies, and out-of-the-box thinking. In one season, Vassar grew the TSO audience for the first time in five years, established new community collaborations, adopted an innovative social media strategy, commissioned new works, attracted new donors, achieved record enrollment in its youth orchestras and School of Music, and inaugurated a downtown sum- mer music series.

Vassar is one of five officers on TSO’s Board of Trustees, which has 34 additional trustees and 17 advisory board members. He also serves on the board of trustees for the Toledo Opera as an ex-officio, and served as the membership chairman of the Toledo Club. Vassar is also a member of EPIC, the Rotary Club of Toledo, the Toledo Club, and Inverness Club. He studied management and music theory at Boston College.