Doug Shipman is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Woodruff Arts Center, home to the Alliance Theatre, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the High Museum of Art.
Mr. Shipman became the Arts Center CEO in July 2017, after serving as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of BrightHouse, a stand-alone business unit of the Boston Consulting Group since 2015. BrightHouse is a purpose-driven consulting firm that helps its clients define their true purpose to accelerate their transformation and value creation
Prior to that role, Mr. Shipman was the founding Chief Executive Officer of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta from 2007 through 2015. Starting from the ground up, he developed the Center’s business strategy, its fundraising strategy and its public engagement plan that led the $100 million museum to become a reality.
From 2001 until 2007, Mr. Shipman was a principal with the Boston Consulting Group at its offices in New York, Atlanta and Mumbai. He led project teams on several continents in a variety of industries and functional areas, including financial services, travel and tourism, medical devices, airlines and consumer foods.
Mr. Shipman, an Arkansas native, is a magna cum laude graduate of Emory University, with B.A. degrees in Economics and Political Science. He received a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and a Master of Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, both in 2001.
Mr. Shipman is a member of the Board of Trustees of The Carter Center and a member of the Board of Directors of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, the Midtown Alliance, the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights.
He is active with the Harvard Alumni Association and the Emory Alumni Association where he is a past President. He has been named one of Atlanta’s 100 Most influential by the Atlanta Business Chronicle and one of Georgia’s 100 Most influential by Georgia Trend Magazine.
Sneak Peek Into What You’ll Learn…
02:54 – The Woodruff Arts Center is the 3rd largest in the US. Doug tells us more about the Center and his role as President and CEO.
04:55 – Doug shares the important and surprising reasons we should all immerse ourselves and our children in the arts.
07:13 – Doug’s career journey is an intriguing one that includes business, the arts, and a passion for social and cultural growth. He shares a behind the scenes look at how he built his very successful career.
08:12 – How did Mayor Shirley Franklin find Doug Shipman to work on the National Center for Civil and Human Rights? Doug tells us how.
11:26 – Doug shares the key steps he had to take to transition from being a consultant to being the leader of the Center for Civil and Human Rights.
14:54 – The lunch counter exhibit is one of the most powerful in the Center for Civil and Human Rights. Doug describes its origin and its impact.
18:07 – Doug has been an executive leader for over a decade. He shares some of the keys to his success.
23:27 – Doug tells us more about his family life and how he and his wife, an ER doctor, manage it all.
29:40 – Doug provides great advice for dads who want to be more involved with their children’s day to day lives, but worry about stigma in the workplace.
32:40 – Brass Tacks: The lightning round of concrete advice and tips
Quotable quotes:
“I think the interesting thing for me was knowing when to actually be the person making the decisions…and when, frankly to say, even though I’m the CEO of this thing…let’s bring in a real expert…”
“We’ve disaggregated our life so we’re not constantly negotiating those things [household duties]. It helps us to know what our roles are.”
“[On career advice] 20 years ago I would have told myself ‘You have more time to figure it out than you think’.”
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Links to Resources
The National Center for Civil and Human Rights
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