Skip to main content

John Abodeely
Chief Executive Officer

John Abodeely is Chief Executive Officer of Houston Arts Alliance (HAA). Joining HAA in November of 2017, he brings a strong background in arts and arts education policy as the  Acting Executive Director of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, service as Manager of National Partnerships for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Manager of Education at Americans for the Arts.

As CEO of Houston Arts Alliance, John directs strategy in grantmaking, civic art development, and new programs. He is committed to developing the organization’s service to the arts community, in partnership with board, staff, grantees, investors, and other stakeholders.

At the Presidents’ Committee, an advisory body to the White House on cultural issues, John was instrumental in the expansion of Turnaround Arts, a program that leverages the unique power of arts education to improve non-arts outcomes in a cohort of the nation's most struggling schools. During John’s tenure, the program successfully scaled from eight schools to sixty-eight. In April 2016, the Committee led sent the first federal cultural delegation to Cuba, immediately following the President's own historic trip. As the Trip Director for the delegation, Abodeely organized ten bilateral meetings with senior Cuban government officials and arranged for high-visibility U.S. artists to tour artist studios, explore schools, visit youth arts programs, and perform on stage with Cuban musicians. As a result of the delegation, embedded press and ongoing, bilateral artist and preservation exchanges helped to further the President’s goal of normalizing relations with Cuba.

John has taught education policy at the graduate level, and served on boards and various review panels. He is a graduate of Amherst College with a bachelor's degree magna cum laude in Biology and Fine Arts, and holds an MBA from John Hopkins University.