MOBILE, Ala. -- The nonprofit
announced that President and Chief Executive Officer Carlos Parkman, a fixture with the CLA for almost a decade, will retire no later than Sept. 1.
Parkman, 66, will remain as the Centre conducts a search for a successor, according to a news release.
The Centre, created in 1999 by Ann and Palmer Bedsole, operates the
and Space 301 on Cathedral Square in the heart of downtown Mobile. The Centre's operating budget for 2009 was $1.79 million, according to Parkman, who took the reins of the organization in 2001.
Parkman was responsible for raising more than $14 million for the renovation of the Saenger and the conversion of the former Mobile Press-Register building into what is now Space 301. The Press-Register donated the building on Government Street to the Centre in summer 2003. Space 301 officially opened in November 2003.
Palmer Bedsole, former chairman of the charitable J.L. Bedsole Foundation, died in 2006. His widow, Ann Bedsole, is a former state senator, gubernatorial and mayoral candidate and former chairwoman of the CLA board. She said the Centre has grown under Parkman's leadership.
"I don't think we would been able to put things together and get where we are without Carlos," Bedsole said. "She is going to get it done regardless, you know. She's the person who brooks no opposition when it comes to getting something done. I really don't think there is anybody else who could've brought us this far."
The Centre for the Living Arts has become one of the major arts entities in Alabama. Events at the Saenger Theatre and Space 301 generate millions of dollars in revenue annually for local restaurants and hotels and provide residents and visitors an opportunity to experience performing and visual arts.
Carol Hunter, chairman of the Centre board, said Parkman's departure "leaves us well-positioned to realize the mission and vision of CLA."
Parkman said Monday she has known for a while that she would retire but not when.
"I had been thinking that it would be the end of 2009, but things were not quite in place enough for me to leave," she said. "There are a few things out we need to sew up, and I'm taking care of those in the next six months."
One piece of unfinished business was a deficit of approximately $430,000, which Parkman said she wanted to reduce. That figure should be "whittled down" to $160,000 by year's end, she said, "which is manageable."
"Whoever follows me won't be strapped with a lot of stuff that can really impede your progress. That was of concern to me."
Former board Chairman Mike Rogers said the board's primary concern is that the search for Parkman's successor be done right, "whatever amount of time that takes."
"Haste makes waste," he said, "and we know how important it is to get the right person in there. We will be very careful and selective."
Rogers described Parkman as a "dynamo (whose) drive and energy has gotten us to this level, and we want take what she's done as a huge first step and continue to build on it."