MA Top 30 Professional: James Weidner

Board Chair
Chicago Sinfonietta

Founded in 1987 to champion diversity in classical music, the orchestra announced on October 28 that its wunderkind President/CEO, Blake-Anthony Johnson (a 2022 Top 30 Professional), is stepping down in January. During his four-year tenure, he tripled the orchestra’s staff, seasonal operating budget, and annual revenue, and oversaw the Sinfonietta’s move into a new venue. 

Johnson won’t be the only one ending his Sinfonietta chapter on a high note. Credit for all those accomplishments is also due to the organization’s board chair, James (Jim) Weidner, who served on Johnson’s search committee and who, like Johnson, steps down at the beginning of the calendar year. (Weidner will be succeeded by Wendy Lewis, a former DEI professional for McDonald’s and Major League Baseball.)

Weidner, retired CEO of a major medical-insurance group, divides his time among California, Texas, and Chicago, the first of these for regular cancer treatments for his wife. So, why get so involved in an organization in his third home? Weidner grew up in Englewood, which today ranks among the poorest of Chicago’s 77 community areas. “It’s a bit of giving back to the neighborhood,” he says.

Weidner joined the Sinfonietta board in 2013 and was made chair in 2022. On his watch, community partnerships and educational programs in neighborhoods like Englewood have never been stronger, even coming out of the pandemic. The Sinfonietta took another step forward last spring when it played at historically Black colleges and universities in the South—the orchestra’s first tour in decades. Weidner’s term also saw the implementation of the pay-what-you-can ticket program, a daring gambit that garnered widespread media attention and has since been imitated, most recently at Opera Philadelphia.

“It’s our way of attracting those that we want to come and see like-folk on stage,” he says. “During intermission, you’re going to hear from us, and we’re going to welcome you into our family.”