Timothy J. McClimon

Executive Director

Tim McClimon joined Signature Theatre as the Interim Executive Director in January 2022 and was subsequently hired as Executive Director in July of that year. He oversees the company’s fundraising, marketing, finance, facility, human resources, production, and general management staff in his position. Working closely with the Board of Directors and Artistic Director Paige Evans, Tim helps ensure that Signature Theatre has the resources that it needs to support our resident writers, actors, designers, and creative teams so they can develop and present new work and legacy productions to a wide and diverse audience.

From 2006-2021, Tim was President of the American Express Foundation and Senior Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility at American Express where he led the company’s global responsibility, philanthropy, sustainability, and employee engagement programs. In this position, Tim created several philanthropic and sustainability programs, and was responsible for the distribution of over $600 million in grants to nonprofits worldwide. He is also the former Executive Director of the AT&T Foundation and Second Stage Theater, and practiced law with nonprofit organizations as clients. He also has held management positions at the National Endowment for the Arts and Western Illinois University.

Tim is recognized as a thought leader in corporate social responsibility, leadership development and nonprofit management through numerous publications, speeches, and media interviews. He is a regular contributor to Forbes on leadership and philanthropy, and he serves as an ESG Fellow at The Conference Board. Tim is also an adjunct professor at New York University where he teaches graduate level courses in arts administration, and he previously taught at Johns Hopkins University and Brooklyn College.

He currently serves on the boards of Signature Theatre and the Mark Morris Dance Group and has previously served on several nonprofit boards, including Second Stage Theater, Americans for the Arts, Cunningham Dance Foundation, and Independent Sector. Tim holds a J.D. from Georgetown University, a M.S. in Counseling Psychology from St. Cloud University, and a B.A. from Luther College. He and his family live in New York City.

Photo by Lia Chang.