Opera Columbus begins its 22nd season with new challenges and new management. On July 1st, the Opera Columbus Board of Trustees appointed Philip M. Dobard its new General Director. In a new management model, Dobard will be responsible for administration, finance, development, marketing, education and outreach, as well as artistic planning and execution under Artistic Director William Boggs.

This is a great chance to learn about our Opera’s progress to date, and its exciting new five year plan for the seasons ahead.

As a special treat, we will be guests for a part of the rehearsals for The Magic Flute. Written by Mozart not long before his death, it is considered by many to be his finest opera. It will be performed at the Palace on November 15th , 16th and 17th, one of five productions in the current season.

We will have dinner at the Athletic Club of Columbus, a short two block walk on Broad Street.

Prior to joining Opera Columbus, Dobard served as General Director of the Pensacola Opera and was a director of the graduate program in arts administration at the University of New Orleans. In September he will also join the arts policy and administration program at The Ohio State University. Dobard resides in German Village with his wife and daughter.

Doug MacLean Columbus Blue Jackets General Manager

An evening with Columbus Blue Jackets General Manager Doug MacLean

Doug MacLean will give club members an insider's view into the economics of our own professional hockey team.

Doug's talk will be followed by a social hour and dinner at the Nationwide Arena.

Doug MacLean was named the first General Manager of the Blue Jackets on Feb. 11, 1998. A month later he was named President of the organization and as its top executive, he holds the dual role of overseeing both the business and hockey operations of the franchise as well as the management of Nationwide Arena. He has spent the past 16 years in the National Hockey League, serving in a variety of coaching and personnel capacities with the Blue Jackets, Florida Panthers, St. Louis Blues, Washington Capitals and Detroit Red Wings.

Under MacLean’s guidance, the Blue Jackets compiled a 50-86-17-11 record in their first two NHL seasons. Columbus earned a 28-39-9-6 record during its inaugural 2000-01 season. The club’s 71 points marked the second-highest total by an expansion team in NHL history, excluding the first wave of expansion in 1967 when the league grew from six to 12 teams. Only the 1993-94 Florida Panthers (33-34-7, 83 pts.) were better. The Blue Jackets also became the first expansion team since 1970 to post a better than .500 record at home with a 19-15-4-3 mark at Nationwide Arena.

MacLean was born in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada on April 12, 1954. He played for the Montreal Junior Canadiens and the University of P.E.I., where he earned a bachelor’s degree in education. He began his coaching career as an assistant with the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League, while pursuing a master’s degree in educational psychology at the University of Western Ontario. Upon graduating, he returned to Summerside where he taught high school and served as head coach of the Summerside Junior A hockey team.

Doug served as Detroit’s assistant general manager, as well as the general manager of the Adirondack Red Wings, Detroit’s AHL affiliate, from 1992-94. He left the organization to join the Panthers as director of player development and pro scout in 1994.

MacLean and his wife, Jill, are the parents of a son, Clark, and daughter, MacKenzie.