Career Path

Over the past two decades, Larry has built a leadership profile founded on significant fundraising success, organizational expansion, data-driven decision-making, technological innovation, and deep financial acumen. He is now in the second phase of his career, working as a fractional CFO for nonprofit and for-profit companies across multiple industries.

He brings extensive experience managing complex national and international organizations in arts and culture, nonprofit, and higher education sectors. A strategic thinker with the ability to rally diverse stakeholders around institutional goals, Larry is equally devoted to correcting organizational inefficiencies and capitalizing on new revenue sources.

Larry currently serves as Interim CFO at Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania, recruited to spearhead a critical financial turnaround for the liberal arts institution. After two consecutive years of $20 million operating deficits threatened long-term viability, Larry collaborated closely with the interim president to address structural financial challenges while implementing revenue enhancement strategies.

His efforts have delivered substantial improvements: streamlining financial aid processes, developing multiyear financial forecasts, optimizing cash flow, unlocking balance sheet assets to enhance liquidity, cultivating relationships with financial institutions and strategic partners, overseeing key asset sales, and renegotiating contracts to reduce annual recurring costs. His leadership is positioning the college for financial stability.

For eight years, Larry served as Senior Vice President of Administration & Treasurer at the Curtis Institute of Music, where all students attend tuition-free. His unique role effectively combined the functions of COO, CFO, and chief of staff.

At Curtis, Larry ensured financial health and regularly evaluated the business model. He worked closely with the board of trustees, navigating a multifaceted governance structure with over a dozen committees and a separately incorporated foundation. He oversaw finance, general administration, human resources, facilities, and information technology while coordinating all cross-departmental projects and nurturing relationships with partner institutions.

Because Curtis has no tuition revenue stream, the institution relies heavily on contributed income. Larry worked hand-in-hand with the development team on major gift fundraising—from prospect identification and cultivation to solicitation and stewardship—helping secure $15 to $25 million annually.

Larry helped develop proposals that directly led to over $50 million in special funding for campus modernization, performance hall and recording studio renovations, the rare instrument collection endowment, the purchase of Curtis's first Hamburg Steinway piano, elimination of student debt programs, and creation of an alumni ensemble-in-residence program. He spearheaded strategic partnerships with the Sphinx Organization (tuition-free summer training academy for young musicians of color), WHYY (expanded public access to performances), Opera Philadelphia (amplified presence in annual fall festival), and Bauer & Dean (published biography of Curtis's founder). Larry launched Curtis's first in-house IT department in 2017—a prescient decision when operations moved online during the pandemic.

Larry led Curtis's COVID-19 preparedness and response teams through the crisis, ensuring safe distance-learning and work-from-home protocols, securing emergency government funding for student technology, and developing reopening plans.

Prior to Curtis, Larry served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at DataArts (formerly the Cultural Data Project) from 2014-2016. He forged data collection partnerships with the League of American Orchestras, Dance USA, and Chorus America, and developed a survey instrument that became the gold standard for demographic data collection throughout the nonprofit sector. He was instrumental in raising over $10 million in startup funding and initiating plans for an eventual merger with SMU. DataArts now thrives in Dallas, where Larry remains on the advisory board.

Before DataArts, Larry was Director of Finance and Operations at OPERA America for over six years. He supervised all aspects of the $14.5 million National Opera Center capital campaign—financial modeling, fundraising, lease negotiation, facilities logistics, and contract negotiations with architects, engineers, vendors, and consultants. The successful effort created diversified revenue streams and several new positions.

Larry came to OPERA America from the New York Youth Symphony, where as operations manager and staff accountant for three years, he lowered performance venue costs and increased advertising revenues.

With high degrees of empathy, passion, and drive, Larry transforms legacy organizations by building strong relationships and serving as a trusted advisor to chief executives. He has been a guest speaker and panelist at major industry conferences nationwide and serves on boards and committees of leading national nonprofit arts institutions.