Tom Viola, the longtime executive director of the groundbreaking nonprofit organization Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, announced today that he’ll retire at the end of 2024, ending a 36-year tenure that guided the organization – and the theater industry – through two catastrophic eras: the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and ’90s and the Covid pandemic of the 21st Century.
Under his leadership, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS emerged as one of the leading fundraising and grant-making organizations in the country.
Danny Whitman, the current Broadway Cares Director of Development who’s been with the nonprofit for 15 years, will succeed Viola as executive director beginning January 1, 2025. Viola will remain involved with the organization as a consultant throughout 2025, advising on Broadway Cares’ National Grants Program strategies and procedures.
Viola announced his retirement to the organization’s Board of Trustees at its regular July meeting after discussions with the organization’s Executive Committee. The Executive Committee previously voted unanimously to appoint Whitman to succeed Viola. The full board unanimously approved the succession plan today.
“Few, if any, have served the theater community with more heart, dedication, determination and distinction than Tom Viola,” said Robert E. Wankel, president of the Broadway Cares Board of Trustees and chairman and CEO of The Shubert Organization. “Tom nurtured goodwill and trust throughout the theater community in the toughest of times, building Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS into an integral part of our industry that has reached out to millions of people in crisis through the years. Fortunately, along the way, he created a solid infrastructure and I’m certain that Danny Whitman is ready to lead the organization in this next chapter, ensuring Broadway Cares’ vital philanthropic work will continue long into the future.”
In a statement, Viola said, “Joining the Broadway community in the creation and now nearly 40-year legacy of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has given my life purpose and meaning. I am proud of the unique collaboration between Broadway Cares and the Entertainment Community Fund in providing a safety net of social services for all in the entertainment industry and performing arts and how the resources of this now extraordinary theatrical fundraising engine reach across the country through our well-established National Grants Program. Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS will be a part of my heart always, fiercely and with great joy. I have no doubt that Danny Whitman will lead this extraordinary staff and community of volunteers in sustaining Broadway Cares’ legacy of generosity of spirit and good will.”
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has awarded more than $300 million under Viola’s leadership, including $142 million to the Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund) and another $160 million to 450 local organizations nationwide through its National Grants Program providing meals, medication and health care to individuals and families.
Viola’s tenure with the organization dates to its first days in 1988 when he was executive assistant to Colleen Dewhurst, then the president of Actors Equity Association. Viola served as Equity’s staffer on the committee helping it focus on raising money for the just-created AIDS Initiative of The Actors Fund (now the Entertainment Community Fund).
Working closely with Rodger McFarlane, Viola oversaw the merger of Equity Fights AIDS and Broadway Cares to become, on May 1, 1992, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, providing annual grants to the Fund and local AIDS service organizations nationwide.
In 1996, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS expanded its mission beyond HIV/AIDS and awarded the Fund $10,000 to help create the Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative, a first step in an expansion of support that today includes every program and service provided by the Entertainment Community Fund. In 2010, Viola was recognized by the Tony Awards with the Tony Honor for Excellence in Theatre for “the leadership, advocacy and creativity through which he has mobilized the theater community’s response to AIDS and other critical health issues.”
When Covid caused Broadway to shut down for a 18 months in 2020 and 2021, Viola, along with Whitman, led the organization’s temporary transformation into a digital fundraiser and virtual event producer, building a major donor program that fueled the industry-focused Covid-19 Emergency Assistance Fund.
During and immediately after the shutdown, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS provided more than $18 million to the Entertainment Community Fund for direct emergency financial assistance for members of the performing arts and entertainment industry.
Whitman joined Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS in 2009 as director of development and member of its senior staff. He has overseen corporate, individual, major and planned giving, and event underwriters and sponsors. Under his leadership, those areas of fundraising have increased from $2.4 million in 2009 to $11.1 million in 2024. Prior to joining Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, he worked at New York’s LGBT Center as volunteer manager, corporate relations officer, rising to deputy director of development.
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