Carolyn Keurajian has over 20 years of executive leadership experience in the orchestral and nonprofit sectors. She is a respected arts administrator and strategic leader and was most recently the executive director of The Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra (WSO), a professional symphony in Williamsburg, Virginia from 2013 – 2025.
During her tenure in Williamsburg, she led the renaming and rebranding of the organization, launched strategic fundraising initiatives that raised more than $5.5 million, expanded educational and community engagement programs, secured critical grant funding at the local, state, and federal levels, and completed a successful music director search. She organized the first international tour of the orchestra to perform at the Bermuda Festival of the Performing Arts, and a recent donor trip to Cuba focused on arts and culture with acclaimed jazz pianist Aldo Lopez-Gavilan. Her tenure brought national attention to the orchestra, including features in Symphony magazine, and together with her music director’s efforts, regular airplay on NPR’s Performance Today with guest soloists Xavier Foley, Eunice Kim, and Jason Vieaux.
Carolyn has worked closely with dozens of nationally and internationally acclaimed artists and composers. She secured funding for the WSO to join a prestigious collaboration with the National Symphony, Cincinnati Pops, and Pacific Symphony in commissioning American Mosaic—a multimedia tribute to America by composer Peter Boyer and renowned photographer Joe Sohm—further elevating the orchestra’s national profile. The piece premiers this February in Washington DC with a performance in Williamsburg in May 2026.
Carolyn’s diverse career spans arts education, event production, marketing, and corporate sales, enabling her to bring a multifaceted, mission-driven approach to nonprofit leadership. She is a sought-after speaker on arts management and has held leadership and advisory positions with the League of American Orchestras, the Greater Williamsburg Chamber of Commerce, LEAD Greater Williamsburg leadership program, and as a guest speaker at William & Mary.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business from the University of Puget Sound. She is a former musician, who studied jazz saxophone at the University of North Texas and continued her music studies through college and beyond in wind and jazz ensembles in the New York area.
Carolyn and her husband, Richard, director of sales and marketing for the UVA Guest House Hotel and Conference Center, are the proud parents of three grown children, including their youngest daughter, a graduate of the University of Virginia.
Photo by Kim Kiely