Patti Pon

Calgary Arts Development President & CEO Patti Pon is a veteran community and arts champion with an extensive track record of leadership and service in Calgary and beyond.

Patti has deep and diverse experience in the arts sector, having served in senior leadership positions at the EPCOR CENTRE for the Performing Arts (now Arts Commons), Alberta Performing Arts Stabilization Fund, and Alberta Theatre Projects, among others. She has been President & CEO of Calgary Arts Development since 2013 and led the organization through the process of tripling its budget in 2019.

In the community, Patti was elected in 2021 as the first person of colour to the board of the Calgary Stampede and chairs the board of the Toronto based Agora Foundation, publisher of the online journal The Philanthropist. She completed her full 9-year term on the board of The Calgary Foundation in 2020, is a founding board member of the Asian Heritage Foundation (Southern Alberta), served on the steering committee for imagineCalgary; and is a Past Board Chair of Canada’s oldest public radio station, CKUA Radio Network. She also served as a board member for the Calgary Bid Exploration Committee and related entities who explored the potential for Calgary to submit a bid for the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Patti has been awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and was the 2013 Harry and Martha Cohen Award, recognizing significant contribution to Calgary’s theatre community