Donald H. Gareis has served for 17 years as senior consultant to Coxe Curry & Associates. He has more than 60 years of broad experience in business, arts administration and volunteerism.

Don served as president of the Woodruff Arts Center from 1983 until his retirement in 1990. He was responsible for the business affairs of the Arts Center as its general manager and principal administrative officer. During his tenure, endowment more than doubled, property important to the Center’s expansion was acquired and the four divisions, Alliance Theatre Company, Atlanta College of Art, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and High Museum of Art, experienced growth in the breadth and quality of their programs. Don continues to serve the Arts Center as an active volunteer.

Prior to taking that position, he spent 37 years with Sears, Roebuck and Company. For 18 years Don served as public affairs director for Sears’ 13-state southern territory, headquartered in Atlanta. He was previously vice president and executive director of the Sears-Roebuck Foundation in Chicago.

During his years as public affairs director with Sears in Atlanta, Don served as vice chair and director of the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta and in numerous assignments with United Way including 18 successful employee campaigns. He was a charter member of the Emory University School of Business Administration Conference Board, chair of the Atlanta University Center National Alliance of Business Cluster, the first chair of the Clark College board of visitors and chair of the Georgia Tech Parents Committee.

Don also served as a trustee of the Georgia Council on Economic Education and on the advisory board of the Georgia Public Broadcast System, WETV, WAAE/FM. He was chair of the Academy Theatre through some of its most challenging years.

Throughout his Sears years, Don was a member of the Atlanta Press Club, the Public Relations Society of America and the Southeastern Council on Foundations. While president of the Arts Center, he was a member of the Emory University board of visitors and the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.

Currently, Don is a life trustee of the Woodruff Arts Center. He is a founder of the Aquinas Center of Theology at Emory University, where he served as as director for 23 years, and a director of the Foxfire Fund for Appalachian Heritage.

Don is a graduate of Canisius College in Buffalo, New York. He belongs to the Rotary Club of Atlanta and to the Capital City Club. Don and his wife, Phyllis, have four children, Lisa, Peter, Christopher and Sarah, and eleven grandchildren.