Patricia K. Beggs
Patricia K. Beggs
General Director Emerita
Patricia K. (“Patty”) Beggs, General Director Emerita, retired from Cincinnati Opera in 2020 after 36 years with the company, most recently as The Harry Fath General Director & CEO. She joined the company in late 1984 as Director of Marketing following a successful corporate career. Her creative marketing campaigns helped effect the Opera’s remarkable turnaround in attendance in the late 80s and 90s, becoming a leading industry standard for new approaches in audience development.
Patty took over the management of the company in 1997. Fiscal responsibility was the hallmark of her leadership, which featured 21 of 22 consecutive years of balanced budgets.
She has been committed to developing meaningful partnerships in the community and believes collaboration is fundamental to the success of arts organizations. In 2008, Patty and Cincinnati Opera were honored by the NAACP for their extraordinary efforts in building connections to the African American community.
Patty also has served as treasurer on the national board of OPERA America, and she was a member of Leadership Cincinnati’s Class XVII. Recognized frequently as a distinguished leader, she was named a Cincinnati Regional Chamber of Commerce WE Celebrate Woman of the Year-Non Profit in 2015, Woman of Over-the-Rhine Story of Success in 2007, 2006 YWCA Career Woman of Achievement, Woman of the Year by the Cincinnati Enquirer in 1999, and Woman of Distinction by the Great Rivers Girl Scouts in 1992. She is listed in Marquis Who’s Who in America, and is a member of Cincinnati Women’s Executive Forum and Cincinnati Women’s Club. In 2020, Patty was named to the inaugural class of the national Opera Hall of Fame.
On the occasion of her 25th Anniversary with Cincinnati Opera in 2010, she was awarded the national service award, BRAVO, by Opera America, and she was presented with the Mayor’s prestigious Key to the City of Cincinnati.
She has served on the boards of the Music Hall Revitalization Company, Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park, Society for the Preservation of Music Hall, and American Classical Music Hall of Fame. She has served on numerous local boards including the Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau, Over-the-Rhine Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Cincinnati Inc., Great Rivers Girl Scout Council, Cincinnati Speech & Hearing Association, Enjoy the Arts/START, Downtown Council, the Arts Services Committee of the Fine Arts Fund, and many others. She is also a proud member of the Cincinnati MacDowell Society.
Prior to joining the Opera, she was marketing director of Provident Bank in Cincinnati, and held public relation positions at PNC Bank (formerly Central Trust) and Society Bank in Dayton, OH. She is a graduate of Stephens College (Columbia, MO), and studied for her MBA at University of Cincinnati.