Marcia J. White

Marcia J. White began her tenure as the interim president of The College of Saint Rose on July 1, 2020. White is a Saint Rose alum, who served for 18 years on the Saint Rose Board of Trustees and has chaired its trustees affairs and governance committees. She was honored in 2016 as the recipient of Saint Rose’s A Community of Excellence award for her service and contributions to the College and the Capital Region.

She is president of Marcia White Consulting, LLC, and a former registered nurse. White also held the position of press secretary to the majority in the New York State Senate and served as president and executive director of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC). She is widely credited for having led a financial and artistic transformation that ensured SPAC’s continuation as a preeminent cultural institution and major economic driver in the Capital Region.

White was chosen for the top position at SPAC in 2005, at a time of significant financial challenges. Her first priorities were generating new revenue. She replaced 15 years of financial deficits with 12 consecutive operating budget surpluses. She raised over $20 million through effective major gifts solicitations and generated a 70% increase in revenue from fundraising events and first-ever sponsorships including those by global companies. She oversaw nearly $6 million in renovations and upgrades of SPAC’s historic amphitheater and facilities.

Artistically, White pursued the highest standards in programming while incorporating contemporary elements that make the classical performing arts more accessible for mainstream audiences. Under her leadership, SPAC established a new summer residency with the celebrated Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and expanded its dance season to include tours by renowned international ballet companies, such as Russia’s iconic Bolshoi Ballet, the National Ballet of China, and The National Ballet of Canada.

Among her proudest accomplishments was the expansion of SPAC’s educational program through a collaboration with Jacques D’Amboise’s National Dance Institute. This international program successfully uses dance as a catalyst to engage and motivate underserved children to achieve excellence both in school and in life.

White has been a director of the governing board of the New York State Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities and is a member of the commission’s Alumni Hall of Distinction.

She has served on the boards of several Capital Region nonprofit organizations, including the Mohawk-Hudson United Way; Siena College Creative Arts Committee; the Community Advisory Board, St. Peter’s Hospice of Rensselaer County; Saratoga Convention and Tourism Bureau; the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce; the Capital Region Chamber of Commerce; the Saratoga Springs Commission on the Arts, and Hearst Corp.’s Women@Work.

She was honored with the “Woman in the News Award” from the Women’s Press Club of New York State; New York State Senate’s Woman of Distinction Award; Capital Region Chamber’s Woman of Excellence Award; Capital District Business Review’s Women Who Mean Business Award, and Saratoga Arts “Community Arts Leadership” Award.