Cincinnati Symphony receives gift to endow its chief diversity and inclusion officer position

“The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra on Wednesday announced its first endowed administrative position in the organization’s 127-year history,” writes Bill Cieslewicz in Thursday’s (1/13) Cincinnati Business Courier. “Board member Michael Cioffi, a partner at Blank Rome who manages the Cincinnati office, and his wife, Rachael Rowe, a partner at Keating, Muething & Klekamp PLL, made an undisclosed gift to endow and name in perpetuity the CSO’s chief diversity and inclusion officer position. Per the wishes of Cioffi and Rowe, the position will be named in honor of Nathaniel R. Jones [1926-2020], a pioneering civil rights leader, lawyer and federal judge … While 59 of the Orchestra’s musician chairs are endowed, this gift marks the CSO’s first endowed administrative position…. ‘Just over a year ago, we announced a plan to guide the CSO’s work to more diligently address the racial and gender inequities in classical music, and to ensure that we are serving the needs of our entire community,’ Jonathan Martin, CSO president and CEO, said … ‘In March 2021, we were pleased to welcome Harold Brown as our first CDIO, and we are seeing tangible results of the work of Harold and his team.’ ”