Mark Williams is a seasoned cultural leader whose work bridges the worlds of music, leadership, and organizational transformation. As Chief Executive Officer of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, he leads one of Canada’s largest performing arts institutions — a complex, high-performing organization where collaboration, adaptability, and purpose are essential to success. He has helped guide the TSO through real change and, as a keynote speaker, draws parallels between orchestral and business leadership to share lessons on building trust, leading with transparency, and navigating complexity drawn not from theory, but from real experience managing creative people under pressure.
Over the course of his 20-year career, Williams has held senior leadership roles at some of the most respected orchestras in North America, including The Cleveland Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony. He has led major international tours, produced award-winning artistic projects, and worked with many of the world’s foremost artists.
Since joining the TSO in 2022, Williams has overseen record-breaking philanthropy, reconnected the orchestra with communities across Toronto, and helped restore financial and organizational stability in the wake of the pandemic. He has also played a central role in expanding TSO’s reach — building new partnerships, strengthening education programs, and championing innovative programming that reflects the diversity of Toronto. In 2025, Williams became a Senior Fellow at Massey College in the University of Toronto.
Williams speaks from deep, lived experience inside orchestras — how they function, how they falter, and how they find their way back to alignment. He draws lessons from the unique ecosystem of the symphony: a place where excellence is expected, feedback is constant, and everyone must contribute their individual best to create a collective result. Leadership in this world is multi-layered — shared between conductors, musicians, administrators, and behind-the-scenes teams — and success depends on trust, timing, and the ability to listen as intently as you act.
Williams is also one of the few Black executives leading a major orchestra, and brings a personal commitment to equity, inclusion, and access in everything he does. Whether working with musicians, board members, staff teams, or audiences, he believes deeply in the capacity of the arts — and of leadership itself — to connect people to something greater than themselves.
