Page 15 - Delaware 222 - 2025

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT BANKS & FINANCIAL SERVICES
Matt Silva
Delaware Theatre Company
Taking the reins from former Executive
Director Bud Martin who saved the
theater from collapse, Matt Silva is
looking to build upon Wilmington’s
professional theater company. In his
fi rst season, the theater was forced
to replace a planned co-production
with a version of “Man of La Mancha,”
and found a surprise hit. In his second
season at the helm, he’s already held
productions of the Broadway classic
“Noises Off ” and Layon Gray’s new
production “Kings of Harlem.” In the
spring of 2025, he will direct “Tuesdays
with Morrie,” one of many impressive
shows scheduled for the season.
ALMA MATERS:
BOARDS:
Q&A:
Chris Strand
Winterthur Museum,
Garden & Library
When Winterthur Museum, Garden
& Library, one of Delaware’s most
attended and respected museums,
needed to fi nd a new CEO in 2021, it
turned to Chris Strand. He had served
as director of garden and estate at
Winterthur since 2005, managing the
care of the historic du Pont family’s
nearly 1,000-acre property. As its
leader, Strand will be responsible for
Winterthur’s numerous academic
programs with the University of
Delaware, fundraising, planning and
more. He already scored a win in
landing a major exhibit on late couture
designer Ann Lowe in 2023.
ALMA MATERS:
BOARDS:
Q&A:
Halsey Spruance
Delaware Museum of
Nature and Science
As the executive director of the
Delaware Museum of Nature and
Science for the last 16 years, Halsey
Spruance had managed a museum
that reaches 90,000 people annually.
He oversaw a major $10.8 million
renovation of the museum in 2022,
which also saw the museum change
its name and refocus its exhibits on
Delaware’s ecology. Th e museum holds
large collections of mollusks and birds,
and the second largest collection of
birds’ eggs in North America. As the
museum searches for its next leader,
Spruance is committed to stay on for
an advisory period.
ALMA MATERS:
BOARDS:
Q&A:
Elizabeth “Beth”
Albano
Artisans’ Bank
In 2020, Elizabeth “Beth” Albano was
named the 12th president and CEO
of Wilmington-based Artisans’ Bank,
becoming the fi rst woman to lead the
bank in its history. Having worked her
way through the ranks over a more
than 30-year career with Artisans’,
Albano was well-prepared to lead
the mutual bank that is owned by its
depositors. In her tenure at the helm,
deposits have already grown 25%
to more than $600 million. Albano
also serves as a voice for community
banks at the federal level through the
Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s
Community Depository Institutions
Advisory Council.
ALMA MATER:
BOARDS:
Q&A:
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