Symphony director changes key

For nine years Dana Randall has played the same tune for the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. June 8 the former executive director will move to the beat of a different drummer when he begins working for A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc.

What may sound like a strange transition from music to financial advising really isn't that big a change, Randall said.

"I will be responsible to raise money, but rather than raising money for a not-for-profit, I'll be raising it for the company to help people with their financial needs," Randall said.

The difference, he said, is that he will not be performing the administrative duties he did for the symphony.

When Randall took the position of executive director in 1992, the symphony was experiencing a running deficit and outstanding debt. Within two years he had erased the deficit and paid the debt.

"We not only paid that off, but we built up a surplus, and that's good for the health of the organization because it could move forward," he said. "It's really important for arts organizations to be financially sound."

With that in mind, Randall leaves the symphony in good shape for his successor. It now holds more than $125,000 in savings, and the symphony's endowment fund has grown from less than $100,000 to $800,000 during his tenure.

Those two numbers are what he is most proud of.

"When it comes down to it, a symphony orchestra is a business like any other business you have to match your income with your expenses. Getting the organization out of debt and building up a surplus of funds was certainly something that had to be done ... I'm proud that we got it done," he said.

Apparently, that hasn't been easy for symphonies to do of late. Randall said that in the past 10 years numerous symphonies have gone bankrupt, including those in Kansas City, Tulsa, San Diego and New Orleans.

"They didn't adhere to good, sound business principles in running their business, which is what it is," he said. "We are a half-a- million-dollar-a-year business."

Randall said a symphony concert, which costs approximately $60,000 to put on, is 30 percent funded by ticket sales and the rest through individual and corporate donations, foundations and government grants. That's what makes it hard for a symphony to survive, he said.

A successor to continue the fund-raising endeavors of the symphony has not yet been named. But the symphony board, a 22-member panel headed by Chairman Randy Saul, is conducting a national search through the American Symphony Orchestra League's job bank of community leaders.

"This is a unique position," Saul said. "We hope to find someone who will be as committed and will stay with us a long time." He said one local candidate has been interviewed, but the board would like to talk with out of town candidates as well.

"I'm leaving it in very good shape," said Randall, who thinks the search may take as long as six weeks. "I have full confidence that the next person is going to come in here with fresh ideas, new initiatives and is really going to take the symphony to greater heights,"

For Randall, the next step is A.G. Edwards & Sons extensive four-month training/apprenticeship program that includes three weeks at the firm's headquarters in St. Louis. Upon completion of his training, he will take a test to become a registered financial consultant.

"Dana has an excellent reputation in the community through his work with the symphony, and we're happy to have him aboard," said David Burnette, vice president and branch manager of Springfield's A.G. Edwards & Sons. "We feel he'll be a fine addition to our staff."

Randall said he looks forward to using his people skills learned from the symphony, but he also sees several new challenges ahead.

"I'll be talking to the same people, soliciting their business where I'm going," he said, but "I'll have new things to think about, new things to learn, new people to meet, new goals to set, and it's invigorating. The only way you can reach your full potential is to continue to do new things."

Changes are nothing new to Randall, who remembers hearing that the typical person has five careers in their lifetime. "This is my fifth," he said.