Sara Nealy • Executive Director

An experienced executive producer, marketer and corporate communications consultant with a background in the arts, Sara Nealy has lived and worked in New York, Chicago, Boston, Hawaii, Washington and San Francisco. Sara specializes in projects that raise awareness through singular marketing communications. Her resume includes brand and market development, multimedia projects, advertising and PR campaign strategy, design of eMarketing, directing sales teams, creating websites and marketing collateral, and the production and management of global meetings and events. She worked as a corporate meetings and events planner on Wall Street, and was Director of Sales and Marketing at luxury resort and a Manhattan boutique hotel.

Years of experience working within and as a consultant to Fortune 500 companies, foundations, nonprofits and small business start-ups, have honed her skills in managing budgets, staff and logistics to fulfill the visions of diverse enterprises, a capacity she hopes to bring to LVO. A fine arts (painting) major in college, Sara Nealy is working on a long-term project, a series of paintings on “The Legends of Pele,” based on the cultural mythology of Hawaii. Sara has performed in a variety of dance groups, including a halau hula and a flamenco troupe. Sara Nealy is also an Executive Producer and Director of documentary films, primarily focused on themes of cultural preservation.

Her earliest opera experiences were at the Metropolitan Opera. First: Carmen, followed by a New Year’s Eve Die Fledermaus that featured Victor Borge as “Frosch.” Her peak opera experience was the La Scala premiere of Zeffirelli’s Turandot in 1987. That was it – she was hooked for life, and now is delighted to introduce the grand excitement of opera to young audiences, new audiences and to her own three children. Sara resides in Pleasanton where she is a Civic Arts Commissioner-Alternate and a member of the Pleasanton Cultural Arts Council.