Christy MacLear

I am a business person in the creative world. I have never had a job that existed before and am an expert in building businesses and start-ups with a particular focus on art, legacy, place-making, technology and, often, degrees of complexity.

As the President Good Chaos, I’m working with a growing team to create an impact platform directed toward artists, entrepreneurs, animals and care-givers. We are borne from Builders Vision and will use direct investment capital, grants and narrative shifting tactics (U.S. policy to Hollywood scripting) to uplift voices and change systems. Mid-west focused, with a Chicago base, Good Chaos has been created to break some rules and boundaries for a greater long term good.

I’ve been a Founder of Artist.Ventures and the first CEO of SUPERBLUE, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and the Philip Johnson Glass House. In these roles I worked with Founders or Trustees to develop and set the new strategy, raise and assemble funding, build entirely new teams and lead that team to build the on-going new business. Impact has ranged from forging entirely new fields of practice in the “experience economy”, to creating a 3x portfolio value, to creating a 5 year run of sold out seasons and changing the historic museum business model.

I consult with families and artists on their legacy planning, including: Eric Fischl & April Gornik (resulting in The Church), the Eliot Noyes Family, and establishing the Kaish Foundation. Additional leadership roles include building a new practice for Sotheby’s/AAP, advising the CEO of the Cleveland Clinic on visitor experience, representing 3 museums to the Chicago Mayor’s office to move Lake Shore Drive and create the Museum Campus, and managing the business planning for all digital or newCo opportunities for Disney’s Celebration project.

Education includes a BA in Urban Design and Architectural History from Stanford University and an MBA from Wharton with a focus on Real Estate finance. I’ve served on the Board of Trustees for Stanford University, and am presently the Board Co-Chair of the Municipal Art Society. Additional corporate board roles are in the fields of Technology, Real Estate and spaces where content creators drive business.