Taneshia Nash Laird is the president and CEO of Newark Symphony Hall, a historic performing arts center located within the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Newark, NJ. Previously, Nash Laird served as executive director of the Arts Council of Princeton, notably as the first person of color in that role. Nash Laird has also served as director of economic development and acting director of housing production for the City of Trenton (NJ), regional director of the US Women’s Chamber of Commerce, and she was the executive director of the Trenton Downtown Association where she initiated Destination Trenton, an award-winning arts and tourism program in New Jersey’s capital city. A passionate advocate for increasing economic opportunity and access to arts and heritage, Nash Laird was a special government employee in the Obama Administration as a grants panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts. She served as a Center panelist for Re:imagining Recovery grants in 2021.