Support, Expertise & Strategic Solutions
Vision Emerging is a boutique consulting firm that supports arts, education, and cultural non-profit organizations navigating leadership transitions, exploring partnerships and mergers, and undertaking strategic planning.
With over 50 years of combined executive non-profit leadership experience, B.J. Adler, Karen Geer and their team provide support, expertise and strategic solutions to organizations adapting to ever-changing conditions. Vision Emerging is a nationally vetted consulting firm of the Sustained Collaboration Network.
Barbara “BJ” Adler
Principal Partner
BJ Adler is recognized nationally for her unique blend of vision, executive leadership and creative direction in the arts, education and cultural arenas. Following a career that included serving as Executive Director for both community-based and national organizations, she founded Vision Emerging Consulting in 2008 specializing in interim staff leadership, transition management, strategic planning, non-profit mergers, and executive coaching. Adler was trained as a professional interim director through the New York City-based Support Center and remains on the Center’s roster for interim leadership. Her interim director assignments have included Young Audiences New York, Bloomingdale School of Music, InterSchool Orchestras of New York, Louis Armstrong House Museum and Midori & Friends. She has consulted for national and state non-profit organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Art Education Association, Create the State in California, Young Audiences Inc., and the New York Philharmonic. She served on the Lincoln Center Council for Education.
As Executive Director of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, Adler implemented services to identify the nation’s most promising emerging young artists while dramatically increasing the capacity and visibility of the organization. She has produced numerous exhibitions, events and publications and has spoken and written about the development of young talent. In her tenure at Young Audiences Inc., Adler set the education policies for the national network of affiliated organizations and administered programs to increase the educational impact of their arts education services. Her experience includes positions as Executive Director of Chamber Music America and the Kansas City Chapter of Young Audiences and as Education Director of The Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Center.
Karen Geer
Partner
Karen Geer is a versatile executive, educator, trained musician, and lawyer – with a 30-year track record of success in increasing earned and unearned revenues, implementing cost-savings strategies; garnering significant media attention; and building a loyal community of stakeholders. She became a Partner in Vision Emerging Consulting in August of 2020. She served as a Restructuring Consultant for the Midori Foundation during the pandemic where she created a new program model and restructured the finances and administrative staff of the organization. She completed the Interim Director training of the Support Center where she is a member of their interim director roster.
Geer supported the merger of Third Street Music Settlement and the InterSchool Orchestras of New York where she was the Executive Director. Under her leadership, Julie Leonard from WNET produced a documentary about the organization. She forged new partnerships with diverse and prestigious organizations that highlighted the rich cultural heritage of the New York City and exposed young musicians to a wide range of musical collaborations.
Geer served as the Executive Director of the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music (BKCM) for five years. She reinvigorated the community music school, which serves more than 15,000 individuals annually through music education, music therapy, and music performances in Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan. During Geer’s tenure, the Conservatory generated surpluses in its operating budget. Geer served as Interim Executive Director of Opus 118 Harlem School of Music – the Harlem-based violin program made famous by Meryl Streep in Music of the Heart.
Prior to her career in arts executive leadership, Geer was a lawyer at Harris Beach LLP where she was National and Regional Counsel to major medical device and nutraceutical companies.