David Gray

David Gray was raised in Princeton, N.J., and attended Johns Hopkins University. He moved to New York after graduation and worked in the publicity department of Doubleday before joining the press office of New York City Ballet, where he became press director and met and married company principal dancer Kyra Nichols. When their first child was born, Gray became a full-time parent so his wife could continue performing, and he pursued his own writing, publishing the novel “Escape From Verona: Romeo and Juliet Part Two” after years of research, including visits to Italy. After returning to Princeton, Gray became executive director of American Repertory Ballet and its Princeton Ballet School, then opened a consulting firm, Finance Arts L.L.C. He served as an interim executive director for several nonprofits, including the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault, The New Brunswick Cultural Center (where he was landlord for three theaters), and the Princeton Symphony Orchestra. In addition to teaching nonprofit management and finance classes, he wrote “The Finance Arts Guide to Nonprofit Cash Flow,” published in 2010. An interim position with the Pennsylvania Ballet, now Philadelphia Ballet, became permanent until his wife was accepted a tenured position at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, prompting the family’s 2017 move to Indiana and Gray’s return to full-time parenting. He and his youngest son built a batting cage, and Gray spent many hours throwing baseballs for batting practice (sometimes even hitting the strike zone). One of his screenplays, a romantic comedy, “Love Across Time,” has been produced, and is available on Amazon Prime and Hulu. Now an empty nester, Gray embraces the energy and excitement of the ballet world as executive director of Kansas City Ballet.