Board Member Emeritus Eliot Pfanstiehl

Photo: Michael Ventura

Eliot Pfanstiehl, Founder and CEO, Strathmore Hall Foundation, Inc.
Board Member Emeritus, Give A Note Foundation

Eliot Pfanstiehl is the CEO of Strathmore Hall Foundation, Inc., which operates and presents programming at Strathmore, a multi-disciplinary arts center, including the Music Center and the Mansion at Strathmore, in Montgomery County, Maryland. Mr. Pfanstiehl has held this position since the founding of the enterprise in 1983.

Born in the District of Columbia and a graduate of George Washington University with a B.A. in Psychology, Mr. Pfanstiehl’s career is a mixture of arts management, education, leadership training and organizational development. He has led over 300 board and strategic planning retreats for a range of non-profit civic, arts and social service organizations, government agencies and businesses.

Mr. Pfanstiehl has been a founder and/or chair of the Montgomery County Arts Council, the Round House Theatre, the League of Washington Theatres, the Maryland State Arts Council, and Maryland Citizens for the Arts. He was founding President and current Chair of Maryland Leadership Workshops. He continues to serve as program facilitator for Leadership Maryland, Leadership Montgomery, Leadership Allegany, Leadership Washington County, Leadership Southern Maryland, and is a graduate of the inaugural class of Leadership Washington.

Mr. Pfanstiehl was named 2000 Washingtonian of the Year by Washingtonian Magazine, “People to Watch” in 2005 by the Washington Business Journal, and awarded Outstanding Leader of the Year by Leadership Maryland in 2007 and Leadership Montgomery in 2008.

With his wife Cynthia, a professor of Archeology/Anthropology at Montgomery College, they are proud parents of four talented children and live in Silver Spring, Maryland, where they are active in church and community affairs.