Marcia Lynn Sells was appointed in 2021 as the Metropolitan Opera’s first Chief Diversity Officer. Her charge is to work with all areas of the Met, including but not limited to Artistic, Human Resources, Marketing & Communications, Education, and Development to address systemic issues of inequity and build an equity, diversity, and inclusion program. Prior to arriving at the Met Opera, Marcia has had senior leadership positions in higher education, as Associate Dean & Dean of Students at Harvard Law School, at Columbia University where she had the dual-title of Associate Dean in the School of the Arts for Outreach & Education and Associate Vice President, Program Development & Initiatives, within the Office of Government and Community Affairs and served prior to those roles as Dean of Students at Columbia’s law school.

Marcia’s varied work experiences have also included positions in the private and public sector including Vice President of Employee and Organizational Development for Reuters America, Vice President of Organizational Development & Human Resources, and Vice President Player Education and Development for the National Basketball Association, and Assistant District Attorney trying rape and child abuse cases for the Kings County District Attorney’s Office. Long before going to college at Barnard and earning her law degree at Columbia Law School, Marcia began life in the arts as a ballerina in the Dance Theatre of Harlem and Cincinnati Ballet.