Marc Thayer joined the Elgin Symphony Orchestra as CEO in July, 2021. Previously he was Executive Director of Symphony New Hampshire from 2016 to 2021, and Executive Director of the Monteux School and Music Festival from 2018 to 2022. From 2011-2016 Marc served as the Deputy Director of the Association of American Voices (AV), a cultural diplomacy NGO with whom he performed and taught in throughout the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Africa and South America. Marc taught at the annual American Arts Festival in Kurdistan, northern Iraq, and in Beirut, Lebanon, from 2007-2017. He co-managed the American Music Abroad Program for the US Department of State from 2011-2016 and served as Cultural Envoy in Liberia in 2014 and 2015.

From 2002-2011 Marc worked as the Vice President for Education and Community Partnerships with the St. Louis Symphony. He served on the violin faculties of Washington University in St. Louis, SIUE, Webster Community Music School and with St. Louis University. Marc performed as a member of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, FL from 1995-1998 and founded their Community Engagement Programs, which he managed from 1999-2002.

Marc has performed with the San Diego Symphony, Syracuse Symphony, Youngstown Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestras of Bolivia and Iraq, the American Russian Young Artist Orchestra, the Opera Festival Orchestra of Heidelberg, Germany, the Orquesta Superior of Cordoba, Spain, the Baroque Festival of St. Savin in the Pyrenees and the International Festival of Art in Aix-en-Provence, France. Marc received his Bachelor and Masters Degrees from the Eastman School of Music. He is currently on the Board of the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestras and the Elgin Cultural Arts Commission.