VLAA Executive Director to Retire at the End of 2025
Jul 08, 2025 | News & Events,
After 39 years of service, Sue Greenberg, Executive Director of St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts (VLAA), will retire at the end of the year. During her tenure, Greenberg led VLAA from its formative years into a highly respected, agile, and robust service organization.
“I can’t imagine a more fulfilling job than supporting our region’s creative community and working with partners who share my enthusiasm,” she said. “Happily, I’ve never underestimated the power of volunteerism, and I’m ever grateful to the lawyers and accountants, including our board members, who are essential to everything we do.”
In addition to growing the organization’s core programs and operating budget, under Greenberg’s leadership VLAA has been active in advocacy efforts ranging from protecting street performers’ rights to supporting initiatives that impact artists’ ability to work and thrive, including the development of affordable live/workspace and access to healthcare. She joined local, state, and national colleagues to argue that government has a responsibility to fund the arts. Greenberg also launched VLAA’s mediation service and a college outreach program, which employs working artists as presenters.
“I’m especially proud of the many ways that we assisted creatives and nonprofits during the pandemic,” she said. “On a whim, soon after everything shut down, I started sending a free weekly e-blast to the arts community.” Today, more than 1,775 readers open the newsletter each Friday.
“We are deeply grateful to Sue for all of her incredible contributions in building and growing VLAA, and we cannot thank her enough for her leadership of the organization,” said VLAA Board Chair Tim Mooney. “Her dedication, heart and diligence are unmatched, and she will be truly missed.”
Greenberg received the Missouri Arts Council Leadership in the Arts Award in 2025, the Arts and Education Council Champion for the Arts award in 2019, a St. Louis Bar Foundation Spirit of Justice Award in 2017, and a St. Louis Visionary Award in 2008. During the summer, she worked at The Muny from 1982 to 2021, first as a stage manager and then as company manager.
VLAA’s Board of Directors has established a Succession Committee, led by Tim Mooney. More information about the transition will be shared in the coming weeks.
About VLAA
St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts (VLAA) supports the bi-state region’s creative community by providing free legal and accounting assistance, hosting a wide variety of affordable educational programs, and advocating for the arts sector. VLAA also offers rewarding opportunities for volunteers, who annually contribute more than $350,000 in pro bono professional services. The nonprofit tax-exempt organization was co-founded in 1982 by the City’s St. Louis Arts and Humanities Commission (now the Regional Arts Commission), St. Louis University School of Law, and a small board of directors. Accountants were added in 1984. In 2019, after being housed with the Regional Arts Commission for more than 30 years, VLAA moved to the High Low, The Kranzberg Arts Foundation’s literary arts venue in the Grand Center arts district. Learn more about VLAA here.