Blake Brophy manages day-to-day accounting operations, maintains financial controls, and develops new strategies and processes for Arabella and the nonprofit organizations it helps manage. He brings 20 years of accounting and finance experience to Arabella, having worked with both for-profit and nonprofit organizations. Blake started his career at Arthur Andersen servicing a wide variety of corporate, partnership, individual and tax-exempt clients. After a stint as a corporate tax accountant for a multinational industrial conglomerate, he shifted his professional focus to the nonprofit sector. He has served as the controller for a national industrial trade association and a medical professional society. In 2004, Blake joined the professional staff of Washington National Opera, heading up the finance and accounting operations of one of the nation’s most acclaimed performing arts organizations during a period of substantial reorganization.
Blake graduated from Hamilton College with a bachelor’s degree in American Studies and a minor in Art History. While pursuing his college degree, he attended the Williams College-Mystic Seaport Program in American Maritime Studies. He also received an M.B.A. from Rice University, with a dual concentration in Account and Public/Nonprofit Administration. He has earned accreditation both as a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Association Executive. A resident of the Capitol Hill neighborhood in Washington, D.C., he serves as treasurer and director of fundraising for the Capital City Players of Washington, D.C., a local community theatre, and has also directed and performed in several productions.