The Denver Center for the Performing Arts has named Hassan Salem, who rose from teller to head of Commercial Banking for U.S. Bank, as just the fourth Chairman in the non-profit’s 44-year history. Salem will succeed attorney Martin Semple, who has held the position since 2017, effective July 1, 2022.

Since 2016, Salem has chaired the DCPA’s capital campaign to renovate the Bonfils Theatre Complex, including improvements to three theatres and upgrades to the main lobby. The DCPA is more than 92 percent of the way toward its $36 million fundraising goal, which has been boosted by $19 million from Denver bond funds.

“I have a passion for the performing arts and the creativity it promotes in people of all ages,” Salem said.

But the largest regional arts center between Chicago and Los Angeles has been mostly quiet since the pandemic because of the shuttering of national Broadway touring productions, profits from which largely fund other programming there. The DCPA has estimated a loss of $80 million in unrealized ticket revenue since March 2020. Touring productions won’t resume until Disney’s “The Lion King” comes back to the Buell Theatre in December, and no official resumption of the homegrown DCPA Theatre Company’s programming has yet been announced.

But soon, Salem said, “with the completion of the Bonfils Theatre Complex renovation and the resumption of programming later this year, the DCPA has the opportunity to connect more deeply with our growing and increasingly diverse community.”

Added DCPA President & CEO Janice Sinden: “Working with Hassan, Martin, our dedicated board and our devoted team members, we are prepared to recover from the past year and reemerge resilient and ready to reconnect with our community.”

Semple has been the Denver Center’s legal representative since 1978, when he was recruited by founder Donald R. Seawell to handle dicey labor negotiations on the construction of the Boettcher Concert Hall.

“Hassan has been an active, dedicated member of the DCPA family for 30 years,” Semple said. “His natural progression from patron and donor to Trustee and ultimately Chairman reflects the commitment he feels to this organization.”

Through Salem, U.S. Bank has forged an 18-year collaboration with the DCPA that has focused largely on its educational programs.

“The Denver Center is one of those crown jewels that does so much to provide a wealth of educational programs for our community that it was just natural for us to help the organization become even that much more important in this community,” Salem said.

Salem’s only predecessors have been Seawell, Daniel L. Ritchie and Semple, who retires as the last active person whose roots with the organization go back to before its official opening in 1979. Semple, a partner in the Denver law firm of Semple, Farrington & Everall, attended the Denver Center Theatre Company’s first performance – “The Caucasian Chalk Circle,” starring Tyne Daly.

“I had never heard of ‘The Caucasian Chalk Circle,’ frankly, and I was blown away by the production,” Semple said. “I thought it was as good as anything I had ever seen in New York or London. I just knew then that we had something really special here in Denver.”

Semple and his wife, Jo, will be the namesakes of the Space Theatre lobby when it eventually reopens from the COVID shutdown.

Salem grew up in a small town outside of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. But, he says, “Denver is my hometown.” Salem grew up aspiring to be either a professional soccer player or an engineer. He moved to Denver in 1991 and started a family with his wife, Sheila, after graduating from the University of Arizona with a bachelor’s degree in economics.

“Denver was a very appealing place for us to live and a great place to raise a family, so we decided to make Denver home,” Salem said. “When we first moved here, I loved sports. I hadn’t gone to the theater much, but my wife was very interested in it, and she arranged for us to see the national touring production of ‘Miss Saigon.’ I was hooked. I really fell in love with the performances. From that day on, live theatre became something we have really enjoyed as a family.”

Salem began his career as a teller with then-Colorado National Bank and was promoted to Head of Commercial Banking in 2020. Today, Hassan’s group reports annual sales of services to middle-market companies at between $25 million and $1 billion. Salem is also known as one of the ski industry’s leading lenders.

Salem joined the DCPA Board in 2014. He is also a board member for Delta Dental of Colorado and Colorado Concern. He is an executive committee member of Colorado Succeeds and a Trustee for the Denver Area Council of Boy Scouts of America. He is also a graduate of the 2004 Leadership Denver program and a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization.