Paula Suozzi is the executive stage director of the Metropolitan Opera Association where she has directed revivals of Die Meistersinger von Nürenburg, Der Rosenkavalier, Le nozze di Figaro, Mefistofele, and has assisted on more than twenty productions. Paula, along with a trusted colleague, developed and implemented the Stage Director and Stage Manager Fellowship training program to help diversify the people who have access to the jobs behind the scenes in the operatic industry. Ms. Suozzi has served as artistic director of Milwaukee Shakespeare and associate artistic director of Skylight Music Theatre. As a freelance director of theater and opera, Paula has staged everything from Twelfth Night to The Food Chain to Guys and Dolls. She has staged work at companies such as Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Houston Grand Opera, Florentine Opera Company, and Bialystock & Bloom Theatre Company. As a coach and teacher, she has contributed her talents to the CoOperative Program at Westminster Choir College, semi-finalists for the Metropolitan National Council Auditions, and the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.