The announced departure of Deborah F. Rutter, the center’s president since 2014, comes as the center continues to search for a new board chair while navigating a second Trump term.

Deborah Rutter led the Kennedy Center through a dramatic growth spurt and a global pandemic. Board chairman David M. Rubenstein will help seek her successor.

Deborah F. Rutter will leave her role as president of the Kennedy Center at the end of the year after a decade of leadership marked by expansion, innovation, and pandemic recovery.

Deborah Rutter, who’s served as the president of the Kennedy Center since 2014, will step down from the high-profile role at the end of the year. “After more than 10 extraordinary years in Washington,