2026 Ticketing Star: Ashley Voorhees

Ashley Voorhees
Vice President
Patron Service
Ticket Omaha
Omaha Performing Arts

Serendipity and a fatherly push set Ashley Voorhees on a path to the box office.

Voorhees, who is Vice President of Patron Services for Omaha Performing Arts, was a senior in college looking for a part-time job at the same time her father was building a box office counter for the Theater League of Utah in Salt Lake City.

The Theater League needed someone for part-time phone sales. Voorhees got the job and ended up working two hours a day selling tickets and launching the market’s 16-week run of “Phantom of the Opera” in 1996.

“I’ve got my dad to thank for that,” Voorhees says with a chuckle. “I didn’t think it would be a career. I was in college to study Communications and potentially Education then my career started morphing and before you know it, you’re five years in. And I loved every second of it.”

Voorhees enjoyed the combination of analytics and the satisfaction of watching people awed by the live experience.

“As I started hitting that five-year mark I really got into understanding the pricing side of things and how strategic you can be about your pricing and the different data points you can pull from. I’ve always had an analytical mind frame,” adds Voorhees. “And I’m a wooer. I love to make sure people are having a fun time.”

Prior to arriving in Omaha, Voorhees held leadership roles with Broadway Across America in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, serving as Southeast Regional Sales Operation Manager, National Ticketing Manager and Fort Lauderdale Subscription Manager. She joined Omaha Performing Arts (O-pa) in 2009 and in her current role manages, develops and implements a comprehensive ticketing and patron service system and has oversight of administrative services including finance, information technology and ticketing for members of the Ticket Omaha consortium, which includes ticketing operations for O-pa, Omaha Symphony, Opera Omaha and Omaha Community Playhouse.

In addition, in 2023 she played a key role in executing the Steelhouse Omaha Ticketmaster agreement. She led O-pa’s transition to mobile ticketing, when the venue adopted digital ticketing for the first time in 2019 for a run of “Hamilton.”

“It came down to we had to be very proactive in our communication,” explains Voorhees.

Recently she has been leading her team through the process of adding another new education, event and performance space, Tenaska Center for the Arts Engagement, which is scheduled to open this spring.

Recognized nationally for her Broadway and ticketing expertise, Voorhees is a frequent speaker and panelist at Tessitura conferences and serves on the board of the International Ticketing Association (INTIX).

“She does all this with unfailing good humor, dedicated focus, a passion for live entertainment and is a leader that always sees the big picture but has the skill and expertise to understand the nuances of leadership” says Maureen Andersen, INTIX President and CEO. “Not to mention she did all this while also serving as the 2025 Board Chair of INTIX focusing on membership retention and acquisition to continue to strategically lead our organization into the future.”
Voorhees counts listening as a necessary job requirement – whether it’s dealing with a patron, serving on a board, working across departments or dealing with bookers and promoters.

“We all have a common goal – we need to sell tickets and we need to get people into our venues,” says Voorhees. “Thinking outside the box, really being able to collaborate amongst your peers, is crucial for the success of the organization.”