On a frosty March evening during an opening party for Cafe Zao in Downtown's Cultural District, J. Kevin McMahon greeted guests warmly.

Lake Fong, Post-Gazette As president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Kevin McMahon oversees a $47 million nonprofit that in November heralded the opening of the Cabaret at Theater Square, a Downtown nightspot where Pittsburgh CLO produces "Forever Plaid" and cabaret shows. Click photo for larger image. Previous No. 1's 2004: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra musicians 2003: Janet Sarbaugh, Heinz Endowments 2002: Bill Strickland, Manchester Craftsmen's Guild 2001: Fred Rogers, television; children's advocate 2000: Carol Brown, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust 1999: August Wilson, playwright 1998: Martin McGuinn, Mellon Bank 1997: Teresa Heinz, Heinz Endowments

Minutes later, McMahon, president and chief executive officer of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, a $47 million nonprofit that created the city's Cultural District, shifted into another comfortable role, that of Mr. Fix-It.

"A couple of people coming out of the kitchen looked a little rattled," he said recently.

So, the man who once fixed a leaky gas line at his Squirrel Hill home without calling his utility company examined a gas stove that would not heat the lamb meatballs.

McMahon checked fuses, poked around in a utility room and followed the gas line outside. Ultimately, he learned a switch had been turned off and could not be activated because no technicians were available.

"It was very frustrating. We didn't get it back on," McMahon said.

That stubborn stove aside, McMahon has succeeded so well in turning up the heat in the 14-square block Cultural District that he tops this year's list of the region's 50 creative forces.

Founded in 1984, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust operates Benedum Center and the Byham, O'Reilly and Harris theaters while serving as a landlord, arts advocate and catalyst for development.

Among numerous tasks, the Cultural Trust's 70 full-time employees present 300 attractions each year by staging First Night on New Year's Eve and selecting programming for the PNC Broadway Series, Trust Presents, CD Live, Downbeat in the District and the Pittsburgh Dance Council.

This year, with Carnegie Mellon University's Elizabeth Bradley as curator, McMahon staged Pittsburgh's International Festival of Firsts. This array of theater and dance featured artists from Western and Eastern Europe and Asia, as well as a re-creation of the sinking of the Titanic on the Allegheny River, a performance that drew about 12,000 spectators over three nights.

Jared Cohon, president of CMU for the past eight years, is a Pittsburgh Cultural Trust board member who is pleased with McMahon's efforts.

Kevin McMahon wears a tux when necessary, but he's also comfortable dressed for carpentry or whatever needs to be done to keep the Cultural Trust ticking.

"He is outstanding in every respect," Cohon said, adding that, "He's got great vision for the [Cultural] Trust and Pittsburgh. He's great at executing plans. He works wonderfully with people in every constituency he has to deal with -- the board, the performing arts organizations, ... Carnegie Mellon and the donors."

Jim Rohr, PNC Financial Services Group's chairman and CEO, was just re-elected to a one-year term as president of the Cultural Trust's board.

"Kevin has created a spirit of teamwork among the arts groups," Rohr said, adding that McMahon's "nonthreatening personality with a sense of purpose to do the right thing" has made it possible for Downtown arts groups to save money by purchasing everything from tickets to office supplies to health care as a group.

Downtown additions

The Cultural District's newest venue opened in October, with the CLO giving performances of "Forever Plaid" at the Cabaret in Theater Square, a flexible 253-seat theater with a separate cocktail lounge. The entire, nine-story Theater Square building cost about $33 million. Besides the cabaret and lounge, it houses the Carolyn M. Byham remote studio for WQED, a box office, a 790-space parking garage and Cafe Zao.

"That wouldn't have happened without Eden Hall," McMahon said, spreading the credit and referring to a local foundation that contributed to the project, along with the Howard Heinz Endowment, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, the Allegheny Regional Asset District, the state of Pennsylvania, the city of Pittsburgh and its Urban Redevelopment Authority and donors who supported the Campaign for a Dynamic Downtown.

The cabaret, McMahon added, "gave the CLO more of a year-round presence Downtown."

Equally important, Cultural District visitors who want late-night entertainment now can find it Tuesday through Sunday nights.

Last year, McMahon and his staff produced the Quebec Festival, which brought artists from that Canadian city to Pittsburgh for a cultural exchange.

The Trust already operated Wood Street Galleries, which is above the Wood Street T station on Liberty Avenue, when McMahon took his post. Since then, he has overseen the opening of three new art galleries -- SPACE, housed in the Baum Building; Future Tenant at 801 Liberty Ave.; and BridgeSpotters Gallery at 709 Penn Ave. Since March 2004, he has led students and Downtown office workers on a half-dozen art gallery crawls through the Cultural District.

Under McMahon, the Trust continued its efforts to eradicate the vulgar atmosphere that marred Liberty Avenue for decades. This past year, the Cultural Trust restored the historic facade of the Baum Building, which was built in 1917 and housed the Liberty Theater, a vaudeville and movie house. The five-story classical revival structure's recent first-floor tenants were Condom Nation and a video store packed with pornography but they left and the trust bought those leases.

One reason McMahon loves the building's glistening white, molded terra-cotta facade is that he can see it from his fourth-floor office on Liberty Avenue.

"It was just ugly. I said, 'I'm sick of looking at it.' Look at it now. It's absolutely gorgeous. We took that from start to finish in 14 months," he added.

A few doors up, Prime Stage performs in the Trust's intimate 72-seat theater at 937 Liberty Ave. One street over, Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre has built a performing space on the mezzanine level of the ALCO Parking garage at Sixth Street and Penn Avenue.

Pittsburgh Playwright's move from Garfield to the Cultural District is one example of how McMahon combined creative nurturing with his role as landlord. He and his staff actively pursued Pittsburgh Playwrights for its support of local playwrights as well as its multiracial diversity, displayed in its annual Black and White Festival and "August in April" showcase.

Besides increasing the number of Cultural District attractions, McMahon and the Cultural Trust have partnered with Lincoln Property Co. to encourage people to live Downtown.

The construction company, which built Dominion Tower, is erecting a 18-story, 151-unit apartment building that will open next June at 106 Seventh St. The building will have its own parking garage next door.

McMahon knows amenities go hand-in-sequined-glove with theatrical attractions. That's why parking was essential for the apartment building and Theater Square, where off-duty police officers lend an aura of safety while directing exiting motorists.

This list of accomplishments is possible because McMahon, 52, possesses a collaborative management style and stays focused on the grand plan while tweaking its details.

A recent example of his fine-tuning occurred during the Baum Building's $500,000 restoration. McMahon ensured that one end of the elegant structure's first floor, home of the art gallery SPACE, featured rounded glass that integrated seamlessly into the building's curved facade.

Long days

The son of a business executive, McMahon grew up in Fairfield, Conn., a coastal town of 53,000 people where his mother, a piano teacher, whetted his interest in the arts with outings to New York Philharmonic concerts and Broadway shows in nearby New York City.

One of McMahon's strengths is fund-raising, and he honed his skills at the New School For Social Research in New York City from 1983 through 1992. From 1992 through 2001, he served as chief operating officer at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

In his role as leader of the Cultural Trust, McMahon's days are carefully planned, with 7:30 a.m. breakfasts at the Duquesne Club and brainstorming over lunch or afternoon coffee with staff members at La Prima Espresso, the Trust's unofficial clubhouse. There's often a reception with donors followed by an evening in the theater. Typically, his evening ends at 10:30 or 11.

Quite literally, he is not afraid to get down and dirty. After record-breaking rain from Hurricane Ivan caused severe, widespread flood damage here last Sept. 17, the next day dawned bright and clear with a deep blue sky.

By then, nearly a foot of water had crept into the Benedum's basement, threatening the call-in ticket center and its computers.

Berne Bloom, the Benedum's technical director, insisted on buying yellow hip waders from a nearby store for his crew because the water contained sewage. But McMahon stayed in his khakis and brown topsiders and worked feverishly to redirect and suction the water.

As they labored, Cultural Trust staffers heard through dressing room speakers the roar of an enthusiastic audience upstairs while Frank Sinatra Jr. sang and joked.

"It was just this surreal experience," said Rona Nesbit, the Trust's senior vice president of finance and administration, who changed her plans to play golf earlier that day and headed Downtown.

"We were there until midnight," she added.

Mark Weinstein, executive director of the Pittsburgh Opera, called McMahon "an excellent colleague and a great collaborator. He is the right person at the right time for the Cultural District. He's always willing to listen, but he's also there to make the tough calls, and he doesn't shy away from it. I view him as a community thinker and a problem solver."

At the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, where Weinstein serves as president, McMahon co-chairs a committee on advocacy for the arts with Andrew E. Masich, president and CEO of the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center.

A builder and a shaker

McMahon relishes challenges and oversaw renovation of the 100-year-old home he bought on Inverness Avenue in Squirrel Hill with his wife, Kristen.

"I have difficulty relaxing," McMahon admitted. "When you are pounding a nail with a hammer, it forces you to think about something else."

Yes, such as where your first-aid kit is stored.

Fran Egler, a native Pittsburgher, worked closely with McMahon on programming here before leaving last year for a similar job in Charlotte, N.C. She said McMahon often told amusing stories about his handyman exploits.

"They looked at this house as a unique challenge to be met. He would always come in with various scrapes and bruises. Occasionally, there would be a large bandage on his arm," Egler recalled.

When he does manage to relax, McMahon vacations at North Carolina's Outer Banks, where he walks the beach or reads books such as David McCullough's biography of John Adams. He also visits friends in California, and his drink of choice is Cabernet.

McMahon also serves on the board of his Ohio alma mater, Hiram College, where the president is Thomas V. Chema.

"I knew Kevin initially from our being on the board together. Now, he's one of my bosses. He's very, very well-read. There are relatively few areas of politics, history, culture and the arts that he is not familiar with.

"Conversations with Kevin are exciting," Chema said.

During the recent Memorial Day weekend, McMahon traveled to New York City to see "Doubt," "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" and "The Light in the Piazza" because he had to cast his vote for the Tony Awards, which are being broadcast tonight.

Like any great actor, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust plays many parts -- catalyst, landlord and developer.

Above all, "We are an advocate for the arts in Pittsburgh," McMahon said, adding that the best way to do that is to put money into production values and high-quality actors, dancers, singers and musicians.

"The CLO, the ballet and the opera are much, much better companies than they were 20 years ago," McMahon said.

Supply and demand

The Cultural Trust has built or renovated four major theaters.

"We have not done nearly as well in creating demand for the arts," McMahon said. "There should be something for everyone in the Cultural District. That does not mean dumbing it down. We've got to have more offerings for more kinds of people."

Edith "Toto" Fisher, a 14-year member of the Cultural Trust board, served on the search committee that selected McMahon, who arrived here in 2001. Fisher values McMahon's collegial manner and intense commitment.

"It's his whole being, this place. ... He's a very genial guy, Fisher said. "He's very high-energy. But he is even-tempered. He doesn't change. He is very down-to-earth. He's very kind. He has a tremendous sense of humor. People just like him, period."

Whether he is working with staff or board members, Fisher said, "he has this ability to inspire, to raise the bar so high that you think, 'Oh, can we do that?' He just has this ability to transmit this can-do."

McMahon has helped to expand corporate support and increase foundation and government grants.

He has a vision, Fisher said, but draws out people's opinions, which "allows others to get on board. You have the whole train rolling. It brings out the best in everybody, whether it's a staff member or a board member."