A native of Greensboro, N.C., Billy Baites is a classically trained pianist whose career in arts management spans four decades.

After positions with two leading New York classical music arts management companies, he managed the performing arts series at Emory University and served as executive director of the Rialto Center for the Performing Arts, both in Atlanta.For three years he held the position of Cultural Affairs Manager for the City of Miami Beach before returning to his hometown to tend to family matters in 2006.

Billy is in the process of completing a debut collection of non-fiction short stories, Billy Is That You?, which recounts the outrageous adventures of a gay southerner and celebrates a cast of colorful characters who have paraded proudly through his life. The book is slated for publication in 2018.