Joe Spaulding, the longtime president and CEO of the Boch Center, first met the theater’s current namesake in the ticket line for a Cat Stevens concert.

“He was the guy in front of me, and he was younger. And, we’re sitting there for the night, and I said, ‘So, who are you?’” Spaulding told Boston Public Radio on Monday.

The next day at the concert, Spaulding found his seat in the balcony. While he ended up far from the stage, he spotted his line buddy in the first row.

“I could not figure out how that happened. Now, all these years later … I know how he did it,” said Spaulding. The man was Ernie Boch Jr., the auto dealership billionaire and CEO of Boch Enterprises. The Boch Center, previously the Wang Center, got its name in 2016 through a sponsorship with the Boch family.

Spaulding led the Boch Center, formerly known as the Wang Center, since 1986. He officially retired from his role as president and CEO last Friday. In reflecting on his 38 years in Boston’s arts scene, he recalled leading a revitalization of Boston’s theater district from the crime-ridden “combat zone” of the 1970s and ‘80s to an arts and culture destination.

A former folk singer-songwriter, Spaulding tapped into his origins in 2019 when he led the creation of the Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame. He said it developed out of a need to distinguish the Boch Center from competing worldwide corporations like Live Nation and AEG.

“I thought to myself, ‘You know, there’s no folk, Americana, roots hall of fame in the world. Well, perhaps we should have one in Boston,’” Spaulding said, noting that Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Tom Rush and others got their start in Boston-area clubs like Club 47, now Passim.

The hall of fame is about celebrating the diverse history of folk music and its impact on music today. Neither the Rolling Stones nor Ed Sheeran could exist without the work of musicians like Lead Belly, Odetta and Josh White, said Spaulding.

“They changed the world,” he said.

When asked whether he’ll keep himself busy in retirement with a new venture, Spaulding is quick to recall the decades of 4 a.m. emails and overseeing the organization’s activities 365 days a year.

“I’d like a little bit of a break,” he said.