she/her/hers

Director, LongHouse Reserve

CEO & President, NYBG

Deputy Director, The Met

Curator of American Art, The Met

PhD, CUNY // MA UCLA // BA U of I, Chicago // Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership, Columbia Business School

Board member of American Alliance of Museums // American Public Gardens Association // Research and Fellowship Advisory Council of the Smithsonian American Art Museum // Weissman School of Arts and Sciences at Baruch College // Omega Institute for Holistic Studies Stewardship Council

Museums and public gardens—-keepers of art, science, plants, hopes and history—are vital to America’s infrastructure of education, health, and economic growth. At their best, they provide comfort and community, much needed spaces for shared experience, reaffirmation, and reinvigoration of our values, resilience, and wellness.

I have lived these beliefs and have deployed my growth and resilience mindset into organizational behavior in top art and science institutions. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art and at the New York Botanical Garden, I served through major transitions by championing collective intelligence of staff and board and meeting each challenge with grace and purpose.

At The Met, I rose from summer intern to Deputy Director, immersing myself in the vital importance of museum work in our world. As the leader of 27 departments and over 400 staff—curatorial, conservation and scientific research, libraries, education, publications, and digital—I worked with commitment and strategy toward the common purpose of shaping the collection, putting on superb exhibitions, managing the facility, advancing the institution, and enriching a diverse and inclusive visitor experience.

In 2018, I took over the New York Botanical Garden as ninth CEO and President, the first woman to hold the position in its 127 year history. A 250 acre campus of art and nature with nearly 500 staff, NYBG faced a major leadership transition and growth opportunities in art and science. In just two years, I developed a long-range art exhibition plan with vital educational programs and new digital content, drafted an agenda for increasing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, heightened the garden’s role in the botanical and horticultural dimensions of climate change and human wellness, and expanded the urban gardening program in our region. With devoted colleagues, we managed the challenges of the pandemic and saw the Garden to reopening in summer 2020, staff intact, budget balanced, and visitors returning.

Now, as Director of LongHouse Reserve, I am working with board and staff to fully understand the life and work of our founder Jack Lenor Larsen (1927-2020), and to manifest his legacy as one that includes everyone, open and equitable. Together, we are focused on Land, Place, and Spirit, as we activate a plan for more public access, greater inclusion of our community, the opening of his home as a museum and institute, and the glory of his garden. The gardens inspire human life, the house and collections bring awareness to self and nature, and the program offers myriad opportunities for exploration of design, craft, sculpture, and our connection to beauty. LongHouse is poised at the intersection of human, natural, and creative life, a space where our shoulders drop, our minds clear, and we can focus on our sense of stability and calm in an ever changing world.