The Barnes Foundation's Executive Director and President Derek Gillman will be stepping down to become a distinguished visiting professor at Drexel

The Board of Trustees of the Barnes Foundation have announced that Derek Gillman will be stepping down as executive director and president of the Barnes Foundation effective January 1, 2014, to become a distinguished visiting professor at Drexel University’s Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design.

Gillman, who joined the Barnes in 2006, spearheaded the move of the Barnes Collection to its critically acclaimed new home and campus in central Philadelphia. During his seven year tenure he oversaw the fundraising campaign for the Barnes’s new $150 million-facility, the addition of $50 million to its endowment, the development of a professional staff for the institution and creation of a broad range of educational programs, exhibitions and publications. Since opening its new campus, annual attendance at the Barnes has grown from 60,000 per year to more than 325,000, and the membership expanded from 400 to 25,000.

Gillman informed the Barnes Board of his decision in September. At that time, Dr. Bernard Watson, Chairman of the Board of Trustees formed a search committee and set in motion the process for securing a new director. The Trustees have engaged Phillips Oppenheim, an executive search firm, to aid in this process. Until a new director is appointed, Margaret (Peg) Zminda, the Foundation’s Executive Vice President CFO & COO, will serve as acting director of the Barnes Foundation. Zminda joined the Barnes Foundation in December 2007 and has been a key leader in the development of the organization since that time. She holds an MBA from the University of Chicago, and has more than 10 years of nonprofit leadership experience.

“Working with a terrific team of trustees and colleagues, I have achieved all I had hoped to for the Barnes – and more,” stated Gillman. “It has been a privilege to work with Tod Williams and Billie Tsien on this amazing building, to stabilize the finances, to build the staff, expand programming and create a vibrant new cultural institution for the city of Philadelphia and the world. The Barnes is really well positioned for the future and I am excited about going back into higher education where I have spent half of my career and where I can apply my experience in institution-building along with my long-standing academic interests.”

“Derek has successfully led the Barnes through a remarkable period of transition and transformation, enabling the Foundation to better advance Albert Barnes’s great vision,” stated Vice Chairman Joseph Neubauer.  “On behalf of the board of trustees, the staff of the Barnes, and the people we now serve regionally, nationally and internationally, I’d like to thank Derek for helping the Barnes become the outstanding institution that it is today and preparing it for the next phase of service to the community and the field.”

At Drexel, Gillman will contribute to the Department of Art & Art History and the Museum Leadership graduate program. He is the author of The Idea of Cultural Heritage (Cambridge University Press), and is currently president of the International Cultural Property Society. He has published and lectured on Chinese and early modern art, and cultural heritage, and was the Marina Kellen French Distinguished Visitor at the American Academy in Berlin in 2013.

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For more information, contact:

The Barnes Foundation
Jan Rothschild, Senior Vice President for Communications
Andrew Stewart, Director of Public Relations
215.278.7160
press@barnesfoundation.org