Daniel Weiss selected as the President of Metropolitan Museum of Art

As the previous President Emily Rafferty steps down from the office, Daniel Weiss makes his way in.

In a recent turn of events art historian, academic and president of Haverford College Daniel H. Weiss has been named as the President of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This nomination comes after the previous President Emily Rafferty stepped down. Daniel H. Weiss has a PhD and a MBA from Yale to boast about and was born in Newark, NJ. Daniel’s predecessor, Emily Rafferty will be retiring from the Metropolitan Museum of Art at the end of this month after 10 years as the President and nearly 40 years at the institution. 

The new president’s hiring continues the top management change that has followed Philippe de Montebello’s retirement from the institution in 2008 after nearly 30 years at the museum. Apart from this the public affairs head of the museum Harold Holzer has also announced his plans of retirement after more than 20 years at the institution. There have also been numerous other departures of long standing from the Metropolitan Museum of Art recently.

Mr. Weiss is now 57 and was formally elected as the President at the meeting of the Board of Trustees. It is very surprising to see that Mr. Weiss has no museum management experience even then he was chosen for such an important position. He will assume the president’s office at the museum this summer.

It seems that Mr. Weiss has a knack of such appointments as he also became Haverford’s president with the shortest tenure in the school’s history as he had joined in 2013. Daniel Brodsky the chairman of the museum stated that Daniel has a record that proves his ability to manage areas essential to making large institutions run smoothly especially due to his strong commitment to staff development and academic excellence.

Moreover the Metropolitan Museum of Art also stated Daniel’s credentials which running the museum shops at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, and then has experience working at Booz, Allen & Hamilton. He also rose rapidly through the ranks of professorship at John Hopkins and eventually becoming the dean of its School of Arts and Sciences. Mr. Weiss has also served as president of Lafayette College for eight years.

Tom Campbell the director of the museum stated that the whole team is delighted to have Dan Weiss as the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new president. He also praised Daniel saying that his experience is a rare combination of academic accomplishment in art history and vast management experience in a variety of complex and renowned institutions.

Mr. Weiss also stated that he was very excited about the appointment and that he looks forward to working closely with Tom Campbell and the rest of the team. He mentioned the opening of the Breuer building and developing new and exciting programs in the years ahead. As an art historian Mr. Weiss specializes in medieval art, the Byzantine Age and the crusades. 

Source: Observer