Advancing Change: The Future of Museum Leadership

Brent R. Benjamin, the Barbara B. Taylor Director of the Saint Louis Art Museum, will retire this summer after serving for more than 20 years. Under his leadership, the Museum built a world-class expansion, conducted a record-setting $160 million capital campaign, hosted two of the five best attended exhibitions in Museum history, and championed the Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellowship. During Brent’s directorship, the Museum’s collection has grown by nearly 20 percent. Brent came to the Museum in 1999 from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where he had served for 12 years in curatorial and administrative roles. He earned his undergraduate degree from St. Olaf College and holds a graduate degree in the history of art from Williams College.

Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, PhD (1993–1994), is the Class of 1940 Bicentennial Term Chair in the Department of the History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of numerous publications on the art and culture of the United States, with an emphasis on issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality. She earned her doctorate in art history from Stanford University and has served on the faculty of Harvard University and as the senior historian and director of research, publications, and scholarly programs at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.

Thelma Golden is the director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, where she began her career in 1987 before joining the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1988. She returned to the Studio Museum in 2000 as deputy director for exhibitions and programs, and was named director and chief curator in 2005. Thelma was appointed to the Committee for the Preservation of the White House by President Barack Obama in 2010 and in 2015 joined the Obama Foundation’s board of directors. Thelma was the recipient of the 2016 Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence. In 2018 Thelma was awarded a J. Paul Getty Medal. She has received honorary degrees from Bard College, the City College of New York, Columbia University, and Smith College.

Deborah Cullen-Morales, PhD, is a program officer in the Arts and Culture program at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Deborah is responsible for work in the visual arts sector, including conservation/preservation, museums, contemporary arts centers, and other cultural and higher education institutions. Before joining the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, she served as executive director of the Bronx Museum of the Arts, director and chief curator of the Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University, director of curatorial programs at El Museo del Barrio, and curator of the print collection at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop. She earned her doctorate from CUNY Graduate Center for her 2002 dissertation, “Robert Blackburn: American Printmaker.” Deborah has been a research scholar at UCLA’s Chicano Studies Research Center, a fellow at the Center for Curatorial Leadership, a recipient of a Getty Curatorial Research Fellowship, and a Faith Ringgold Anyone Can Fly Foundation Professional Scholars Grant, among others.

Laura L. Lott is president and chief executive officer of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), representing the entire scope of the museum community. After being named the first woman to lead the organization in 2015, Laura led the development and launch of AAM’s strategic plan, which includes strategic focus on diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion; financial sustainability; and museums’ role in P-12 education. Laura raised the AAM’s first seven-figure gift and is spearheading an unprecedented initiative aimed at increasing the diversity of nonprofit boards. In her previous role as AAM’s chief operating officer, Laura led the 2012 relaunch of AAM, including rebranding the organization and redesigning its membership and excellence programs to be more inclusive, leading to 70 percent membership growth. Laura is a graduate of American University in Washington, DC.

Renée Brummell Franklin, the chief diversity officer at the Saint Louis Art Museum, champions policies and programs to ensure that the Museum is a more welcoming, equitable, and inclusive institution. She has led the Museum’s efforts to initiate and cultivate sustainable relationships with diverse audiences to encourage participation in the arts for nearly 20 years. Renée redesigned the Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellowship, which now serves as a national model for increasing leadership and staffing in cultural institutions. Renée writes “Artful Message,” a regular art education column for the St. Louis American newspaper. Renée holds a master’s degree in education and a master of business administration from Webster University.

Stephanie Downey, the owner and director of RK&A, oversees all aspects of the firm and its work. She has designed and managed audience research, planning, and evaluation projects in museums and cultural organizations since 1999. RK&A benefits from Stephanie’s early career in the nonprofit world, where she conducted evaluation and provided technical assistance on issues of racial and gender equity for public schools in the mid-Atlantic. Stephanie regularly presents at national conferences such as the American Alliance of Museums and the National Art Education Association, serves as treasurer for the Museum Education Roundtable board of directors, and guest lectures at universities.

Sherri Williams (2009–2010) is the manager of community programs at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. She is responsible for helping the gallery’s education team define and shape its community engagement efforts, with a focus on building relationships with local audiences and institutions. She has held positions at the Saint Louis Art Museum as the associate educator for Families, Teens, and Youth; and educator for adult learning. She earned her bachelor of arts degree in African and African American studies at Washington University in St. Louis and in 2007 was awarded a federal Foreign Languages and Area Studies Fellowship to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. While at the university Sherri earned a master of arts in African studies, concentrating in East Africa and gender and women’s studies.

Nenette Luarca-Shoaf, PhD (2000–2001), is managing director of learning and engagement at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, scheduled to open in Los Angeles in 2023. After holding the Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellowship at the Saint Louis Art Museum from 2000 to 2001, she went on to serve in curatorial and education roles at a number of museums, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. Most recently she was director of adult learning and associate curator of interpretation at the Art Institute of Chicago. Nenette holds a doctorate in art history from the University of Delaware, where she focused on the art and visual culture of the United States.

Jordia Benjamin (2014–2015) is the Mirken Senior Coordinator of Programs and Audience Engagement at the Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville, Maine, where she oversees all the museum’s public programs and community engagement initiatives. Jordia has worked primarily in museum education, first at the University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum, then leading the education department at the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas. A Bahamian native, Jordia earned her bachelor of arts in art history and bachelor of fine arts in studio art, concentrating in painting, from the University of South Florida and a master of nonprofit management and a graduate certificate in public administration from the University of Central Florida. She is also a Certified Museum Professional from the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance.

Timothy P. Brown (2002–2003) is an online instructor, content creator, and consultant. He provides online instruction and digital strategies for K-12 education and adult learning. Timothy began his career as a practicing artist and illustrator, earning his bachelor of fine arts in illustration from the University of the Arts. In 1999 he returned to graduate school at the University of the Arts to major in museum education. During that time he had a paid internship at the African American Museum that enabled him to complete his graduate education. Timothy received a graduate award for his publication “Trauma, Museums and the Future of Pedagogy.” Timothy has led the education department at several institutions, including the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, the Hunter Museum of American Art, the Columbus Museum, the Montgomery Museum of Fine Art, the Taft Museum of Art, and the National Law Enforcement Museum.

Michelle A. Young (2010–2011) is the associate director of development at The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, a direct support organization of Florida State University. Michelle works with individual donors who wish to provide major gifts in support of the museum, oversees all donor art acquisitions to the collection, and manages The Ringling’s Legacy Society. In 2019 Michelle was part of the four-person development team at The Ringling that successfully completed a historic $100 million fundraising campaign in support of the museum. Michelle serves on The Ringling’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) Committee. She holds a bachelor of fine arts in studio art and a master’s degree in education with an emphasis in art from the University of Central Oklahoma.

Yvonne Osei (2016–2017) is an acclaimed German-born Ghanaian multimedia artist and art educator living and working between St. Louis and Philadelphia. Her international creative practice explores topics of beauty, racism, and colorism, the authorship and ownership of history, and the residual implications of colonialism in postcolonial West Africa and Western cultures. Yvonne has performed and exhibited nationally and internationally. She is an adjunct professor at Webster University and an art-based corporate training coach at COCAbiz. Yvonne received her master of fine arts from Washington University in St. Louis, where she was a Chancellor’s Graduate Fellow, Mr. and Mrs. Spencer T. Olin Fellow, and Danforth Scholar. She holds a master of science in fashion design and business from Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri, and a bachelor of fine arts from Webster University.

Rochelle Caruthers (2011–2012) is a results-focused independent educator who is proficient in leveraging communication and collaboration skills to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. Previously, she worked as the University Academic Programs Coordinator at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis and at the Missouri History Museum as an associate historian. While at the Missouri History Museum, she completed Over There: Missouri and the Great War, a digitization project documenting Missouri’s role in World War I. Rochelle has a master of arts in public history from Loyola University in Chicago, a master of arts in liberal studies with an emphasis in Black studies from the University of Missouri–Kansas City, and a Certificate in Diversity and Inclusion for HR from Cornell University.

Asmaa Walton (2019–2020) is a Detroit native, arts educator, and ardent developer of the Black cultural archive. In 2018 Asmaa joined the Toledo Museum of Art as the education and engagement intern. In the same year she was appointed the Museum’s first KeyBank Fellow in diversity leadership, a position where she identified opportunities for diversity and equity programming across museums and cultural institutions. In February 2020 Walton established the Black Art Library, a collection of publications, exhibition catalogs, and theoretical texts about Black art and visual culture intended to become a public archive in a permanent space in Detroit. Asmaa completed a bachelor of fine arts in art education from Michigan State University in 2017. She has a master of arts in art politics from New York University Tisch School of the Arts.

Rehema C. Barber (2001–2002) is the chief curator for the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. Formerly Rehema was the director and chief curator of the Tarble Arts Center at Eastern Illinois University and has also worked for various institutions such as University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign’s School of Art and Design, the University of Memphis, the Memphis College of Art, Power House Memphis, and the Amistad Center for Art & Culture at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. Rehema contributed to The Shape of Abstraction: Selections from the Ollie Collection catalog, published by the Saint Louis Art Museum, among many notable publications. Rehema holds a bachelor of arts in art history from Roosevelt University, a master of arts in modern art history, theory, and criticism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a certification in elementary and secondary art education from the University of Missouri–Saint Louis.

Alona Cooper Wilson, PhD (1994–1995), is currently an independent scholar in African American art history and various curatorial projects. Her current research focuses on the social context of Hughie Lee-Smith’s paintings in the era of the 1950s Cold War. Alona served as director of collections and exhibitions and chief curator for the Museum of African American History in Boston and Nantucket. She was the assistant director and chief curator with the Amistad Center for Art & Culture at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut. At the Smith College Museum of Art, she served as curatorial assistant and later manager of the Cunningham Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs. Alona earned an undergraduate degree in business from the University of New Orleans and a master’s degree in art history at California State University, Long Beach. She completed her doctorate in the history of art and architecture in 2016 at Boston University.

Danielle Burns Wilson (2008–2009) serves as chief curator at the Houston Public Library and is an adjunct professor at Lone Star College–North Harris. From 2010 to 2013 Danielle served as curator at the Houston Museum of African American Culture. Danielle has curated many groundbreaking exhibitions, including Sunday Go to Meeting: African American Women and Church Hats in Houston and Chasing Perfection: The Work and Life of Architect John S. Chase. With Michelle White of the Menil Collection, Danielle organized The Whole World Was Watching: Civil Rights–Era Photographs from Edmund Carpenter and Adelaide de Menil. Danielle was honored with the distinguished Pace Setters Award in 2014 from the Association of African American Museums. She earned her bachelor of arts in history and political science at Prairie View A&M University and her master of arts in art history from the City University of New York, Brooklyn College.

Jade Powers (2017–2018) is the assistant curator at Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri, where she organizes exhibitions including Dyani White Hawk: Speaking to Relatives (2021), Dawoud Bey: Selections from Night Coming Tenderly, Black (2020), Joiri Minaya: Divergences (2020), Child’s Play: An Exploration of Adolescence (2019), Color Application (2019), Abstracted Wonders: The Power of Lines (2018), and Deconstructing Marcus Jansen (2018). She is the 2020–2021 visiting lecturer for the master of fine arts graduate seminar in the Department of Visual Art at the University of Kansas. Jade has also been a visiting critic at the Kansas City Art Institute, the University of Kansas, and Washington University in St. Louis. She studied art history, religious studies, and postcolonial theory at DePauw University and Indiana University Bloomington.