Job Description

The Westmoreland Museum of American Art
The Richard M. Scaife Director/Chief Executive Officer

Position Specification
Position: The Richard M. Scaife Director/Chief Executive Officer
Company: The Westmoreland Museum of American Art
Location: Greensburg, PA
Reporting Relationship: Board of Trustees
Website: https://thewestmoreland.org/

About The Westmoreland Museum of American Art
An American Alliance of Museum Accredited institution, The Westmoreland Museum of American Art (The Westmoreland) was established in 1949 through a generous bequest from Mary Marchand Woods, a long-time Greensburg resident, and first opened its doors to the public in 1959. Over the past 60-plus years, The Westmoreland has built a permanent collection of significant American art from colonial to contemporary, with a special focus on paintings relating to Southwestern Pennsylvania and placing those works within the greater context of the national American art scene. The opening in 2015 of the new cantilevered wing designed by Ennead Architects, coupled with the renovation of the existing building, provides a world-class facility for the collection, and was recognized as the best designed museum in the state of Pennsylvania by Architectural Digest.

The Westmoreland works to fulfill the mission of offering “a place to share compelling and meaningful cultural experiences that open the door to new ideas, perspectives and possibilities,” and we strive to be a museum that is truly accessible and equitable for all. In November 2018, The Westmoreland eliminated its suggested donation fee as part of a Free Admission for All initiative ensuring that our collections and exhibitions are more accessible to the public. However, financial costs are not the only barrier preventing people from feeling welcomed and included in art museums.

The Westmoreland’s current strategic plan centers on Diversity, Equity, Access, and Inclusion (DEAI), and we foster a culture that supports and advances DEAI efforts and aligns with our mission, vision, and values. We commit to this work as never ending, evolving, and with the expectation that we will make mistakes and learn from them along the way. Most importantly, we recognize that our actions speak louder than any written document and that we will be accountable by what we do in addition to what we say.

Through new acquisitions, a robust temporary exhibition program, community partnerships, public program offerings, an Artist-in-Residency program, visitor studies, and an intentional internal culture, The Westmoreland uses the power of art to explore and reveal the complexity of American history to create a more just and equitable society. We take pride in being a small and nimble institution that can make meaningful change in the community and art world alike.

The Westmoreland Museum of American Art: History and Mission
The Westmoreland’s permanent collection includes works by major artists from four centuries and captures the Southwestern Pennsylvania region’s rich agrarian and industrial past by placing local history within the greater context of the nation. The collection includes works of art by well-known artists, such as Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent, Winslow Homer, and Louis Comfort Tiffany, and is expanding to include a growing number of works by emerging Black and Indigenous artists including Stephen Towns, Mickalene Thomas, and Will Wilson. The Museum also has a significant folk-art collection, including furniture, salt-glazed stoneware, sculpture, quilts, coverlets, and an important collection of Westmoreland County fraktur, both hand-painted and printed.

The Museum, first known as the Westmoreland County Museum of Art, has grown from a museum with no collection when it first opened to a nationally known museum with a broad collection of American art in the thousands. Under the guidance of the founding director, Paul A. Chew, and in the favorable marketplace for American art in the second half of the 20th century, the Museum was able to amass a sizable collection and American art became the collection’s sole focus. In 1993, with the appointment of its second director, Judith O’Toole, the Museum formally changed its name to Westmoreland Museum of American Art and continued to develop and shape the collection, particularly in works from the post 1950s forward.

The necessity for expansion had been discussed over the years as the collection and programming grew exponentially. It became a reality in 2015, when the dramatic cantilevered east wing was opened. The Westmoreland’s Grand Reopening in October 2015 featured the exhibition, A Passion for Collecting: Selections from the Richard M. Scaife Bequest with 85 works of art including major works by George Inness, John Kensett, William Merritt Chase, Guy Pene du Bois, among others.

Designed by Ennead Architects of New York City, the Cantilever's south-facing glass façade brings spectacular light into public areas and offers the visitor panoramic views of downtown Greensburg and the Laurel Mountains in the distance. A brise soleil replaced the four massive columns along the original portico, ingeniously blending old and new. A tiered garden growing indigenous plants leads to the main entrance. The capital campaign for the new wing also provided funding for a total renovation of the original building. The Museum, now over 43,000 square feet, crowns one of the highest of the many hills that make up the city of Greensburg and is visible throughout much of the city, a symbol of the city’s growth and renewal.

Following O’Toole’s retirement in the spring of 2018, Anne Kraybill was hired in August of that year after a national search was conducted to fill the Director/Chief Executive Officer role. Kraybill established a new mission and vision for the Museum as well as a new strategic plan centered on Diversity, Equity, Access, and Inclusion during her tenure among other accomplishments. Today, The Westmoreland Board of Trustees and staff under the leadership of Board President Helene Conway-Long continue to address and build upon the objectives laid out in the 2019-2024 strategic plan, which include seeking to provide understanding to issues facing the community, region and nation and to take actionable steps to make change as well as recognizing that the Museum’s collection and the history of American art does not reflect everyone’s experience and working to address those gaps. Additionally, the staff is currently developing processes to guide the reinterpretation of the Museum’s permanent collection; launching a new Learning Management System for educators and students; and presenting temporary exhibitions and related educational programming that introduce new artists and new perspectives to the Museum’s audiences and expand the narratives represented in American art.

About Greensburg, Pennsylvania
Greensburg is the county seat of Westmoreland County in southwestern Pennsylvania. With a healthy economy, an affordable cost of living, a vibrant cultural scene anchored in the picturesque, historic downtown and a population of 15,000, Greensburg provides smaller city living accessible to both big city attractions of Pittsburgh, 45 minutes away, and the magnificent natural landscape and recreational opportunities of the 3,000-square-mile mountainous region known as the Laurel Highlands.

The city of Greensburg was incorporated in 1799 and developed a robust economy in the 19th century as a result of railroad construction and newly discovered coal deposits. Today, light and moderate manufacturing and service industries thrive in the area. The downtown, a national historic district, is experiencing a significant renaissance anchored by the development of its arts corridor. The award-winning 2015 expansion of The Westmoreland Museum of American Art created a closer visual and physical relationship between the Museum and the community. In addition, a new State Office Building, the new Performing Arts Center of Seton Hill University, Seton Hill’s new Dance and Visual Arts Center, and the renovated 1926 Palace Theatre have invigorated downtown Greensburg. Directly north of the downtown historic district, and adjacent to the Museum, lies the Academy Hill historic district, a neighborhood dotted with 19th century Tudor, Queen Anne, Mission and Georgian style mansions and public buildings. Architectural critic John Conti notes that, “all in all, there is no other town in western Pennsylvania, other than Pittsburgh itself, which has so much distinguished architecture, both old and new, as Greensburg.”

The Palace Theatre is home to the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra and hosts regional theater and ballet in addition to prominent entertainers. St. Clair Park just south of the Museum hosts Summer Sounds, a summer-long free music festival including regional and national bands. The city holds numerous annual festivals including the Arts and Heritage Festival and a regional craft beer week.

The University of Pittsburgh campus in Greensburg, with 1,500 students, has been named two years in a row as a Money Magazine “best college value” and is also called a “hidden gem” for STEM education for women. Seton Hill University, founded in 1885, has 2,500 students and is undergoing a $75 million expansion and renewal. Saint Vincent College in nearby Latrobe recently dedicated the Verostko Center for the Arts, is the home of the Fred Rogers Institute and annually hosts the Pittsburgh Steelers for summer training camp. Penn State New Kensington’s campus is only a half hour drive. Westmoreland County Community College is located 6 miles from Greensburg with a student body of roughly 5,500 and boasting a new Advanced Technology Center employing STEAM initiatives.

The Westmoreland also maintains a good relationship with the many colleges and universities in Pittsburgh, including The University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. In addition to Greensburg’s two excellent public-school districts: Hempfield Area and Greensburg-Salem, a multitude of outstanding religious, preparatory, and private educational opportunities are available in Greensburg and nearby communities such as Latrobe, Ligonier, Saltsburg, and the Pittsburgh area.

The Excela Health System provides nationally ranked tertiary care with hospitals based in Greensburg, Latrobe and Mt. Pleasant and a network of community-based outpatient facilities. Academic medical centers in the region include the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the Allegheny Health Network.

The Laurel Highlands region offers extraordinary scenery, the full spectrum of all-season recreation, and innumerable historic sites and attractions including Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob as well as Fort Ligonier, an important site of the Seven Years’ War.

Greensburg is served by its downtown Amtrak station, the Pittsburgh International Airport, the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in nearby Latrobe and a local public transit bus system.

Position Summary and Responsibilities
The Director/Chief Executive Officer is a highly visible role that will serve as the pinnacle leader of the organization. This individual will oversee the Museum’s operations, and act as the primary driver of organizational mission to offer a place to share compelling and meaningful cultural experiences that open the door to new ideas, perspectives, and possibilities. This individual will oversee all aspects of The Westmoreland, including but not limited to, programs and services, development, finance, capacity development, human resources, communications, and board governance.

The successful candidate will be tasked with creating partnerships and collaborating with local corporate organizations, foundations, public sector leaders, non-profits, and key supporters to advance the directive of The Westmoreland. The Director/Chief Executive Officer will manage a talented 40-person full- and part-time staff and work in partnership with a dedicated fourteen-member Board of Trustees to further establish the organizational vision and strategy, expand organizational programmatic offerings, and develop priorities for continued organizational growth and success.

As the primary voice of The Westmoreland, the Director/Chief Executive Officer possesses gravitas, enthusiasm for history and the natural world, and ambition to develop and leverage the local, regional, and national relationships of the Museum. The Director/Chief Executive Officer will seek to advocate for the history of the Museum and extend its educational programming for years to come.

Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:
Vision and Executive Leadership

• Collaborate with the Board of Trustees to refine the Museum’s policies, procedures, and short and long-term goals.
• Create and implement a compelling and sustainable strategy and vision for leading The Westmoreland into the future while building on its strengths and capitalizing on its opportunities.
• Engage the Board of Trustees in the development and successful implementation of the organization’s next strategic plan.
• Further the Museum’s commitment to diversity, equity, access, and inclusion.
• Provide leadership and vision to the staff to ensure The Westmoreland fulfills its mission “to stimulate imagination and innovation through great experiences with art” and achieves its goals for artistic excellence, financial stability, and community engagement.
• Represent The Westmoreland as its primary ambassador and an active, visible, and engaged member of the immediate community and southwestern Pennsylvania. Represent The Westmoreland nationally through collaboration with Museums countrywide and through participation at professional meetings.
• Attract, recruit, supervise, develop, and evaluate a high-performing senior professional staff.
• Ensure The Westmoreland’s continued excellence through the application of the highest standards to the exhibition, interpretation, and enhancement of its renowned collection.

Strategic Advancement

• Enhance the Museum’s position in the museum world regionally and nationally; respond creatively to opportunities for cooperation and partnerships with other cultural institutions to grow a diverse audience base and to increase awareness of the Museum’s excellent collections and outstanding exhibitions.
• Ensure that comprehensive marketing efforts are instituted, well-funded and successful in promoting exhibitions, education programs and the collection with the goal of increasing visitation and Museum memberships.
• Encourage volunteers and staff to be aware of opportunities to build relationships with potential individual and institutional supporters.
• Work collaboratively with the Chief Curator of American Art and the Director of Collections and Exhibition Management to provide strategic oversight for the development of the collections and planning of exhibitions.

Revenue Generation

• Work closely with the Board and Advancement staff to raise funds from individuals, foundations, corporations, and government sources in support of The Westmoreland’s programs and to grow the endowment.
• Establish positive relationships with existing donors to identify and cultivate new funding opportunities, while furthering and enhancing the planned giving program.
• Partner with Operations, Advancement, Marketing and Learning, Engagement, and Partnerships team leaders to identify opportunities and create and implement strategic initiatives to increase earned income. Partner with curatorial staff to identify and cultivate gifts and bequests from collectors as well as identify new funding opportunities to support acquisitions to grow and enhance the collection.
• Assist in the implementation and growth of The Westmoreland’s programs in a manner aligned with the organization’s mission.
• Guide the organization and its diverse internal and external stakeholders through goal setting and prioritizing, long-range planning, and growth.
• Assist the Learning, Engagement and Partnerships team in broadening informative and entertaining public programs and events to attract multi-generational audiences.
• Serve as an advocate and ambassador for The Westmoreland locally, regionally, and nationally.

Board Relations and Governance

• Communicate effectively with the Board of Trustees and provide, in a timely and accurate manner, all information necessary for the board to function properly and to make informed decisions.
• Engage the Board of Trustees to fulfill its governance function and energize the Board to assist in the fundraising and advocacy efforts of the Museum.
• Foster public participation in The Westmoreland’s Board of Trustees, identifying, cultivating, and attracting new Board members to the organization in collaboration with the existing Board of Trustees.
• Maintain organizational alignment with Board-adopted policies and procedures, develop and recommend new policies as needed.

Professional Experience/Qualifications
The Westmoreland Museum of American Art seeks a passionate leader who embodies its values of welcoming, inclusion, collaboration, decisiveness, kindness, and inspiration. The Director/Chief Executive Officer plans and manages the business and financial affairs of the organization, takes a primary role in the planning of the Museum’s public and education programs, and inspires, mentors, and provides ongoing professional development for its staff. The ideal leader possesses proven leadership experience in related museum or non-profit leadership roles, a dynamic and engaging personality, and the ability to adapt effectively in uncertain times.

The Westmoreland seeks a leader to thoroughly understand its operations, gain a comprehensive grasp of its history, programs, mission, constituencies, and financial support, further relationships with volunteers and community leaders, acquire a thorough understanding of The Westmoreland’s fundraising and earned income initiatives, and address key areas defined by the current strategic plan for continued organizational success. The Director/Chief Executive Officer will play a critical role in all aspects of The Westmoreland’s immediate and future success and will have the opportunity to take a financially stable, ambitious, well-regarded institution to new levels of excellence and growth.

Candidate Qualifications

• Preferably 10+ years of experience working in a highly visible management role with volunteers and staff, financial administration responsibilities, and fundraising experience.
• Ability to develop, articulate and implement a vision designed to inspire and engage professionals, and members of the public alike.
• Budgetary management experience to effectively oversee the resources of The Westmoreland.
• Capacity and desire to be innovative around all areas of fundraising, programming, operations, and staff supervision and growth.
• A strategic and creative thinker with the agility to balance competing priorities, complex situations, and tight deadlines.
• Demonstrated commitment to technological innovation and the ability to utilize technology to better organizational efficiencies.
• Gravitas and diplomatic skills necessary for serving as the most senior representative of The Westmoreland.
• Excellent communication and relationship building skills, to further The Westmoreland’s reach and effectiveness, with individual stakeholders and across platforms and formats through written, oral, and electronic means.
• Experience and confidence as a public speaker and organization spokesperson with frequent media appearances.
• Proven ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with the Board of Trustees, staff, community groups and other related agencies.
• Aptitude and experience working with volunteer leaders.
• Energy, drive, and passion for continuous improvement, both personal and at an enterprise level.
• Ability to maintain and model high personal, ethical, and professional standards.

Additional preferred qualifications include the following:

• Proficiency in American art and connections to the art field including museum leaders, collectors, and art experts.
• Demonstrated fundraising success, particularly with individual donors.
• Appreciation for experimentation and innovation.
• Excellent people management skills and the ability to develop a cohesive team.
• Ability to inspire and build confidence among Board members, staff, and a broad range of constituencies.
• Business savvy to maintain a financially stable organization and to seize and cultivate opportunities for increasing earned income.
• Excellent listening skills, a positive outlook, self-awareness, and a sense of humor.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Chief Operating Officer
• Chief Advancement Officer
• Chief Curator of American Art
• Director of Collections and Exhibition Management
• Director of Learning, Engagement and Partnerships
• Director of Marketing and Public Relations

Education
An advanced degree is preferred; however, an undergraduate degree combined with equivalent experience is required.

Compensation
The annual compensation for the Director/Chief Executive Officer position will fall between $150,000 and $175,000.

The Westmoreland is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Apply
Please send your resume and cover letter to:
WMAA-DirectorChiefExecutiveOfficer@KornFerry.com

*Please mention you saw this ad on AcademicJobs.*

Apply Now