Leadership

Max Hollein

Marina Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer

Appointed Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in April 2018 and Director and CEO in July 2023, Max Hollein is responsible for the leadership of the Museum, including its artistic vision and all of its programming, strategic, fiscal and institutional priorities, as well as local engagement and international relations. Since beginning at The Met, Hollein has overseen over 100 exhibitions, launched several historic capital projects, including the new Tang Wing for Modern and Contemporary Art (to be opened in 2029), secured preeminent acquisitions and donations, and reenvisioned the Museum’s approach to public outreach through education and digital initiatives.

Prior to joining The Met, he was the Director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, where his tenure was characterized by visionary programming, pioneering acquisitions, and rigorous fiscal management. Previously he simultaneously led the Schirn Kunsthalle, the Städel Museum, and the Liebieghaus in Frankfurt, Germany, as Director and CEO, all of which experienced significant growth and increased attendance during his tenure.

Born in Vienna, Hollein studied at the University of Vienna (Master of Art History) and the Vienna University of Economics (Master of Business Administration). He began his career at New York's Guggenheim Museum as Chief of Staff to the Director and six years later assumed his leadership role in Frankfurt. Hollein has published and lectured widely and has organized a number of major exhibitions in modern and contemporary art. He is a member of supervisory and advisory boards of major cultural institutions worldwide, including the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University; Neue Galerie, New York; and Phileas – The Austrian Office for Contemporary Art, Vienna. Named a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture in 2009 and a recipient of the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and the Arts, he received the Goethe badge of honor from the Hessian Ministry of Culture in 2016, the Goethe badge of honor from the City of Frankfurt in 2019, and an Hommage award by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in 2020, among other international awards.

Andrea Bayer

Deputy Director for Collections and Administration

Appointed the Museum's Director of Collections and Administration in October 2018, Andrea Bayer was previously the Jayne Wrightsman Curator in the Department of European Paintings. She received her PhD from Princeton University in 1990 and has been on the staff of The Met since that time.

An expert on Italian Renaissance Art, Bayer has worked on a range of exhibitions, both thematic investigations—such as Painters of Reality: The Legacy of Leonardo and Caravaggio in Lombardy (2004), Art and Love in Renaissance Italy (2008-9), and Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible (2016)—and monographic shows on artists such as Evaristo Baschenis, the great still life painter of musical instruments, and Dosso Dossi, the inventive painter of Renaissance Ferrara. Her most recent exhibition is Making The Met, 1870-2020, organized in celebration of the Museum's 150th anniversary. Outside the department of European Paintings, Bayer served as Interim Head of Education (2008-9), and for six years was coordinating curator for the Curatorial Studies Program run jointly by the Museum and NYU's Institute of Fine Arts. She was the founding Co-Chair of the Director's Exhibition Committee in 2013. In 2016 the Italian government honored her as an Ufficiale of the Ordine della Stella d'Italia.

Sharon Cott

Senior Vice President, Secretary, and General Counsel

As Senior Vice President, Secretary, and General Counsel, Sharon H. Cott oversees the wide range of legal issues the Museum faces, from litigation over title to works of art in the collection to negotiations of gifts. She coordinates corporate-governance issues for the Board and its fifteen committees; is responsible for assuring the Museum's compliance with various laws and regulations as well as for its risk-management program and insurance portfolio; and oversees the Museum's Security department and archives. She supervises the Museum's in-house attorneys in addition to the law firms that serve as outside counsel and has been Secretary to the Board of Trustees and General Counsel since 1992.

A leader in the field of museum ethics, Cott has served as counsel to the committees of the Association of the Art Museum Directors and the American Alliance of Museums that drafted guidelines related to antiquities and to art confiscated during World War II. She joined The Met in 1988, was previously an associate at Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler, and is a graduate of Yale Law School and the University of Virginia.

Whitney W. Donhauser

Deputy Director and Chief Advancement Officer

As Deputy Director and Chief Advancement Officer, Whitney Donhauser oversees a broad range of development, special events, and membership activities and supports trustee relations activities. Donhauser leads the Museum’s efforts to deepen and broaden its engagement with current and prospective donors locally, nationally, and internationally. She rejoined The Met in January 2023 after previously serving as Senior Advisor to the President under Emily K. Rafferty.

Donhauser most recently served as Director and President of the Museum of the City of New York since 2016. There she significantly increased the museum’s public visibility, financial stability, organizational efficiency, and community outreach, doubling its endowment and raising more than $8 million in support for pandemic relief in addition to over $8 million for its Centennial Campaign. Prior to that, as Senior Advisor to the President of The Met, Donhauser led a committee to enhance the Museum’s revenue streams and worked to develop a long-term architectural feasibility plan. Donhauser received a Bachelor of Arts from Vassar College in New York and a degree from the Royal Society of Art at Christie’s Education in London, England.

Inka Drögemüller

Deputy Director for Digital, Education, Publications, Imaging, Libraries, and Live Arts

Appointed in February 2019, Inka Drögemüller is the Museum’s Deputy Director for Digital, Education, Publications, Imaging, Libraries, and Live Arts. Prior to joining The Met, she was Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of Germany’s Städel Museum and Liebieghaus Sculptural Collection and Deputy Director of Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. Chief among her accomplishments during 18 years at these institutions were innovative digital and educational projects that expanded the museums’ outreach, introducing diverse audiences to collections, programming, and other initiatives.

Following her master’s degree in marketing communication at Berlin Universität der Künste, Drögemüller worked as project developer and art consultant in Berlin and New York. In 2001, at the Schirn Kunsthalle, she established new departments for marketing, communications, and sponsorship. In her capacity to develop major strategic partnerships with global companies and research institutes, she found new collaborators and supporters for the three Frankfurt institutions in the realms of science, technology, and the corporate world, and worked closely with in‐house curators, digital departments, and pedagogical staff to create a new, interdisciplinary culture as a prerequisite to implementing the museums’ advanced digital strategy. She is a speaker at numerous international symposiums and conferences on digitization. 

Jhaelen Hernandez-Eli

Vice President, Capital Projects

As the Museum’s Vice President, Capital Projects, Jhaelen Hernandez-Eli oversees the planning, architecture and construction of the institution’s galleries, infrastructure, workspaces, and general public realm. He is also an integral member of the leadership team dedicated to the Museum’s operations.

Prior to joining The Met in November 2020, Hernandez-Eli led critical projects for the city as Senior Vice President, Head of Design and Construction, at the New York City Economic Development Corporation. His portfolio, dedicated to enabling social and economic equity, spanned developments such as the Made in New York garment hub and film studios; Brooklyn Army Terminal; MART125 community center; public food markets; and the City’s entire waterfront infrastructure. Prior to his public service, Hernandez-Eli was an associate principal at Diller Scofidio + Renfro, where he provided critical operational oversight for projects for cultural institutions, including MoMA; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; and the High Line. He received a Master of Architecture degree from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in architecture from the University of California at Berkeley.

Quincy Houghton

Deputy Director for Exhibitions

Quincy Houghton, Deputy Director for Exhibitions, leads The Met's program of groundbreaking loan exhibitions, oversees installations of its encyclopedic collection, and supervises key international initiatives.

Prior to joining The Met in the summer of 2016, Houghton served as Associate Director for Exhibitions at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, where she was responsible for managing the Getty's program of temporary exhibitions and installations, both at the Getty Center and the Getty Villa. She also coordinated all aspects of the museum's move from the Getty Villa to the Getty Center, including the installation of the collections. Prior to joining the Getty, Houghton worked at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and at Lazard Brothers & Co., Limited, the London investment bank, where as Senior Associate she led a mergers and acquisitions team. Houghton holds a BA magna cum laude in fine arts from Harvard University.

Jameson (“Jamie”) Kelleher

Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer

Jamie Kelleher oversees the operations of the Museum, including Human Resources, Capital Projects, Buildings and Facilities, Technology, Data and Analytics, Finance, Planning, Procurement, Visitor Experience, Retail, and Restaurants. She joined the Museum in 2014 as Controller, was named Chief Financial Officer in September 2016, and was appointed Chief Operating Office in May 2023. 

Prior to joining The Met, Kelleher led auction services and finance at Phillips, an international contemporary art auction house, and worked in the private equity industry on a broad range of financial restructuring initiatives within the food industry. She started her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers in the firm's technology audit practice, and later rose to manager in its capital markets, accounting, and valuation practice, where she advised organizations on a wide range of valuation and due diligence topics. Kelleher is a graduate of Bucknell University and New York University's Stern School of Business. She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

Lavita McMath Turner

Chief Diversity Officer

Lavita McMath Turner, the institution’s first Chief Diversity Officer, joined The Met in January 2021. She collaborates closely with partners in a wide range of departments, particularly Human Resources, to oversee the execution of the Museum’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access plan and Commitments to Anti-Racism, Diversity, and a Stronger Community and to lead the creation of new initiatives that support The Met’s goals to become ever more inclusive, equitable, fair, and welcoming. 
 
Previously, she served as Assistant Dean for Equity, Inclusion, and Experiential Learning at Stella & Charles Guttman Community College, City University of New York (CUNY), where she provided strategic leadership in shaping the college’s equity, diversity, and inclusion plans and worked to address the equity gaps for students with diverse backgrounds. She was the first Director of Government Relations at CUNY’s Kingsborough Community College, where she led important civic engagement efforts and advocated for providing more equitable access to higher education, and also worked at the Brooklyn Museum, managing their government relations department for six years and supporting the museum’s efforts to engage more deeply with the Brooklyn community. She holds a Ph.D. in Urban Education from The Graduate Center, CUNY; a Master of Science in Urban Policy Analysis and Management from the New School for Social Research; and a Bachelor of Arts in Social Welfare from the University of California, Berkeley.  

Lauren A. Meserve

Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer

As Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, Lauren Meserve oversees the management of the Museum's $3.4 billion investment portfolio, including asset allocation, investment manager selection, and risk management. She joined the Museum's investment team in 2002 and was named Chief Investment Officer in 2014.

Previously, Meserve worked at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, where she assisted in the management of the foundation's endowment, collaborated on two books about higher education (The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions and The Game of Life: College Sports and Educational Values), and coordinated projects for Artstor. She began her career as an analyst at the Yale Investments Office, Yale University.

Meserve has a master's degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and a bachelor's degree in anthropology from Yale University. She serves on the board of several non-profits, including the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, the Population Council, and American Friends of the National Gallery, London.

Kerry Mullins

Chief Human Resources Officer

As The Met’s Chief Human Resources Officer, Kerry Mullins provides strategic direction and leadership to all Human Resources functions, including Human Resources Operations, Talent Acquisition, Health and Wellness, Employee Engagement, and Compensation and Benefits.

Prior to joining The Met, Mullins served as the Chief People Officer for KIPP: NYC Public Schools. During her more than 12 years with KIPP NYC, she helped guide the organization through several phases of complex and dynamic growth. She was responsible for setting the vision and strategy for all talent functions across the organization and was also a member of the Executive Leadership Team responsible for setting organization-wide vision, priorities, and goals.

Mullins holds a JD from Fordham Law School and a BA from Hofstra University.

Photos by Lelanie Foster