Leadership

Daniel H. Weiss

President and Chief Executive Officer

Daniel H. Weiss, The Met’s President and Chief Executive Officer, is responsible for the overall leadership of the Museum, including establishing its key strategic, institutional, and capital priorities. He was appointed to the position in June 2017, after serving two years as the Museum’s President.

A scholar of art history and a seasoned leader of complex institutions, Weiss was previously President and Professor of Art History of Haverford College and, from 2005 to 2013 of Lafayette College. He holds an MBA from Yale and a PhD from Johns Hopkins University in western medieval and Byzantine art, where he joined the art history faculty and in six years rose to full professor and then chair of the department. Three years later, he became the James B. Knapp Dean of Johns Hopkins’s Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. He holds a BA in Art History and Psychology from The George Washington University. 

The author of seven books and numerous articles, Weiss has published and lectured widely on a variety of topics, including the art of the Middle Ages and the Crusades, higher education, museums, and American culture. His most recent books include Why the Museum Matters (2022), In That Time: Michael O’Donnell and the Tragic Era of Vietnam (2019), and Remaking College: Innovation and the Liberal Arts (2013). Earlier in his career, Weiss spent four years as a management consultant at Booz, Allen & Hamilton in New York.

The recipient of fellowships from Harvard University, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, Weiss received the Business and Society Award from the Yale School of Management, the Van Courtlandt Elliott Award from the Medieval Academy of America for scholarship in medieval studies, the Distinguished Alumni Award from George Washington University, and he was inducted into the Society of Scholars at Johns Hopkins in 2018.

An elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Council on Foreign Relations, Weiss is Vice Chair of the Board of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, a member of the University Council at Yale, and a trustee of the Wallace Foundation, the Library of America, the American Federation of Arts, the Posse Foundation, and the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University.

Max Hollein

Marina Kellen French Director

Appointed Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in April 2018, Max Hollein is responsible for guiding the Museum's artistic vision and all of its programming, research, and collection initiatives. An accomplished director for 20 years, Hollein oversees The Met's curatorial, conservation, and scientific departments; exhibition and acquisition activities; education and public outreach; as well as the libraries, digital projects, publications, imaging, and design.

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 State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg; National Gallery, Prague; and Neue Galerie, New York. 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 (the Hessian Ministry of Culture's highest accolade) in 2016, among other international awards.

Andrea Bayer

Deputy Director for Collections and Administration

Appointed the Museum's Director for 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, she has worked on a range of exhibitions, both thematic investigations—such as Painters of Reality: The Legacy of Leonardo and Caravaggio in Lombardy (2004) and Art and Love in Renaissance Italy (2008–9)—and monographic shows on artists such as Giambattista Tiepolo, Dosso Dossi, and Antonello da Messina. Her most recent exhibitions include Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible, one of the inaugural exhibitions at The Met Breuer. She has been a curator in European Paintings since 2007, and, in 2014, became the Jayne Wrightsman Curator. Outside the department, 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 New York University's Institute of Fine Arts. She is currently co-chairman of the Director's Exhibition Committee.

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, and Libraries

Appointed in February 2019, Inka Drögemüller is the Museum’s Deputy Director for Digital, Education, Publications, Imaging, and Libraries. 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, Construction

As the Museum’s Vice President, Construction, Jhaelen Hernandez-Eli oversees the Construction Department which leads the planning, design and construction of the institution’s capital projects. He is also an integral member of the leadership team dedicated to the Museum’s facilities and 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.

Jamie Kelleher

Senior Vice President, Finance and Operations, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer

As Senior Vice President, Finance and Operations, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer, Jamie Kelleher oversees The Met's fiscal strategy and financial operations. She provides oversight to the Office of the Controller, Office of Budget and Planning, Treasury, Financial Operations, Internal Audit, Procurement, Information Systems and Technology, Office Services, and Human Resources. She joined the Museum in 2014 as Controller and was named Chief Financial Officer in September 2016.

Prior to joining The Met, Kelleher led the finance and auction services at Phillips, an international contemporary art auction house, and consulted with a private equity firm 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 rose to manager in its capital markets, accounting, and valuation practice, advising complex organizations on a wide range of accounting, 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.

Kenneth Weine

Senior Vice President, External Affairs

The Met's Senior Vice President, External Affairs, Kenneth Weine, oversees media relations, marketing, government affairs, tourism, and employee communications. He joined the Museum in February 2017.

Previously, Weine was Vice President, Communications and Marketing, for The New York Public Library, where he helped build an award-winning campaign for increased library funding and was dedicated to showcasing the library’s education programs in neighborhood branches, its digital leadership, and renovations and capital improvements for the network’s 92 libraries. Trained as an attorney and, previously, a community organizer, he began his career at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, first as a staff attorney and then as the organization's first communications director. From 1999 to 2005, Weine led communications and marketing at Newsweek and then worked at Consumer Reports/Consumers Union, directing communications and branding. He is a board member of the Communications Network and has published op-eds on a range of democracy topics. He graduated from the University of Michigan and Benjamin Cardozo School of Law.