Oklahoma City Museum of Art names new leader

Glen Gentele

Carolyn Hill

A version of this story ran in Thursday’s The Oklahoman. 

Museum excited about new leader

The Oklahoma City Museum of Art announced Wednesday that Glen Gentele has been appointed to head the museum, succeeding longtime director Carolyn Hill, who announced in January her intention to step down as president and chief executive officer at the end of the year.

Gentele was elected at Tuesday’s meeting of the board of trustees and will assume his duties on Jan. 1.

“As we move into a new era, it is with utmost confidence and enthusiasm that I announce the election of Glen Gentele as the new president and chief executive officer of the Oklahoma City Museum of Art,” said Frank Hill, chairman of the board of trustees. “Glen is an accomplished professional, who is an ardent advocate for the highest museum standards. His embrace of the museum’s vision and strategic goals assure that the Museum will continue to be guided by the same core values of integrity, quality, commitment, accountability, passion and resilience that have characterized the Museum’s stunning accomplishments since opening the new Donald W. Reynolds Visual Arts Center in March 2002.”

Gentele is currently the director of Laumeier Sculpture Park, one of the nation’s premiere open-air museums, in St. Louis, Mo. He also holds a joint appointment as the Aronson Endowed Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art at the University of Missouri, St. Louis.

A native New Yorker, Gentele brings more than 15 years of museum and education experience to his new post, having served in important positions at The John and Mable Ringling Museum in Sarasota, Fla., the International Sculpture Center in Washington, D.C., and the Art Museum at Florida International University in Miami. In addition to his professional museum appointments, he has taught at Florida International University and the Ringling School of Art and Design.