Dana Thorpe comes from Chicago to take job at renovated Met.
Dana Thorpe, a 23-year veteran in the museum field and director of exhibits for the renowned John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, will be the new executive director of the Fresno Metropolitan Museum.
The board of trustees' announcement this week follows an eight-month national search. Thorpe will succeed Kathleen Monaghan, who has been the top administrator since October 1999 and is retiring on May 31. She will maintain a connection as a volunteer curator.
Thorpe, 49, will join an institution considered a Fresno gem and a key anchor in the downtown area. But its historic 1922 building -- former home of The Fresno Bee at Van Ness Avenue and Calaveras Street -- is emerging from a major renovation project plagued by unexpected problems and delays that almost doubled its $15 million budget to nearly $28 million. It forced museum officials to obtain a $15 million short-term loan with the city of Fresno as guarantor.
But brighter days are ahead: The project now is on track. The museum, closed since the summer of 2005, will reopen Nov. 13.
Dana (pronounced Hannah) Thorpe said in a telephone interview Thursday that The Met presents an opportunity to build on the foundation set by Monaghan. Thorpe's museum management experience includes developing exhibits, overseeing budgets, supervising staff and leading fundraising campaigns. She has been an executive director in previous jobs.
And she missed being an executive director who connects directly to a community.
So Thorpe began looking, and several job opportunities -- including the Fresno post -- came to her attention. She visited Fresno three times, meeting with the museum trustees' search committee, other trustees and staff. She did some exploring around the city on her own. She appreciated its strong sense of community.
"What truly, truly sealed the deal for me were the people I met there," she said. "It may sound like a cliche, but it is so true. The board members are incredible as individuals and collectively as a whole. I've had the opportunity to meet with the staff, and I thoroughly enjoyed them and respected them."
"I really feel that I have the expertise and qualifications that really will help where they are right now and, together, we will really move this organization to where we want it to be."
Her official first day will be June 16, but she will be working from Chicago. She will join the staff in Fresno on July 15. Met officials declined to disclose her salary, but Board President Paul Gottlieb said "it's well within line with what museum directors make."
"She will be a remarkable addition to the Fresno landscape," he said. Thorpe will lead a staff of 34 employees and oversee a $3.5 million annual budget.
Cathy Frost, vice president of The Met board, was chairwoman of the search committee. She says a recruiter reviewed applicants and included Thorpe among five candidates for interviews.
On paper, Frost says, Thorpe's extensive background appealed to the committee: "Kathleen has taken the museum to a new level, and we needed a sophisticated executive director who understood a museum this size and also could handle the renovation and finish the project out."
She said Thorpe embodied the attributes they sought: "It was a position that required somebody with a great deal of experience who also had a real interest in the community and being involved in the community and getting to know the community."
In person, Frost says, she was impressed by Thorpe's "openness and her warmth and the depth of experience. ... She's just very, very real."
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