Brian Kennedy plans to step down from his position as Director and CEO of the Peabody Essex Museum on Dec. 31, after leading the Salem institution since July of last year, the museum announced today.
“After 30 years in museum leadership on three continents, this current unprecedented period of racial, social, economic and political turmoil has given cause for serious thinking and new perspectives on the profound changes that are happening in our world and I have decided to pursue a new challenge,” Kennedy said in a press release. “The Peabody Essex Museum has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent decades, and is now positioned for its next phase as a global museum that enriches its local, regional and national communities. It has been an honor to lead the museum and I am proud of the work we have done.”
The museum said its “board will immediately form a search committee and begin the process of identifying a new Director and CEO. Robert M. Monk, Jr., PEM’s Chief of Facilities Operations, Planning and Security, will lead the museum during the search for a new executive director.”
Kennedy, who is in his late 50s, had previously been director, president and CEO of the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio since September 2010 and director of Dartmouth College’s Hood Museum of Art in Hanover, New Hampshire, from 2005 to 2010.
Previously: March 8, 2019: Toledo Museum Director To Lead Salem’s Peabody Essex Museum
Pictured above: Peabody Essex Museum Director Brian Kennedy speaks in front of an N.C. Wyeth mural to announce the debut of the Salem museum’s new wing, Sept. 25, 2019. (Greg Cook photo)
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