As the Bruce Museum proceeds with its transformative renovation and expansion project, it does so with the dedication and commitment of the volunteer leaders who are guiding the Greenwich cultural institution toward its exciting future as the “New Bruce.”
Museum Members elected 12 new and 5 returning Trustees to the Board at the Annual Meeting of Members in June. The Trustees held their first meeting of the fiscal year on September 24, 2019.
The Bruce Museum welcomes the following individuals to the governing body:
- Sue Moretti Bodson, head of a management advisory firm that focuses on nonprofits;
- Maryann Keller Chai, nationally prominent automobile industry analyst;
- William Deutsch, founder of an international wine and spirits distributor;
- Sachiko T. Goodman, real estate professional;
- Tracy Bishop Holton, attorney and author;
- John Ippolito, senior managing director of a global wealth management firm;
- Simone McEntire (Vice Chair), fashion industry veteran with a background in art history;
- Kathleen L. Metinko, attorney and partner at leading accounting firm;
- Laurie Rubin, art advisor;
- Deborah Simon, art connoisseur and community volunteer;
- Judith K. Stein, MD, radiologist (retired);
- Sue Ann Weinberg, philanthropist.
These new Board members join returning Trustees elected to a new term: Patricia W. Chadwick (Treasurer), Kamie Lightburn, Susan E. Lynch (Honorary Board Chair), Charles M. Royce, and Betsey Ruprecht.
These new Trustees in the Class of 2022 bring the total number of elected Trustees to 33, joining Aundrea B. Amine (Vice Chair), Allison Brant, Vicki Netter Fitzgerald, Ellen A. Flanagan (Member-at-Large), Rebecca Gillan, Lucile M. Glasebrook, Michael A. Kovner, Pamela M. Lawrence, James B. Lockhart III (Chair), Deanna M. Mulligan, Julia Balaeskoul Nusseibeh, Candace Procaccini, Heidi Brake Smith, Ann Pappajohn Vassiliou, Jacqueline Adler Walker, and Martha R. Zoubek.
The group is composed of people from varied backgrounds who have a passion for the mission of the Bruce, which is to promote the understanding and appreciation of art and science to enrich the lives of all people. They utilize their time and talents to foster community relations, to guide the institution for the benefit of everyone who enjoys the Museum’s myriad programs, and to ensure the growth and sustainability of the institution—including the $60 million Campaign for the New Bruce.
In addition, the Board includes three ex officio members from the Town of Greenwich: First Selectman Peter J. Tesei; Thomas J. Byrne, Moderator of the Representative Town Meeting; and Board of Estimate and Taxation Chair Jill Oberlander, as well as Robert Wolterstorff, the Museum’s Susan E. Lynch Executive Director.
The Museum’s Board of Trustees holds governing and fiduciary responsibilities for Bruce Museum, Inc., the nonprofit 501(c)3 organization which manages the Museum’s operations under the authority of the Management Agreement with the Town of Greenwich. The Museum building and its collections of nearly 25,000 objects are resources owned by the Town of Greenwich and held in trust for the people of Greenwich. Trustees are elected annually by the membership in accordance with the bylaws, which stipulate that board members are elected for a three-year term that is renewable for a second three-year term.
Presiding over the Board at this pivotal moment in the Museum’s history is Jim Lockhart, the newly elected Chair and a longstanding Trustee. Lockhart is the former Vice Chairman of WL Ross & Co. LLC, an affiliate of Invesco, a Fortune 500 investment management firm. Previously, he served in the U.S. Government in a series of Presidential-appointed, Senate-confirmed positions, including the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer of Social Security, and Executive Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
The Lockharts, including grandchildren, are frequent visitors to the Bruce. Says Jim: “We’ve lived in a lot of different places, and we’ve always gone to museums.”
"The core of the Museum is education,” notes Jim, “because that’s where we’re really helping the community, not just in Greenwich, but Westchester, all of Fairfield County, and New York City, too.
“If you wander through here in the morning, you see these kids listening to someone explain the painting, or something in science, and the kids really love it,” Jim adds. “That’s the next generation. That’s what a lot of our donors are looking at, the idea of an expanded education opportunity here.”
The New Bruce project – the first since a $4.3 million expansion in 1992 – is already under way, with a top-to-bottom renovation of the Museum’s existing gallery spaces that began in September. These galleries will re-open on February 1, 2020, with the installation of major new art and science exhibitions.
Also in February 2020, a year-long re-invention of the permanent science galleries will begin.
The centerpiece of the New Bruce is a three-story, 40,000 square-foot addition designed by the prestigious New Orleans firm of EskewDumezRipple. The building will open directly onto Bruce Park and feature a delicate striated façade of cast stone and glass inspired by the surfaces of Connecticut’s rock quarries and the stone outcrops of Bruce Park.
The expansion of the Museum to 70,000 square feet will add state-of-the-art exhibition, education, and community spaces, significantly increasing room for permanent and changing exhibitions of art and science, and connecting the Museum to its picturesque setting in Bruce Park in a dramatic new way. Groundbreaking for this expansion will take place summer 2020.
Robert Wolterstorff, the new Susan E. Lynch Executive Director, remarks, “At this exciting moment in the Bruce’s evolution, these dynamic and engaged volunteer leaders are the catalysts to bring the Campaign for the New Bruce to a successful conclusion. We eagerly anticipate the opportunities that the New Bruce will bring to the community.”
To learn more about the Campaign for the New Bruce, visit NewBruce.org or contact Whitney Lucas Rosenberg, Director of Development and Institutional Advancement, at 203-413-6765 or wrosenberg@brucemuseum.org.
For more information about the Bruce Museum Board of Trustees, contact Board Liaison, Kathy Reichenbach, at 203-413-6731 or kreichenbach@brucemuseum.org.