Emily Kernan Rafferty ’69:
New President of NYC’s Metropolitan Museum of Art
“It was at Pine Manor that I first took seriously my studies
and intellectual growth. Miss Pierce’s course on World Religions
awakened my mind to new ways of thinking and helped to shape my global
view of the world. It was the beginning of my love and understanding
of diverse cultures and their tangible expressions through all artistic
forms.”
Emily Kernan Rafferty ’69 was named the first woman president
of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art by the board of directors
in mid-September. She will report directly to Philippe de Montebello,
the museum’s director and chief operating officer. The Metropolitan
is the nation’s largest museum, with more than 2 million exponents
in its vast collections, and it hosts some 5 million annual visitors.
In
commenting on her new position, Rafferty said, “I am truly
honored to have the opportunity to serve the Metropolitan Museum as
its next president and am deeply grateful to the board and the director
for their confidence in me. In my mind and heart—more than ever—the
health and vitality of the Met is crucial to the education and enlightenment
of visitors from the city, the nation, and the world.”
Reflecting
on her time at PMC, Rafferty said, “It was at Pine
Manor that I first took seriously my studies and intellectual growth.
Miss Pierce’s course on World Religions awakened my mind to new
ways of thinking and helped to shape my global view of the world. It
was the beginning of my love and understanding of diverse cultures
and their tangible expressions through all artistic forms. My life
at the Met has expanded this knowledge immeasurably. Certainly Pine
Manor fostered many friendships for me, a number of which continue
to enrich my life today.”
Rafferty has worked for the Met for
28 years, beginning her distinguished career there as a fundraising
administrator in 1976, and spending five years on corporate, foundation,
and individual fundraising. In 1981, she became the manager of development,
and from 1984 to 1996, she served as the vice president for development
and membership. Since 1999, she has been the Met’s senior vice
president for external affairs, with responsibility for the areas of
development, visitor services, admissions, and special events. She
also led the efforts to create and manage the museum’s Web site,
as well as its multicultural audience and membership initiative.
During her 20 years in charge of
the Metropolitan’s vast national
and international fundraising operations, she helped raise hundreds
of millions of dollars and boosted the Met’s individual, family,
and corporate memberships from 98,000 to nearly 120,000. She also introduced “holiday
Mondays,” a program that opened the museum on federal holidays
for the first time in more than 50 years, and “member Mondays,” which
allowed members to pay $50.00 to see special exhibitions in a less crowded
environment when the museum was closed to the general public.
As president,
Rafferty will be responsible for the museum’s administration,
including development and membership, technology and information
services, human resources, merchandising, communications, government
relations, legal affairs, finance, and facilities management. She will
oversee 2,000 full- and part-time employees, and she will supervise
a $155-million remodeling project, which includes the creation of a
Grand Roman Court and Islamic galleries.
A native of New York City,
Rafferty received her Associate’s
Degree from PMC in 1969 and her BA degree cum laude from Boston University
in 1971. She began her professional career that same year as an arts
and philanthropy assistant to David Rockefeller, Jr., in Boston.
From 1973 to 1975, she served as the deputy director of education at
Boston’s
Institute of Contemporary Art.
Rafferty is affiliated with a number
of arts and inter-museum organizations, including Art Table, the Association
of Fundraising Professionals, Women in Financial Development, the American
Association of Museums, and Independent Sector. She is a lifelong honorary
trustee of the Convent of the Sacred Heart, served on the board of
the Independent School Chairmen Association and the Blue Ribbon Committee
of the American Cancer Society Foundation, and was president of the
Blue Hill Troupe, Gilbert and Sullivan Repertory Theatre in 1998–1999.
Rafferty
is married to John Rafferty, an audit partner at Ernst and Young,
and they have two children: Nicholas, who recently graduated from Trinity
College, and Sara, a student at New York University.
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