Release Date: June 13, 2014

National Gallery of Art Trustees Elect Frederick W. Beinecke as President, Succeeding Victoria P. Sant, Who Remains as Trustee through June 2015

Frederick W. Beinecke
President (effective July 19, 2014), National Gallery of Art
Photo courtesy of National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2014

Washington, DC―At the May meeting of the National Gallery of Art board of trustees, New York investor and philanthropist Frederick W. Beinecke was elected as president of the National Gallery of Art effective July 19, 2014. He succeeds Victoria P. Sant, who has served as president since 2003 and will remain on the board until July 1, 2015.

Frederick W. Beinecke

Beinecke is president and director of Antaeus Enterprises, Inc., a private investment company in New York.  He is a member of the board of advisors of Venture Investment Associates.  He was formerly a director and president of The Sperry and Hutchinson Company in New York and former chairman of the board of the Catalina Marketing Corporation, both companies traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

Beinecke became a member of the Trustees’ Council of the National Gallery of Art in 2004, and in 2007 was elected a trustee.  He is chairman of the board of trustees of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, a director and president of The Sperry Fund, and a director of The Prospect Hill Foundation. He serves as a director of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, where he chairs its Research and Academic Program Committee. He is director, emeritus of the New York City Ballet, where he first served as director in 1978 and as president from 2003 to 2008.  Since 1981, he has been a trustee of the Wildlife Conservation Society, where he is a member of the executive committee. He also currently serves as a member of the International Council of the Preservation Society of Newport County.

The Gallery’s new president is trustee emeritus of both Phillips Academy and the Trudeau Institute and director emeritus of Close Encounters with Music. He is a member of the board of visitors, Yale University School of Music, and also serves on the steering committee for One Percent for Culture in New York City.

Beinecke attended Yale University, earning a BA. in 1966; in 1972 he earned a JD from the University of Virginia Law School and is a member of the Bar of the State of New York.  He served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps from 1966 to 1969, attaining the rank of captain. He was decorated with the Bronze Star for service in Vietnam during 1968.

Beinecke and his wife, Candace, reside in New York City. They have two sons, Jacob and Benjamin.

Board of Trustees

As of July 19, 2014, the National Gallery of Art board of trustees will include the following: (public members) Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts Jr, Secretary of State John F. Kerry, Secretary of the Treasury Jacob J. Lew, and Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution G. Wayne Clough.; (private members) Frederick W. Beinecke, president of the National Gallery of Art; Sharon Percy Rockefeller, chairman; Mitchell P. Rales; Victoria P. Sant; and Andrew M. Saul.