Release Date: September 27, 2019

National Gallery of Art Trustees Elect Darren Walker as New Trustee;
Mitchell P. Rales Becomes President; Sharon Rockefeller Reelected as Chairman;
Frederick W. Beinecke and Andrew M. Saul Become Trustees Emeriti

Darren Walker, president, Ford Foundation.

Washington, DC—(Friday, September 27, 2019) Following the September meeting of the National Gallery of Art Board of Trustees, it was announced that Darren Walker was elected as a new trustee and will begin serving immediately. Washington-area businessman and philanthropist Mitchell P. Rales was elected as president of the National Gallery of Art effective immediately. Rales succeeds Frederick W. Beinecke, who served as president since 2014 and becomes trustee emeritus. Sharon P. Rockefeller was reelected as chairman. New York businessman and philanthropist Andrew M. Saul, who served as a trustee since 2013, stepped down from the board in June to serve as U.S. Commissioner of Social Security. David M. Rubenstein continues to serve as a trustee.

In a statement released today, Mitchell P. Rales, president, National Gallery of Art, Washington, said, "On behalf of the trustees, it is my great pleasure to welcome Darren Walker to the Gallery's board. We look forward to working with Darren in planning for the museum's future and broadening the scope of our mission to foster the understanding of art for our national visitors, as well as for visitors from around the world. Rick Beinecke has seen the Gallery through several key moments in the museum's history, including the 75th anniversary milestone for which he led an outstanding fundraising campaign, the major renovation and expansion of the East Building, and the highly successful search for the Gallery's new director. The Gallery and its board are grateful for his service. Andrew Saul is a longtime supporter of the Gallery, from exhibitions to art acquisitions, and he will continue this support as he serves the nation in his new role as Commissioner of Social Security."

"It is a distinct honor and privilege to join the board of the National Gallery of Art. I look forward to engaging with the leadership and staff of this remarkable institution," said Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation. "There is an incredible opportunity to build on the important legacy of this one-of-a-kind public art museum to make it even more accessible to everyone and illustrative of the complex fabric of our American democracy."

Darren Walker

Darren Walker is president of the Ford Foundation, a $13 billion international social justice philanthropy. He is co-founder and chair of the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance and co-chair of the President's Council on Disability Inclusion in Philanthropy.

Before joining Ford, Darren was vice president at the Rockefeller Foundation, overseeing global and domestic programs. In the 1990s, he was COO of the Abyssinian Development Corporation, Harlem's largest community development organization.

Walker co-chairs New York City's Commission on City Art, Monuments, and Markers, and serves on the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform and the UN International Labor Organization Global Commission on the Future of Work. He serves on many boards, including Carnegie Hall, the High Line, VOW to End Child Marriage, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the recipient of 16 honorary degrees and university awards, including Harvard University's W.E.B. Du Bois Medal.

Educated exclusively in public schools, Walker was a member of the first Head Start class in 1965 and graduated from The University of Texas at Austin. He has been included on Time's annual 100 Most Influential People in the World, Rolling Stone's 25 People Shaping the Future, Fast Company's Most Creative People in Business, and OUT Magazine's Power 50.

Mitchell P. Rales

Mitchell P. Rales is co-founder of Glenstone, a foundation and free museum that seamlessly integrates art, architecture, and landscape on a nearly 300-acre property in Potomac, Maryland. The museum opened in 2006 and houses an extensive collection of postwar and contemporary art.

A member of the National Gallery of Art Board of Trustees since 2006, Rales served on the Trustees' Council from 2001 to 2006 and has been a member of the Collectors Committee since 1999. Mitchell and Emily Rales generously donated $10 million in 2013 towards the expansion of the Gallery's East Building, which was unveiled in 2016.

Rales is chairman of the executive committee of Danaher Corporation. Founded in 1984 by Steven and Mitchell Rales, Danaher designs, manufactures, and markets innovative products that serve sectors of the life sciences, diagnostics, and environmental industries. Danaher employs 62,000 associates around the world. In July 2016, Danaher separated into two independent, publicly traded companies: Danaher and Fortive. Mitchell Rales is co-founder and a director of Fortive Corporation, a focused industrial growth company driving innovation in the areas of professional instrumentation, infection control, and industrial software, which employs 26,000 associates globally.

Rales is also chairman and co-founder of Colfax Corporation, a global manufacturing and engineering company founded in 1995. Its products include orthopedics, welding equipment, and consumables; it employs 16,000 associates.

In addition to his work at Glenstone and serving as president of the National Gallery of Art Board of Trustees, Rales serves as a trustee for the Ruth and Norman Rales Foundation, a charitable organization established by his parents to support education and health initiatives for at-risk youth in urban areas.

Rales is a 1978 graduate of Miami University of Ohio. The father of four children, he lives in Potomac, Maryland, with his wife, Emily.

Sharon Percy Rockefeller

Sharon Percy Rockefeller has served the public broadcasting community for more than 40 years as a leader and policymaker. She has been president and CEO of WETA, Washington's flagship public television and radio station since 1989. She continues to guide WETA to outstanding accomplishments in broadcasting and production. Before assuming the top post at WETA, she was a member of the WETA Board of Trustees for seven years, including three years as chairman; a member of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for 12 years, including four years as chairman; and a director of the Board of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) for 19 years.

Rockefeller joined the National Gallery of Art Board of Trustees in 2005 and has served as its chairman since 2013. In this role, Rockefeller presides over meetings of the board, which approves any work of art that enters the collection to ensure that the Gallery's high standards of quality are maintained. She is currently a co-chair of the Gallery's Development Committee, a member of the Collectors Committee, Exhibition Circle,and Legacy Circle, and a former member of the Trustees' Council.

Sharon Percy Rockefeller and Senator John D. Rockefeller IV have been supporters of the National Gallery of Art since 1990. The Rockefellers have helped with the Gallery's development efforts, making gifts for the New Century Fund and for more recent fundraising campaigns. They have given generously to the Gallery's art acquisition program, helping to fund the purchase of Leo Villareal's Multiverse (2008) and securing for the Gallery Adolf Menzel's pastel An Infant Asleep in His Crib (1848) from the Wolfgang Ratjen Collection. The Rockefellers have also supported two special exhibitions, Dan Flavin: A Retrospective (2004) and Prayers and Portraits: Unfolding the Netherlandish Diptych (2006).

A graduate of Stanford University, Rockefeller is active in a number of areas, including the arts, education, government, and women's issues. She serves on the boards of The Rockefeller Foundation and The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in addition to serving as chairman of the the National Gallery of Art Board of Trustees, and is currently the president of MoMA's International Council. She serves as trustee emeritus of the Johns Hopkins Medicine Board, is a member of the National Academy of Medicine President's Advisory Council, and is a former member of the Sibley Memorial Hospital Board. Rockefeller is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a member of the Federal City Council and a member and former chairman of the Stanford-in-Washington Council.

Rockefeller is a former member of the board of directors of PepsiCo, Inc., a position she held for 28 years. She previously served as a member of the board of directors of the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, the Rockefeller Brother Fund, and the Rockefeller Family Office, and as chair of the Rockefeller Cousins Association. She was a member of the board of trustees of The Phillips Collection, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Stanford University, the University of Chicago, and The George Washington University, and previously served as a member of the board of directors of Sotheby's Inc. Formerly, she served as a member of the Kennedy Center Community and Friends Board, the Commission of the Smithsonian National Museum of American Art, the Harvard Art Museums Collections Committee, the Smithsonian Associates, and the Smithsonian American Art Commission.

Rockefeller was named a recipient of the Charles Frankel Prize in 1994 by the National Endowment for the Humanities in recognition of her outstanding achievements in promoting the arts and humanities in her public broadcasting career. She has also received the Distinguished Broadcaster Award. Rockefeller has also been honored with the Women of Vision Award from the Women in Film and Video and the CINE Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2017, Rockefeller was awarded the Archives of American Art Medal.

In West Virginia, Rockefeller served for 10 years on the board of the West Virginia Educational Broadcasting Authority. She also acted as chairman and founder of Mountain Artisans (a quilting business for low-income artisans), served as a member of the board of directors of the Sunrise Museum, and was a teacher's assistant for the Head Start program in Coal Branch Heights.

She is married to Senator John D. "Jay" Rockefeller IV of West Virginia. They have four children and eight grandchildren. She is the daughter of former Illinois Senator Charles H. Percy.

David M. Rubenstein

David M. Rubenstein is a Washington, DC philanthropist and co-executive chairman of The Carlyle Group, a global alternative asset manager, which he co-founded in 1987. He has been involved with the National Gallery of Art since 1999 when he was a patron member of the National Gallery of Art Circle through 2003. In 2005, Rubenstein made a substantial gift toward scholarly publications and curatorial fellowships. Rubenstein has been on the National Gallery of Art Board of Trustees since 2015 and served as a member of the Trustees' Council from 2005 to 2010. In 2012, Rubenstein generously donated $10 million towards the expansion of the Gallery's East Building.

Rubenstein is chairman of the boards of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Council on Foreign Relations; a fellow of the Harvard Corporation; a trustee of the University of Chicago, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins Medicine, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Brookings Institution, and the World Economic Forum; a director of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and president of the Economic Club of Washington.

Rubenstein is a member of the American Philosophical Society, Business Council, Harvard Global Advisory Council (chairman), Madison Council of the Library of Congress (chairman), Harvard Business School Board of Dean's Advisors, Advisory Board of the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University (former chairman), and board of the World Economic Forum Global Shapers Community. He has served as chairman of the board of trustees of Duke University and co-chairman of the board of the Brookings Institution.

Rubenstein is an original signer of The Giving Pledge, a significant donor to all of the above-mentioned non-profit organizations, and a recipient of the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy and The Museum of Modern Art's David Rockefeller Award, among other philanthropic awards.

Rubenstein has been a leader in patriotic philanthropy, having made transformative gifts for the restoration or repair of the Washington Monument, Monticello, Montpelier, Mount Vernon, Arlington House, Iwo Jima Memorial, the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian, the National Archives, the National Zoo, the Library of Congress, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Rubenstein is the host of The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations on Bloomberg TV and PBS.

Rubenstein, a native of Baltimore, graduated magna cum laude in 1970 from Duke University, where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa. Following Duke, he graduated in 1973 from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was an editor of the Law Review.

From 1973 to 1975, Rubenstein practiced law in New York with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. From 1975 to 1976, he served as chief counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on constitutional amendments. From 1977 to 1981, during the Carter Administration, Rubenstein was deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy. After his White House service and before co-founding Carlyle, he practiced law in Washington with Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge (now Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman).

Frederick W. Beinecke

Beinecke is former president of Antaeus Enterprises, Inc., a New York private investment company, where he continues to serve as director. 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 National Gallery of Art Board of Trustees in 2007 and was elected president in 2014. He was a member of the Trustees' Council from 2004 to 2007, and in 2008 joined The Exhibition Circle. In 2016, together with his wife, Candace, and other Beinecke family members, he endowed a postdoctoral fellowship and four visiting senior fellowships at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA).

He is trustee emeritus of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, having joined the board in 1997 and having served as chairman from 2006 to 2017. In 2017, upon Beinecke's retirement from its board, the Kress Foundation awarded an endowment grant for the Kress Professorship at CASVA and renamed it the Kress-Beinecke Professorship to honor his leadership of the foundation and of the Gallery.

Beinecke is a director and president of The Sperry Fund and a director of The Prospect Hill Foundation. He served as a director of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, where he chaired 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.

Beinecke is trustee emeritus of Phillips Academy and of the Trudeau Institute, where he first served as chairman from 1984 to 1991 and then again from 1995 to 1997, and director emeritus of Close Encounters with Music. He has served on the board of advisors of the Yale School of Music since 1997.

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 and one grandchild.

Andrew M. Saul

Since 1994, Andrew M. and Denise Saul have been generous donors to the National Gallery of Art, as well as lenders of art to Gallery exhibitions, including Warhol: Headlines (2011), Jasper Johns: An Allegory of Painting, 1955–1965 (2007), Hudson River School Visions: The Landscapes of Sanford Robison Gifford (2004), Arshile Gorky: The Breakthrough Years (1995), and The Drawings of Jasper Johns (1990). The Sauls have been members of the Collectors Committee since 1994 and were donors to The Exhibition Circle in 2008. Andrew M. Saul served as a member of the Gallery's Trustees' Council from 2006 to 2010 and again since 2012. Based in New York City, the couple―listed among the 200 top art collectors in the world by ARTnews magazine in 2009―has amassed a stellar collection of modern and contemporary art and Chinese porcelains.

Saul may be best known for his accomplishments during his nine-year tenure (2002–2011) as chairman of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, the largest defined contribution retirement plan in the world. He was vice chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority from 2006 to 2013, and he currently serves as commissioner and chairman of the MTA finance committee. He also serves as a trustee and in various elected capacities on the philanthropic boards of Mt. Sinai Medical Center, New York; Mt. Sinai School of Medicine; the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; The Metropolitan Museum of Art; and the UJA (United Jewish Appeal) Federation of New York.

Saul has been a general partner in the investment firm Saul Partners, L.P., since 1986; chairman of the board of Cache, Inc., from 1993 to 2000; executive vice president, Brooks Fashion Stores, Inc., from 1968 to 1980; and president, BR Investors, from 1985 to 1986.

Saul received a BS in 1968 from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and married Denise Levine that same year on April 11. They have two children and three grandchildren.

Andrew M. Saul was sworn in on June 17, 2019 as Commissioner of Social Security at the agency's office in Washington, DC. He will serve a six-year term that expires on January 19, 2025. Due to his most recent appointment in service to the nation, Saul has resigned from all of the above boards as of September 15, 2019.

Board of Trustees

The National Gallery of Art is governed by a nine-member board of trustees, composed of five general trustees, who are appointed to staggered ten-year terms, and four ex officio trustees. As of September 27, 2019, the National Gallery of Art Board of Trustees includes ex officio members Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts Jr., Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of the Treasury Steven T. Mnuchin, and Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution Lonnie G. Bunch III; and private members Mitchell P. Rales, president of the National Gallery of Art, Sharon Percy Rockefeller, chairman, David M. Rubenstein, and Darren Walker.

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