Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts names Kristen Shepherd its new chief

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts has named an art museum veteran to be its next leader.

Kristen Shepherd will become president and CEO of the oldest art museum and school in the U.S. effective Feb. 9, PAFA announced Thursday.

Shepherd was executive director of the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Fla. for more than 5 ½ years, and previously held posts at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

She takes over PAFA as it faces financial challenges, remakes aspects of the institution, and prepares to co-host a major show this spring featuring works from the collection of Phillies managing partner John Middleton and his wife, Leigh.

Shepherd, 54, said that she had a “long-standing love affair with PAFA and its mission” that began when she was studying art history at the George Washington University, where she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in art history.

“I remember learning about PAFA as a student and just being absolutely floored at the idea of it. The fact that the founders, at the birth of our country practically, made an extraordinary statement about the importance of the fine arts in our young country that continues today.”

Facing a $3 million deficit and enrollment numbers that had shrunk by about half since 2017, PAFA announced in January 2024 that it would be ending its degree programs at the end of the 2024-25 school year. This past fall it launched a new certificate program that leaders hoped would net more income.

The institution — which was founded in 1805 — began drawing more heavily on its endowment than industry guidelines suggest is prudent. To boost revenue, it has marketed rental of its artmaking facilities and spaces in the Hamilton building to outside groups.

Last summer, PAFA shut down its historic N. Broad St. museum building for a year to replace the HVAC system and make other improvements, and leaders have been stumping for a donation in exchange for naming rights to the building.

PAFA’s previous president and CEO, Eric G. Pryor, stepped down more than a year ago, and the museum and school has been run by a team of three administrators in the interim.

Last fall, PAFA and Temple University announced a new affiliation whereby Temple leases the 10th floor of PAFA’s Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building, bringing PAFA much-needed revenue. The Center City site gives Temple a home for new programs, including one a curatorial studies certificate program. It also gives students access to PAFA’s artmaking equipment and its important collection of American art.

Shepherd says not only was she familiar with PAFA’s challenges and ongoing retooling, but they were a factor in her interest in the post.

“That’s actually attractive to me rather than being daunting,” she said. “There’s a lot to be thought through and analyzed, from risk assessments to financial stability and how to create the right financial scenario for the institution’s longevity.”

Elliot Clark, a PAFA trustee and co-chair of the search committee, said that in Shepherd PAFA had found someone who can “expand membership and bring in new donors, new participants into the community.”

Clark said Shepherd’s “very keen financial mind” impressed PAFA’s leaders during the hiring process.

“She was a business analyst at Sotheby’s, and one of her roles was in strategic operations, and she’s very financially savvy. So she made us dance during the Q&A about financials.”

Clark called her “incredibly diplomatic — she’s a really talented communicator. She’s going to be a great ambassador both locally and nationally to the art community and the Philadelphia community."

“And you know,” he said, “we’re not always an easy city to deal with.”

Shepherd led St. Petersburg’s relatively small Museum of Fine Arts (with a $6 million annual budget) from 2016 through 2022, and has run an arts consultancy since then with business partner Veronica Lane. At the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, she was associate vice president, head of audience strategy services. And, for 4 ½ years before that, she was director of the membership and annual fund program at the Whitney Museum of American Art. She worked at Sotheby’s for 9 ½ years in a variety of positions on the business side.

Her first few months at PAFA promise to be eventful. Clark says work on the Furness and Hewitt-designed museum building is on budget and on time; it is slated for a reopening celebration April 10. “A Nation of Artists” opens April 12.

The show, which takes place at both PAFA and the Philadelphia Art Museum, features more than 1,000 works curated by the two museums alongside those from the Middleton collection.

Temple’s programs at PAFA are expected to launch in late spring.

PAFA’s fiscal year ends June 30, which will reveal the direction of its finances.

“We’ll see where we are at the end of the year,” said Clark. “Some things have gone better, some things are not coming in as strongly as we would have liked. But overall, we’re still hopeful that we can get to break even this year.”