Director of Smithsonian American Art Museum Removed from Post

Director of Smithsonian American Art Museum Removed from Post

Stephanie Stebich, whosince 2017had served as director of theSmithsonian American Art Museum(SAAM) in Washington, DC, this past September was moved out of her position to a senior advisory role in the Smithsonian Institution, after taking more than a month of medical leave. Jane Carpenter-Rock, the museum’s deputy director for museum content and outreach, is serving as acting director while the museum seeks a replacement for Stebich. According to theWashington Post, the leadership change came in the wake of a monthslong investigation by the museum board, itself spurred by staff complaints about Stebich’s leadership style.

ThePostreports that staff for years had chafed under Stebich’s leadership. An accomplished fundraiser who brought in more than $100 million in the past seven years, she was “very good at managing up,” a board member told the paper, but “not very good at managing down.” Veteran curator Virginia Mecklenburg, who retired from the Smithsonian this past spring, told the publication that Stebich was “an inexperienced director for an institution the size and complexity of SAAM.”

Prior to arriving at SAAM, Stebich since 2005 had helmed Washington’s Tacoma Art Museum. She replaced retiring director Elizabeth Broun, who had led the Smithsonian since 1989. SAAM staff and managers told the Post that Stebich was given to publicly berating staff, issuing contradictory orders or abruptly changing direction, and fostering office rivalries, and that she blamed workers for her mistakes. Senior staff last year limned their complaints in a letter to Smithsonian leadership. This past spring, the board, which had only recently learned about the depths of staff dissatisfaction, began investigating the matter and recommended Stebich be removed from her post. The Post reported that museum leadership initially resisted the change, but relented after several board members threatened to resign.