Release Date
3.19.2013

Gwendolyn H. Goffe, Associate Director, Investment and Finance, to Retire from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, After 25 Years

Recruited by late MFAH Director Peter C. Marzio, Gwen Goffe steered the Museum through decades of growth in leadership roles in administration, finance and investment

Houston—March 19, 2013—Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Director Gary Tinterow today announced the retirement of longtime Associate Director Gwendolyn H. Goffe. Ms. Goffe will serve as a consultant to the MFAH as the Museum continues discussions for the planned campus expansion, after she leaves her current capacity at the end of June.

Over her 25-year tenure, Ms. Goffe was instrumental to major expansion and construction projects and several capital campaigns in successive leadership roles as Associate Director of administration, finance and investment. Her stewardship of the Museum’s endowment helped assure its growth and capacity to support the Museum’s ambitious accessions as well as education, public and exhibition programs. In 2011, the MFAH Board of Trustees unanimously appointed Ms. Goffe as Interim Director, charged with leading the Museum after the death of longtime Director Peter C. Marzio, and with coordinating the search for his successor.

"I know that everyone at the MFAH, and countless others who have worked with Gwen over the past two-and-a-half decades, will join me in thanking her for her extraordinary contributions to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and in celebrating with her the start of an exciting new chapter in her life," commented MFAH Director Gary Tinterow. "As Peter Marzio’s longtime trusted deputy, and as an invaluable advisor and resource to me following my arrival, Gwen has very simply made it possible for the Museum to realize its ambitions: through her business leadership, her sound counsel and her civic standing."

Cornelia Long, current Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and longtime Trustee, added, "Gwen Goffe’s contributions to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, are too many to quantify, from her leadership of the building project and capital campaign for the Audrey Jones Beck Building to her stewardship of the Museum’s endowment and operating budget, which has resulted in a balanced budget for every year of Gwen’s tenure. As much a part of her legacy here are the concern she has demonstrated for staff members over the years, and the respect she has earned from so many, both inside and outside the institution."

"I know I echo the thanks of the entire Board for the firm footing that Gwen has established as we head into planning for the Museum’s expansion project," commented Richard D. Kinder, Vice Chairman of the Museum’s Board of Trustees. "We are grateful to have her sound counsel in her consulting capacity over the coming year."

"I cannot be more proud of everything that, together, the staff and Board of the MFAH have accomplished over the past 25 years," Ms. Goffe said. “I treasure my years at the Museum and having worked with some of the most talented professionals anywhere in the world. It has been a privilege. With the guidance and support of a dedicated Board of Trustees, I am proud that the MFAH has grown from an endowment of $98 million in 1988 to more than $1 billion today. The operating budget has grown from $12 million to $57 million at the end of June 2012. I look forward to seeing the Museum achieve new heights under the leadership of Gary Tinterow and the Board. Thank you to one and all for the opportunity to be a part of the history of such a great institution."

Ms. Goffe came to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in 1988, having been Director of Finance and Planning at the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Corcoran School of Art. She earned her BA at Connecticut College and her MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Beyond the MFAH, Ms. Goffe has served the city of Houston in a variety of volunteer capacities, including as President of the Houston Arts Combined Endowment Foundation; member of the Board of the Greater Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau; past Chair and current Cochair of the South Main Alliance; MFAH delegate to the Houston Museum District Association; and current Vice President and Board member of the Museum Park Super Neighborhood. In addition, Ms. Goffe is a long-standing member of the Houston Chapter of Financial Executives International; has been a panel-discussion leader and speaker for the national NMS Endowments and Foundations Forums; and assumed the leadership of the American Association of Museums convention in Houston in 2011, after the death of former MFAH Director Peter C. Marzio. She is on the Southampton Civic Club Board and is a graduate of Leadership Texas and the Houston-based American Leadership Forum, where she currently serves on the Investment Committee.

About the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Founded in 1900, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is among the 10 largest art museums in the United States. Located in the heart of Houston’s Museum District, the MFAH comprises two gallery buildings, a sculpture garden, theater, two art schools and two libraries, with two house museums, for American and European decorative arts, nearby. The encyclopedic collection of the MFAH numbers some 64,000 works and spans the art of antiquity to the present.

Media Contacts
Mary Haus, Director of Marketing and Communications
Amy Lowman, Publicist
Vanessa Ramirez-Sparrow, Marketing and Communications Assistant
Vramirez-sparrow@mfah.org, 713.639.7554

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