New Director at American Art Museum

Stephanie Stebich, executive director of the Tacoma Art Museum in the state of Washington, has been named Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, effective April 3.

Stebich, 51, succeeds Elizabeth Broun, who retired last fall after leading the museum for 27 years. During Broun’s tenure, both of the museum’s landmark buildings underwent major renovations.

Prior to taking the top spot in Takoma in 2005, Stebich was president of the Washington Art Consortium, a nonprofit partnership of seven art museums in the state. Earlier, she held assistant director positions at the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Born in Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany, she came to the United States at the age of 3 and grew up in Scarsdale, New York. Stebich has a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and a master’s degree from New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts. She is married to Anne-Imelda Radice, executive director of the American Folk Art Museum in New York.

The museum shares the Old Patent Office Building with the National Portrait Gallery and operates the Renwick Gallery, which reopened in 2015.