Staff Profiles
Photograph by Scott Rudd
Adam D. Weinberg
Alice Pratt Brown Director
Adam D. Weinberg became the Alice Pratt Brown Director of the Whitney Museum in 2003. During his tenure, the Whitney has presented dozens of exhibitions on emerging, mid-career, and established artists; offered award-winning educational programs; dramatically expanded its performance program; and experienced exponential growth in the permanent collection. Under his leadership, the Museum opened its new 220,000-square-foot Renzo Piano-designed building in 2015 in the Meatpacking District.
From 1999 to 2003, Weinberg served as the director of the Addison Gallery of American Art at Phillips Academy, Andover. Prior to that, he was director of education and assistant curator at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. In 1989, he joined the Whitney for the first time as director of the Whitney branch at the Equitable Center. After assuming the post of artistic and program director of the American Center in Paris in 1991, he returned to the Whitney in 1993 as curator of the permanent collection and was made senior curator in 1998.
Weinberg has curated exhibitions on artists from Edward Hopper, Richard Pousette-Dart, and Isamu Noguchi to Alex Katz, Robert Mangold, Sol LeWitt, and Frank Stella. Among the artists with whom he has organized major public projects are Christian Boltanski, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Lorna Simpson, and Jessica Stockholder. He has written numerous exhibition catalogues and essays on modern and contemporary art, and has been a grant panelist for federal, state, city, and private foundations.
Weinberg serves as a board member of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Storm King Art Center, the American Academy in Rome, and the Terra Foundation for American Art. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University and a master’s degree from the Visual Studies Workshop, SUNY Buffalo. He has received honorary degrees from Colby College and the Pratt Institute, and in 2015 was awarded the insignia of Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government.
Photograph by Scott Rudd
Idehen (I.D.) Aruede
Co-Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer
I.D. Aruede was named Co-Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer in 2018. Prior to his current role, Aruede served as Director of Finance from 2009 to 2012 and as Chief Financial Officer from 2012 to 2018 during which he oversaw financial planning for the transition to the Whitney’s new building. As a member of the senior management and policy-making team, Aruede works closely with the Director, staff, and trustees, and has broad responsibility for museum-wide planning and operations. As CFO, Aruede oversees operating and capital budgets along with finance, treasury, investment, endowment, and accounting functions. In addition, he oversees the Human Resources and Legal departments, and co-leads Whitney Publications and Equity and Inclusion initiatives.
Aruede began his career in public accounting at KPMG, where he audited clients in the financial services, healthcare, and not-for-profit sectors. Prior to joining the Whitney, Aruede held various roles in equity research covering the consumer food and beverage sectors at leading global investment banks, including J.P. Morgan and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He serves as a board member of the Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP). Aruede received a BS in Accounting from Morgan State University and earned his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Photograph by Scott Rudd
Amy Roth
Co-Chief Operating Officer
Amy Roth was named Co-Chief Operating Officer in 2018. Previously, she served as the Whitney’s Chief Planning Officer from 2012 to 2018. As Chief Planning Officer, she oversaw strategic planning and research and analysis, both in preparation for the Museum’s relocation to its new building and in helping to build and execute its expanded operation. Between 2015 and 2018 she steered the formulation and implementation of a new strategic plan, and since 2017, she has led the marketing, membership, and business systems functions as well. As a member of the senior management and policy-making team, Roth works closely with the Director, staff, and trustees, and has broad responsibility for Museum-wide planning and operations, including oversight of Strategy, Marketing, Communications, Membership, Business Systems, Information Technology, Facilities, Security, Visitor Experience, Retail, and Food and Beverage services.
Prior to her role as Chief Planning Officer, Roth was the Whitney’s Director of Corporate Partnerships since 2005 and, previously, Manager of Foundation and Government Relations. Before joining the Whitney in 2002 as a Development Associate, Roth held positions of corporate finance analyst and equity research associate at several San Francisco-based investment banks, covering the technology and telecommunications sectors, respectively. Roth received her undergraduate degree from Harvard College and earned her MBA from Columbia Business School.
Photograph by Scott Rudd
Scott Rothkopf
Senior Deputy Director and Nancy and Steve Crown Family Chief Curator
Scott Rothkopf was appointed Nancy and Steve Crown Family Chief Curator in 2015 and Senior Deputy Director in 2018. As a member of the senior management and policy-making team, Rothkopf works closely with the Director, staff, and trustees, and has broad responsibility for museum-wide planning. He served on the curatorial team responsible for the Whitney’s inaugural collection display America Is Hard to See. Since then, he has also curated Laura Owens (2017), Open Plan: Andrea Fraser (2016, with Laura Phipps), Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney’s Collection (2016, with Dana Miller), and Virginia Overton: Sculpture Gardens (2016, with Laura Phipps). At the Whitney, he has also curated Mary Heilmann: Sunset (2015), Jeff Koons: A Retrospective (2014), Sinister Pop (2012–13, with Donna De Salvo), Wade Guyton OS (2012–13), Glenn Ligon: AMERICA (2011), Singular Visions (2010, with Dana Miller), and Whitney on Site: Guyton\Walker (2010).
Prior to joining the Whitney, Rothkopf served as Senior Editor of Artforum International from 2004 through 2009, where he was a frequent contributor of feature reviews and essays. He began his curatorial career at the Harvard University Art Museums, organizing Mel Bochner: Photographs, 1966–1969 (2002) and Huyghe + Corbusier: Harvard Project (2004, with Linda Norden).
Rothkopf has published widely on the work of contemporary artists, including Paul Chan, Diller and Scofidio, Carroll Dunham, Katharina Fritsch, Eva Hesse, Jasper Johns, Sol LeWitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Josiah McElheny, Takashi Murakami, Laura Owens, Elizabeth Peyton, James Rosenquist, Ed Ruscha, Paul Thek, Kelley Walker, T. J. Wilcox, Terry Winters, and Karen Kilimnik. He also served as editor of Yourself in the World (2011), a volume of the collected writings and interviews of Glenn Ligon.
Rothkopf is a member of the board of trustees of the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in the history of art and architecture from Harvard University.
Photograph by Scott Rudd
Pamela Besnard
Chief Advancement Officer
Pamela Besnard was appointed Chief Advancement Officer in May 2019. In this role, she oversees the planning, management, and success of the Whitney’s comprehensive fundraising efforts, including individual and planned giving, corporate membership and sponsorship, special events, foundation and government grants, donor stewardship, and Board of Trustee relations. As a member of the senior management and policy-making team, Besnard helps inform and make strategic, financial, operational, and programmatic decisions for the Whitney.
Prior to joining the Museum, Besnard held leadership roles at three educational institutions following her early career in New York City in magazine advertising sales management. Most recently, she served for six years as the Vice President for Advancement at Pomona College, where she led the most successful campaign in the college’s history in support of new programs, endowed student and faculty support, and facilities, including the new studio art hall and the Pomona College Museum of Art. She also served as a member of the college’s executive staff, where she contributed on a wide range of issues impacting the institution. From 2010-2013, Besnard was Vice President of Development and Alumni Relations at The New School. Her career in development began in 2004 at Williams College, her alma mater, where she was Director of Major Gifts.