The Heard Museum Board of Trustees recently appointed David M. Roche as the new director and chief executive officer of the museum.
Roche will take his position on Jan. 1, 2016. James Pepper Henry previously held this position before stepping down in February 2015 to take the position of executive director at Gilcrease Museum in Oklahoma.
“The Heard Museum has long been a source of inspiration for me,” Roche said in a press release. “Building on its many strengths and ensuring that we reach the broadest possible audience both in Phoenix and beyond strikes me as important and very exciting work.”
The Heard Museum chose Roche out of three finalists. DHR International, a global executive search firm, surveyed candidates for the institution. The Heard’s search committee, which included nine members of the Board of Trustees, unanimously chose Roche.
For the past 18 years, Roche served as the director of Sotheby’s American Indian Art department, making him familiar with art, culture and the museum world, said Susan Navran, chair of the Heard Museum Board of Trustees. Prominent American Indian art collections were under his care.
“In his role at Sotheby’s, he refined his leadership skills as well as honed his rich knowledge and expertise in Native art,” Navran said.
Roche organized the top five highest-grossing auction sales while working for Sotheby’s. He was also the first to sell a piece of Native art at a price of higher than $1 million at an auction.
Roche received his bachelor’s in history from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a master’s in Arts Administration at New York University. Before Sotheby’s, Roche worked as the director of Gallery 10 in Scottsdale and Santa Fe. He also served as the vice president of the Kaiser-Engler Group in New York, a firm that helps nonprofit art organizations with financial and strategic planning.
“This experience gives him an unparalleled knowledge about the nonprofit world and how the Heard can advance its mission of educating the public about the rich cultures and life ways of indigenous peoples and other cultures in the Southwest,” Navran said.
Roche has also worked with multiple museums and universities around the world, including the British Museum, the Denver Art Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Andy Warhol Museum. Recently, Roche was published in the catalog for the Museum of Art and Design’s exhibition Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation.
“We expect David Roche to build on our existing strategic plan and increase our membership and audience, grow our value to our communities and extend our educational outreach,” Navran said.
The announcement precedes the Heard Museum’s new Frida Kahlo photo exhibit. The exhibit will be available for viewing from Oct. 31 to Feb. 8 and showcases photographs from Kahlo’s life, beginning when she was a child and continuing into adulthood.
Roche also joins the Heard Museum as they prepare to remodel. The remodel will be funded by a $1.25 million grant from the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust. Renovations are expected to begin May 2016.
Contact the reporter at Meagan.Boudreau@asu.edu
