PHOENIX, AZ.- Phoenix Art Museum announced today that Kirsten Peterson Johansen, will join Phoenix Art Museum as its Deputy Director, Advancement, following the completion of an extensive national search led by Arts Consulting Group, Inc. Ms. Peterson Johansen will officially begin her role with the Museum on January 14, 2016.
“I am delighted to have Kirsten Peterson Johansen join the senior leadership team of Phoenix Art Museum,” said Amada Cruz, the Museum’s Sybil Harrington Director. “She brings many years of thoughtful, strategic, and nationally-recognized experience in the solicitation of major and principal gifts. In her new role at Phoenix Art Museum, she will have a major impact on its future growth, and influence the ways in which we connect with our diverse communities and key stakeholders.”
In this newly-created position, Ms. Peterson Johansen will oversee multiple divisions within the Museum’s structure, including development, membership, development information services, volunteer services, visitors services, support organizations, and marketing and communications. As the Museum seeks to connect more fully with its local communities to develop its bases of financial support and increase attendance, Ms. Peterson Johansen will play a crucial and integral role in the Museum’s dynamic future.
Ms. Peterson Johansen comes to Phoenix from Washington, D.C., where she served the National Park Foundation as the Senior Vice President, Individual and Foundation Giving, and the National Director, Centennial Fundraising Campaign, since 2013. During her tenure with the National Park Foundation (Congressionally-chartered nonprofit partner of the National Park Service), she oversaw the design, development and execution of a first-ever, comprehensive $250 million campaign, recruited staff and built systems, contributing to more than $140 million in new campaign gifts. Prior to that position, she served from 2004-2013 as the Director of Leadership Gifts with the Smithsonian Institution, where she spearheaded a centralized engagement, solicitation and stewardship plan and secured new principal gifts totaling $75 million across 19 individual museums, seven science centers and the National Zoo.
"I am honored to be joining Phoenix Art Museum at this dynamic moment in its long and venerable history,” said Ms. Peterson Johansen. This is a tremendous opportunity for me to affiliate with the dedicated and talented staff, Board of Trustees, and the business, civic, and philanthropic leaders of Phoenix, to heighten visibility, enrich the visitor experience, attract new audiences, and secure new major sources of private support for Phoenix Art Museum."
A native of Lake Tahoe, California, Ms. Peterson Johansen holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Humanities Degree in Art History and Philosophy from Pepperdine University. Additionally, she completed a Certificate in Non-Profit Executive Management from Georgetown University.
Ms. Peterson Johansen is the latest addition to the Museum’s senior leadership team, comprised of Amada Cruz, the Sybil Harrington Director; Gary Egan, Deputy Director of Finance and Administration; Gilbert Vicario, the Selig Family Chief Curator; and Kaela Hoskings, the Gerry Grout Education Director. Along with the senior leadership team, the Museum is governed by a 50-member Board of Trustees, comprised of many of the city’s prominent civic and corporate leaders, and led by Chairman Mike Cohn.
