CLEVELAND, OH.- The Cleveland Museum of Art Board of Trustees has approved a seven-year agreement with William M. Griswold to continue serving as the museum’s director through December 31, 2024. Griswold became the ninth permanent director in the museum’s history in May 2014.

Accomplishments under Griswold’s leadership have included the successful conclusion of the capital campaign to raise funds for the museum’s historic renovation and expansion; oversight of the museum’s year-long centennial celebration in 2016 featuring a wide variety of engaging community events and outstanding special exhibitions; and strategic planning to chart the museum’s future as it begins its next century of operation. Based on these notable accomplishments and its solid confidence in Griswold’s long-term leadership of the museum, the Board of Trustees proposed an extension to the term of the original agreement, which would have expired in 2019.

“Bill has done an incredible job and demonstrated exceptional leadership during a pivotal time in the museum’s history,” said Peter E. Raskind, chairman of the Board of Trustees. “He combines a lifelong dedication as an esteemed scholar and curator with a strong sense of commitment to the community we serve and a visionary mind for the future. He is uniquely qualified to continue to lead the museum and build further on the distinguished foundation we have established in the past three years.”

“It has been a tremendous privilege to work with the museum’s staff and supporters as, together, we have honored the past in connection with our centennial, engaged new audiences with the programs that our spectacular expansion has made possible, and begun to shape our strategy for future decades of service to the Cleveland and Northeast Ohio communities,” Griswold said. “These are truly exciting times for both the museum and our region. I am proud to build on the legacy of previous directors and to help realize the vision of those who established this institution ‘for the benefit of all the people forever’.”

Prior to joining the Cleveland Museum of Art, Griswold served for seven years as director of the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City. He also previously served as director and president of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (from 2005 to 2007); acting director and chief curator of the J. Paul Getty Museum (2004 to 2005); and associate director for collections at the Getty, beginning in 2001. He previously co-authored 18th-Century Italian Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art with Jacob Bean and has written extensively on Florentine drawings of the early Renaissance.

Griswold currently serves on the boards of the American Federation of Arts and American Friends of the Shanghai Museum. He is a member of the Association of Art Museum Directors and was formerly president of Master Drawings Association, which publishes the scholarly journal Master Drawings. In 2008, he was awarded the insignia of Chevalier of the French Order of Arts and Letters.