Gail Harrity
President & Chief Operating Officer
Philadelphia
Museum of Art

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As president and chief operating officer of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gail Harrity is responsible for providing leadership of the Museum’s financial, administrative, and strategic planning functions. Along with the director and board of trustees, she developed the Museum’s first Long-Range Plan, which articulated the need for additional resources and space and resulted in several major initiatives, including the recently completed $246 million capital campaign. She oversees all administrative functions of the Museum, including finance, legal, membership, visitor services, public relations, marketing, retail programs, and information services, which has created a single collections database of the Museum’s 225,000 objects and a new website enabling better public use of the Museum’s collections. She leads the master planning process and $500 million capital program to renovate and expand the Museum facilities.

Ms. Harrity is actively involved in many cultural and business ventures, serving as a board member for regional, national, and international organizations, including the Parkway Council Foundation, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, International House, the American Association of Museums, and the International Council of Museums. She also serves on the Yale School of Management Board of Advisors. In 2002, Ms. Harrity was the recipient of an Eisenhower Fellowship, an international program promoting the exchange of information, ideas, and perspectives among emerging leaders throughout the world, and was the first Eisenhower Fellow to go to China.

Prior to joining the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Ms. Harrity was the deputy director for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. She served as deputy director of project administration for the museum in planning for the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain and, before that, as deputy director for finance and administration, overseeing a $25 million operating budget and directing the $70 million renovation and expansion of the Guggenheim’s landmark Frank Lloyd Wright building.

From 1982 to 1989, Ms. Harrity worked in key management positions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, including assistant treasurer and chief of budget, planning, and government relations.

During her seven years in Washington, D.C., Ms. Harrity worked as legislative assistant to U.S. Senators Richard Schweiker and Charles Mathias, and as director of government affairs for the American Society of Travel Agents. She holds a BA in sociology from Boston University, and a master’s degree in public and private management from Yale School of Management.

Ms. Harrity is married to Sandy Tilney and has two daughters.