Holly Hotchner

Who is Holly Hotchner?

Holly Hotchner was the director of the Museum of Arts and Design, or MAD, in New York City from 1996 to 2013. She was appointed by the museum’s board of governors in 1996. Under her leadership, MAD built a new 58,000-square-foot home at 2 Columbus Circle in Manhattan, which opened in September 2008. After 16 years as director, she announced in January 2013 that she would step down at the end of April 2013.

Prior to holding this position, she served as director of the New York Historical Society Museum from 1988-1995. There, her responsibilities included restructuring the administration, overseeing a staff of 40, participating in raising more than $40 million for the institution’s collections, and managing the museum's education programs, general operations, and facilities capital improvement program. From 1984-1988 she was chief conservator at the Historical Society, where she led a new program to enhance the care and cataloguing of the museum’s 1.5 million-object collection.

Before joining the New York Historical Society, Hotchner was a Conservation Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and also held positions at The Tate Gallery in London, the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.