Sunday, February 3, 2008

Martin E. Sullivan, who has headed the Historic St. Mary's City Commission since 1999, will become director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery on April 28.

"We're extremely pleased that Marty Sullivan will now lead the National Portrait Gallery," Cristi¿n Samper, acting secretary of the Smithsonian, said in a statement.

"With his distinguished record as scholar, academic and museum director, as well as his management experience on the local, state and federal levels, he brings a passion for reaching new audiences," Samper said.

As the chief executive of the commission, Sullivan has overseen museum research, interpretation and preservation of the site of Maryland's first capital, a national historic landmark.

Sullivan also coordinates master planning, facility development and academic programs in public history and museum studies with St. Mary's College of Maryland.

"I am thrilled to become director of the National Portrait Gallery, and I'm very grateful to Dr. Samper and the search committee for their confidence," Sullivan said in the statement.

Sullivan, 63, was director of the Heard Museum of Native American cultures and art in Phoenix from 1990 to 1999. He organized international and national traveling exhibitions and established award-winning educational outreach programs.

From 1983 to 1990, Sullivan served as director of the New York State Museum in Albany and as assistant commissioner for museums in the New York State Education Department.

Sullivan succeeds Marc Pachter, who retired Jan. 25.