About Us

E. Blake Byrne
Chairman of the Board of Advisors

Museum Director Kim Rorschach has appointed a national Board of Advisors to help guide the museum's acquisitions, future exhibitions and major fundraising initiatives. The 20 inaugural members, all longtime supporters of the arts, include two art museum directors; several noted art collectors, seven of whom (two couples and three individuals) are listed among ARTnews magazine's 2005 list of top 200 collectors in the world; and a well-respected gallery owner.

The national Board of Advisors will help to build the campaign for the museum's $10 million endowment and advise on exhibition planning, as well as acquisitions for the museum's permanent collection. The board serves in addition to the locally-based Friends of the Nasher Museum of Art Board, which focuses on audience and member development.

E. Blake Byrne, a retired television and broadcast executive based in Los Angeles, played a central role in recruiting board members and serves as chairman of the new Board of Advisors.

"As a Duke alumnus, I am especially proud that the university has made a dramatic commitment to the arts on campus," says Byrne, a philanthropist and collector of contemporary art. "Through this incredible group of individuals, the Nasher Museum of Art now has a strong link to the international art community at the highest levels."

E. Blake Byrne, Chairman Cynthia Brodhead Paula Cooper Paula Hannaway Crown James Cuno Ronnie Heyman Samuel Heyman

Janine Hill J. Tomilson Hill III Christine Lamond Michael Marsicano Raymond D. Nasher Nancy A. Nasher

Jack H. Neely Jock Reynolds Jason Lewis Rubell Richard and Monica Segal Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans William L. True

Ex Officio members include Duke University administrators Peter Lange, Provost; Patricia Leighten, professor and chair of Duke's Department of Art and Art History; George McLendon, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Andrew Rothschild, chairman of the Nasher Museum Collections Committee; Richard Riddell, Special Assistant to the President; and Kimerly Rorschach, the Mary D.B.T. and James H. Semans Director of the Nasher Museum of Art. Mindy Solie, president of the Nasher Museum Friends Board, is also an ex officio member.