Sunrise

Sunset

A 30-second online art project:

Peter Burr, Sunshine Monument

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Staff Profiles

Scott Rothkopf
Alice Pratt Brown Director

Scott Rothkopf became the Alice Pratt Brown Director of the Whitney Museum on November 1, 2023. Rothkopf first joined the Whitney as a curator in 2009 and was promoted to Curator and Associate Director of Programs in 2012. Following the opening of the new building in 2015, he was appointed Deputy Director for Programs and Nancy and Steve Crown Family Chief Curator. He became Senior Deputy Director in 2018, a role which gave him oversight of multiple teams, including publications, exhibitions, and collection management, as well as broad responsibility for Museum-wide strategic planning, as a member of the senior management and policy-making team. 

Educated at Harvard, where he earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees in the history of art and architecture, Rothkopf began his curatorial career at the Harvard University Art Museums, where he served as a guest curator of exhibitions devoted to the work of Mel Bochner (2002) and Pierre Huyghe (2004). In 2001, he began publishing reviews and feature articles for Artforum International, where he served as Senior Editor from 2004–2009. 

Since coming to the Whitney, he has curated and co-curated more than a dozen exhibitions, including Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror (2021–22), Nick Mauss: Transmissions (2018), Laura Owens (2017), Open Plan: Andrea Fraser (2016), Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney’s Collection (2016), Virginia Overton: Sculpture Gardens (2016), Mary Heilmann: Sunset (2015), Jeff Koons: A Retrospective (2014), Sinister Pop (2012–13), Wade Guyton OS (2012–13), Glenn Ligon: AMERICA (2011), and Singular Visions (2010). 

Beyond the Whitney, Rothkopf has published widely on the work of contemporary artists including Paul Chan, Diller and Scofidio, Carroll Dunham, Katharina Fritsch, Eva Hesse, Jasper Johns, Sol LeWitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Josiah McElheny, Takashi Murakami, Laura Owens, Elizabeth Peyton, James Rosenquist, Ed Ruscha, Paul Thek, Kelley Walker, T. J. Wilcox, Terry Winters, and Karen Kilimnik. He also served as editor of Yourself in the World (2011), a volume of the collected writings and interviews of Glenn Ligon. He has been a guest critic, lecturer, and panelist at numerous institutions, including the Dallas Museum of Art, Harvard University, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the National Gallery of Canada, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Stanford University, and the Yale School of Art. He is a former member of the Board of Trustees of the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation.


Idehen (I.D.) Aruede
Co-Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer 

I.D. Aruede was named Co-Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer in 2018. Prior to his current role, Aruede served as Director of Finance from 2009 to 2012 and as Chief Financial Officer from 2012 to 2018 during which he oversaw financial planning for the transition to the Whitney’s new building. As a member of the senior management and policy-making team, Aruede works closely with the Director, staff, and trustees, and has broad responsibility for museum-wide planning and operations. As CFO, Aruede oversees operating and capital budgets along with finance, treasury, investment, endowment, and accounting functions. In addition, he oversees the Human Resources and Legal departments, and co-leads Whitney Publications and Equity and Inclusion initiatives.

Aruede began his career in public accounting at KPMG, where he audited clients in the financial services, healthcare, and not-for-profit sectors. Prior to joining the Whitney, Aruede held various roles in equity research covering the consumer food and beverage sectors at leading global investment banks, including J.P. Morgan and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He serves as a board member of the Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP). Aruede received a BS in Accounting from Morgan State University and earned his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.


Amy Roth
Co-Chief Operating Officer

Amy Roth was named Co-Chief Operating Officer in 2018. Previously, she served as the Whitney’s Chief Planning Officer from 2012 to 2018. As Chief Planning Officer, she oversaw strategic planning and research and analysis, both in preparation for the Museum’s relocation to its new building and in helping to build and execute its expanded operation. Between 2015 and 2018 she steered the formulation and implementation of a new strategic plan, and since 2017, she has led the marketing, membership, and business systems functions as well. As a member of the senior management and policy-making team, Roth works closely with the Director, staff, and trustees, and has broad responsibility for Museum-wide planning and operations, including oversight of Strategy, Marketing, Communications, Membership, Business Systems, Information Technology, Facilities, Security, Visitor Experience, Retail, and Food and Beverage services.

Prior to her role as Chief Planning Officer, Roth was the Whitney’s Director of Corporate Partnerships since 2005 and, previously, Manager of Foundation and Government Relations. Before joining the Whitney in 2002 as a Development Associate, Roth held positions of corporate finance analyst and equity research associate at several San Francisco-based investment banks, covering the technology and telecommunications sectors, respectively. Roth received her undergraduate degree from Harvard College and earned her MBA from Columbia Business School.


Pamela Besnard
Chief Advancement Officer

Pamela Besnard was appointed Chief Advancement Officer in May 2019. In this role, she oversees the planning, management, and success of the Whitney’s comprehensive fundraising efforts, including individual and planned giving, corporate membership and sponsorship, special events, foundation and government grants, donor stewardship, and Board of Trustee relations. As a member of the senior management and policy-making team, Besnard helps inform and make strategic, financial, operational, and programmatic decisions for the Whitney.

Prior to joining the Museum, Besnard held leadership roles at three educational institutions following her early career in New York City in magazine advertising sales management. Most recently, she served for six years as the Vice President for Advancement at Pomona College, where she led the most successful campaign in the college’s history in support of new programs, endowed student and faculty support, and facilities, including the new studio art hall and the Pomona College Museum of Art. She also served as a member of the college’s executive staff, where she contributed on a wide range of issues impacting the institution. From 2010-2013, Besnard was Vice President of Development and Alumni Relations at The New School. Her career in development began in 2004 at Williams College, her alma mater, where she was Director of Major Gifts.