New Cities Foundation Appoints Dr. Maxwell L. Anderson as Executive Director
Geneva, Switzerland - November 24, 2015. The New Cities Foundation today announced the appointment of Dr. Maxwell L. Anderson as the Foundation’s new Executive Director.
“The entire team of the New Cities Foundation are delighted that Max Anderson – one of the world’s leading experts on culture and art in an urban context – has agreed to lead the management team of the Foundation,” said New Cities Foundation Chairman John Rossant. “At the same time, we wish to thank outgoing Executive Director Mathieu Lefevre for his dedication and leadership over the past five years.” Mr. Lefevre is stepping down to pursue other professional initiatives.
Dr. Anderson, who joined the New Cities Foundation and its executive leadership team in September 2015, brings a wealth of experience to his new role. Since 1987 he has led leading cultural institutions across North America, most recently the Dallas Museum of Art, where he mounted major programming, acquisitions, and capital projects. Since his first museum directorship at Emory University, Anderson has worked in close partnership with the mayors and city administrations of Atlanta, Toronto, New York, Indianapolis, and Dallas, advancing the goals both of the institutions he directed and the overarching aspirations of each municipality.
As director of the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Ontario, from 1995-98, Anderson served Toronto and the Province of Ontario in fulfilling the Museum’s potential as a key driver of cultural tourism and placemaking, organizing major international exhibitions and building its relevance in an emergent digital landscape.
Anderson was also director of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City from 1998-2003, where he led the museum to greater prominence, with record attendance and establishing its place in the top tier of New York attractions.
“It is a great honor to serve the New Cities Foundation in this new role,” stated Dr. Anderson. “The leading attractions in cities are often as not their museums, and over three decades I have devoted much of my time and energy to bolstering the reputation of five great North American cities through arts and culture. I relish the opportunity to deepen my involvement in the Foundation’s four focus areas of urban mobility, urban infrastructure & services, health & wellness and placemaking.”
In 2014, Dr. Anderson also played a key role in conceiving and launching the important New Cities Foundation initiative, the Global Cultural Districts Network (GCDN), which he currently chairs. GCDN is a federation of global centers of arts and culture fostering co-operation and knowledge-sharing among those responsible for conceiving, funding, building, and operating cultural districts.
Dr. Anderson has lived in France, Great Britain, Italy, and Canada, and is fluent in five languages. He was decorated by Italy in 1990 as a Commendatore dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (Knight Commander in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic), and by France in 2010 as Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Outgoing Executive Director Lefevre stated: “It has been a remarkable privilege to help lead the New Cities Foundation since its genesis. I know that Max will be bringing an enormous amount of knowledge and insight to the Foundation and will help bring the NCF and its work in the urban field to even greater global prominence.”
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Press contact:
Hannah Rothschild
Communications Coordinator
New Cities Foundation
hrothschild@newcitiesfoundation.org
+33 7 82 94 34 89
About the New Cities Foundation
The New Cities Foundation envisions a world where cities drive economic, social and environmental progress. Its mission is to shape a better urban future by fostering urban innovation through building and empowering its global network, convening events and conducting pragmatic research. In all of its activities, the Foundation works with leaders from business, government, academia, civil society, the media and the arts. The New Cities Foundation organizes the New Cities Summit, other events include Cityquest – KAEC Forum, the leading forum on new urban mega projects, and Cities on the Move, an event on the future of urban mobility. In 2015 the Foundation also launched the Global Urban Innovators Initiative which aims to highlight 15 path-breaking urban tech start-ups and social enterprises. An independent, non-profit organization, the New Cities Foundation was created in 2010 and is financed by its members and partners. Overall, its members include some of the most forward-thinking companies, universities, cities and urban organizations from around the world. The New Cities Foundation’s Founding Members are Cisco and Ericsson. The Foundation is based in Geneva and its head office is in Paris.
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