Join Fels Distinguished Fellow Elizabeth Vale for a lunch with special guest Gail Harrity, advisor of GMH Consulting and former president and COO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The small group lunch is open to all current Fels students.
About Gail Harrity
Over the course of her 40-year career working in world-class national and international museums, Ms. Harrity has provided strategic vision and strong management skills that lead organizations to success. She is an accomplished, highly collaborative, and mission-driven executive with a high level of energy, a vigorous work ethic, and an entrepreneurial spirit. She is currently an advisor for museum projects in the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Ms. Harrity was the president and chief operating officer of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, one of the country’s most comprehensive museums with 240,000 works of art housed in national landmark buildings. She was responsible for a wide range of administrative functions, including financial, legal, development, marketing, membership and visitor services, interpretative and information technologies, and facilities management. She implemented several audience-building and digital technology initiatives, including the development of a central digital database for the museum’s collection that provides global public access to the works of art. Working closely with the director and Board of Trustees for over twenty years, she played a leading role in strategic planning and the creation of a multi-year comprehensive facilities master plan designed by architect Frank Gehry to renovate and expand the museum.
Prior to joining the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1997, Ms. Harrity was the deputy director for finance and administration at New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and then served as project director for the museum in planning the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain.
From 1982 to 1989, Ms. Harrity worked in a variety of positions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, including special assistant to the president and assistant treasurer and chief of budget, planning, and government relations.
Ms. Harrity has traveled extensively, worked in refugee camps in Somalia, and been actively involved in the leadership of many regional, national, and international arts organizations. She was the first Eisenhower Fellow to go to China and remains active in the Eisenhower Fellowship, an international program promoting the exchange of information, ideas, and perspectives among emerging leaders throughout the world. She received her BA from Boston University and MBA in public and private management from the Yale School of Management. She served for a decade on the Yale School of Management Board of Advisors.
