The death of Getty Trust President James N. Wood on Friday came as a shock to everyone, and I agree with what Mark S. Siegel, the Trust’s newly installed chairman, told the Los Angeles Times: “What we need to do next takes a back seat today to respect for Jim and reaching out to his family.” I’d interviewed Wood many times, when he was at the Art Institute of Chicago, when he was retired, and after he took the Getty job, and I offer my condolences to his family as well. R.I.P.
But I’m writing today to reverse in part what I have written about the Getty. As I’ve said before, in The Wall Street Journal, the Getty Trust has been an underperformer from the outset. Perhaps the expectations were too high, but it has always disappointed. As I’ve also written here, the current structure — a presiding CEO, with the heads of the Museum, Conservation Institutute, Research Institute and Foundation reporting to him (it has always been a him) — could in theory work well, but it never has.
Yes, Wood had made some progress toward achieving collaboration among the four, with the exception of Michael Brand, who resigned from the museum director’s job in a huff last January. His job remains unfilled. But the Getty still has a long way to go to work to its ability.
So, it’s time. With a new chairman, and two executive vacancies, the Trust has an opportunity to restructure and try something that would achieve greatness. I’m joining the chorus.
The board should re-do its directions to the search committee/search firm hired to find Brand’s successor. They should search for a knock-out museum director — not someone who needs to learn on the job — to run the whole shebang. Not some young gun with potential, not someone nearing retirement (or already retired) either. They need a seasoned, respected director who is running a large museum, someone comfortable with delegating authority but taking responsibility for the whole.
There aren’t that many such people out there, and some are new-ish in their current jobs.
But this is a moment to start fresh that the Getty board should not pass up. It’s unlikely to come around again.