Transition in Leadership: Kress Board of Trustees
On November 15, 2017 Frederick W. Beinecke concluded his service as Chair and member of the Board for the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. The Board resolved, in recognition of his many years of outstanding service, to express its sincere appreciation and gratitude to Mr. Beinecke. Mr. Beinecke joined the Board of Trustees in 1997 and served as Chair of the Finance & Audit Committee and Treasurer of the Foundation from January 1999 to November 2006. He was then elected Chair of the Board of Trustees in November 2006 and served in this important capacity until his retirement on November 15, 2017, making a singular and invaluable contribution to the history and programs of the Foundation. His manifold contributions to the work of the Board of Trustees have been those of a wise counselor, a judicious leader, and an esteemed and trusted friend and colleague. His companionship on numerous site visits to Kress Collections throughout the nation is etched in the memory of his fellow Trustees and that of the officers and staff of the Foundation. The Samuel H. Kress Foundation is and shall remain profoundly indebted to Mr. Beinecke for his extraordinary service.
Upon the retirement of Mr. Beinecke, Carmela Vircillo Franklin has been appointed as the new Chair of the Board. Ms. Franklin joined the Kress Board in 2009 and has been the Chair of the Nominating Committee since 2015. Ms. Franklin is a distinguished scholar of medieval Latin texts and their manuscripts. A Professor of Classics at Columbia University, she also served as the Director of the American Academy in Rome from 2005 – 2010. Her most recent honors include election as Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America, and fellowships from The American Council of Learned Societies and The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2015-16). She has served as Academic Trustee of The Institute for Advanced Study (2011-2016), and as President of the Medieval Academy of America (2016-2017). The trustees and staff of the Foundation look forward to working under Ms. Franklin’s leadership as, together, they carry the Kress Foundation’s important mission into the future.