NEW YORK, NY.- Lisa Phillips, Toby Devan Lewis Director of the New Museum, announced today that Dennis Szakacs, formerly Deputy Director of the institution and, more recently, Director and CEO of the Orange County Museum of Art, will rejoin the staff of the New Museum as Associate Director.

In his new role at the New Museum, Szakacs will oversee all finance- and development-related activities, and will focus on business planning and the further development of both earned and contributed income. Additionally, Szakacs will help spearhead major initiatives planned for the upcoming fortieth anniversary of the New Museum in 2017—a year that will also mark the tenth anniversary of the Museum’s acclaimed building on the Bowery, designed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA. Szakacs will work closely with Phillips, Deputy Director Karen Wong, and Artistic Director Massimiliano Gioni.

Szakacs was Deputy Director at the New Museum from 1997 to 2003, when the institution was still housed in a loft building on Broadway. During those years he worked with both founding Director Marcia Tucker and Phillips. Prior to joining the New Museum he served as Director of Development and, later, as Deputy Director at P.S.1 in New York. From 2003 to 2013, Szakacs was Director and CEO of the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach, California, where he elevated the institution’s national and international profile through distinguished exhibitions and a significant touring program. He also doubled the museum’s operating budget and substantially increased its endowment. The New Museum and the Orange County Museum of Art also collaborated on several projects during Szakacs’s tenure, including exhibitions devoted to John Waters and Mary Heilmann, and the ambitious restoration of the monumental work A Tale of Two Cities by late artist Chris Burden, in preparation for the New Museum exhibition “Extreme Measures” (2013–14).

“Dennis’s knowledge and understanding of the New Museum’s history and unique character run very deep,” said Phillips. “It is particularly fitting that he returns to us at an exciting time of institutional growth, as we approach our fortieth anniversary and the decade anniversary of our arrival on the Bowery. We will celebrate these milestones with special initiatives, including a major campaign for endowment and future expansion. Dennis’s entrepreneurial spirit is entirely in step with the New Museum ethos, and we look forward to having him on our senior team.”