The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford has appointed an executive with the 9/11 Memorial & Museum as its new president and chief executive officer, effective Jan. 7.
Allison Blais currently serves as executive vice president and chief strategy and operations officer for the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York City.
She will succeed Jeffrey N. Brown, who is retiring. Brown was named the permanent CEO in Oct. 2021 after being appointed to that role on an interim basis in April of that year.
Dr. Duffield Ashmead IV, chair of the Wadsworth’s board of trustees, said “many outstanding candidates” were considered during a national search, but that Blais “impressed us with her strategic planning, operational leadership and management skills.”
Blais played a key role in creating, developing and managing the 9/11 Memorial & Museum over the past two decades, working on rebuilding the World Trade Center and its operation since 2004.
Before joining the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, she worked for the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the agency charged with planning the rebuilding and revitalization of lower Manhattan in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
Blais said she is “deeply honored” to be selected, and is committed to working with the board “to deepen the museum’s impact across Hartford, Connecticut and beyond.”
Brown will retire after a five-year tenure with the museum and a career in banking. Under his oversight, the museum improved its financial stability and rebuilt attendance lost during the pandemic.
He also oversaw the completion of long-deferred capital projects, increased the museum’s focus on outreach and communication, and increased fundraising and other critical support.
Founded in 1842, the museum is located at 600 Main St., and is home to nearly 50,000 works of art “spanning 5,000 years and encompassing European art from antiquity to contemporary as well as American art from the 1600s through today,” according to its website.
