Speed Art Museum CEO Ghislain d’Humières will leave his role and return to France at the end of March, the museum announced Wednesday.
Assuming the role of Interim Director will be Stephen Reily, who currently serves as chair of the board of directors of the Creative Capital Foundation, a national grant maker in the arts, and is a member of the board of trustees of the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York.
“I am so incredibly proud of what I have been able to accomplish during my time at the Speed Art Museum with the support of this amazing community,” said d’Humières in a release. “Though I will miss the museum and Louisville, I must return to France to provide support and assistance to my father, who is ill, but I will always remember the commitment of this community to ensure this prized museum lasts a lifetime.”
During his tenure, which began in 2013, d’Humières oversaw the Speed Museum’s massive $60 million renovation -- a three-year expansion that encompassed 220,000 square feet.
He was also a pioneer for inclusion in arts administration and leadership. He gained national attention for his surprisingly simple solution to diversifying the Speed Museum’s board -- a spreadsheet that compared candidates with concrete demographic considerations like age, ethnicity and gender, as well as characteristics like “creative thinker” or “access to neighborhood leaders and community.”
In a 2016 interview with WFPL News, d’Humières said that the only way to be “meaningful for the community” is if the staff and leadership mirrored the diversity found within the city they represent.
Reily will step in to serve as interim director on April 1.
“The Speed is incredibly fortunate that Stephen has offered to step in,” says Martha Slaughter, chair of the Speed Art Museum board of directors.
She continues: “He has a strong background in the arts. He was on the board of trustees for years, from 1995 to 2002, and served there as the chair of the long range planning and also chair of the curatorial committee -- so he understands the workings of the Speed Museum in particular, but also of museums in general.”
Reily has served as the chair of the Greater Louisville Project and is a member of the board of the Louisville Urban League. He also founded Seed Capital Kentucky, a nonprofit focused on building a more sustainable future for Kentucky’s farmers. He is an entrepreneur who chairs IMC, a holding company for three companies he founded:Vibrant Nation, IMC Licensing and SUM180.
This article has been updated with comment from Martha Slaughter.