Dr. Mariët Westermann

Dr. Mariët Westermann is the Director and CEO of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, directing its flagship institution in New York, overseeing the Foundation and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, and providing collaborative leadership working with the director of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the project director for the future Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.

Dr. Westermann led NYU Abu Dhabi, a degree-granting liberal arts and research campus of NYU, as Vice Chancellor, Chief Executive, and Professor of Arts and Humanities from 2019 to 2024. Dr. Westermann was the institution’s Provost at its founding, from 2007 to 2010. At NYU Abu Dhabi, she oversaw all academic, administrative, financial, and operational affairs. Previously, Dr. Westermann served as Executive Vice President at the Mellon Foundation, as a faculty member and Director at NYU/Institute of Fine Arts, as Associate Director of Research and Academic Programs at the Clark Art Institute, and as a faculty member at Rutgers University.

Dr. Westermann is a graduate, magna cum laude, of Williams College and holds Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in the History of Art from NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts. Dr. Westermann has received fellowships, honors, and grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, American Philosophical Society, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, Clark Art Institute, College Art Association, and Metropolitan Museum of Art. Dr. Westermann serves on the boards of ALIPH – The International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas, the Educational Testing Service, and the Rijksmuseum, and chairs the Scholar Rescue Fund of the Institute of International Education. In Abu Dhabi, she is a board member of AmCham Abu Dhabi and the US-UAE Business Council.