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Marilyn Hoffman, Principal
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BIOGRAPHY
Marilyn Hoffman has been successfully placing professionals at museums and nonprofits since 2002. Her extensive national networks have grown rapidly, along with her firm. Hoffman had a 26-year museum career, capped by 18 years as a successful and respected museum director.
At age 27, she became Director of the Fuller Museum in Brockton, MA, and then took the helm of one of the top 100 art museums in North America, The Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, NH. She previously held two curator posts and educator positions at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, and the RISD Museum in Providence. Hoffman serves on many boards and advisory committees, and often presents at NEMA.
She holds a B.A. and M.A. in Art History from Brown University.
TESTIMONIALS
“You have found for us what we think is the best candidate at the best time to lead this institution. We are especially grateful for the extensive background and reference checking you did which provided us so much useful information prior to the interviews. That allowed us to go into the interviews confident we could focus on the really important issues to assess the cultural and philosophical “fit” of the candidates.”
–Cheri Roach, Chair, Search Committee, Telfair Museums
“The services Marilyn Hoffman and staff provided were uniquely effective. Marilyn was particularly dedicated to finding out our real objectives and then meeting them…by exhaustively discovering the best candidates and making sure that their representations were true.”
–Fred Kellogg, Chair, Search Committee, Farnsworth Art Museum
“We were pleased with the process. As [Search] Committee Chair, I felt there was good communication and I was appropriately involved in each phase. The diligence and thoroughness of the interviews and research leading up to the job definition and development of selection criteria was particularly impressive. We were provided a good pool of candidates that was geographically and experientially diverse and we are happy with our selection. Although times are, I thought the cost was very reasonable and the money well spent.”
–Paul Eddy, Chair, Search Committee and Vice President, Board of Governors, Hill-Stead Museum
“The search resulted in the hiring of an excellent new museum director. The person we eventually hired was not really looking for a new job. It was Marilyn’s connection to and knowledge of the museum world together with her active recruiting efforts that matched our museum’s need with the personality and skills of the person we hired.
To anyone who is considering engaging Museum Search and Reference for an executive search but is wondering if they can afford the fee. I would say, ‘You really can’t afford not to.’”
–Tim Meeh, Search Committee Chair, Canterbury Shaker Village
“One of the easiest searches I’ve done [with a search consultant]. I appreciated your sensitivities to issues, and your sensitivity in general. You are a real addition to the field.”
–Lora Urbanelli, former Executive Director, Farnsworth Art Museum (currently Director, Montclair Art Museum)
“Marilyn was personable, professional, and knowledgeable. She was generous with her time, her insights, her experience, her guidance, and her wisdom, all of which helped our search committee tremendously throughout the process. It was a pleasure working with her.”
–Mary Wendell, Board Chair, Forbes House Museum
RECENT EVENTS
New England Museum Association (NEMA) Conference, Hartford, CT 2011
Marilyn moderated a panel session on “Compensation Analysis for the Museum Industry – How to Determine Salaries for Directors and Museum Professionals.” Joining Marilyn were Liz Rainone, HR Director, Rhode Island School of Design Museum and Nancy Hammer, HR Director, Peabody Essex Museum
Museum Search & Reference sponsored the Museum Director & Trustee Dinner at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.