PRESS RELEASES

Lavita McMath Turner Appointed as Chief Diversity Officer, Metropolitan Museum of Art

(Nov. 2020) Bridge Partners is pleased to announce the appointment of Lavita McMath Turner as Chief Diversity Officer at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Since it was founded, in 1870, The Met has collected, studied, conserved, and presented significant works of art across all times and cultures in order to connect people to creativity, knowledge, and ideas. The Museum’s vision is to connect people with the artistic achievements of all civilizations and to be a place that is welcoming and accessible to people of all races, genders, gender identities, ethnicities, religions, ages/generations, socio- economic backgrounds, disabilities, sexual orientations.

Lavita McMath Turner comes to The Met from Stella & Charles Guttman Community College, City University of New York (CUNY), where she served as Assistant Dean for Equity, Inclusion, and Experiential Learning. In this role, she provided strategic leadership in shaping the college’s equity, diversity, and inclusion plans and worked to address the equity gaps for students with diverse backgrounds. Previously, McMath Turner was the first Director of Government Relations at CUNY’s Kingsborough Community College, where she led important civic engagement efforts and advocated for providing more equitable access to higher education. She also worked at the Brooklyn Museum, managing their government relations department for six years and supporting the museum’s efforts to engage more deeply with the Brooklyn community. She serves on the boards of the Center for Racial Justice in Education and the Fair Elections Center.

McMath Turner holds a Ph.D. in Urban Education from The Graduate Center, CUNY; a Master of Science in Urban Policy Analysis and Management from the New School for Social Research; and a Bachelor of Arts in Social Welfare from the University of California, Berkeley.

She will join The Met in January and will collaborate closely with partners in a wide range of departments, particularly Human Resources, to oversee the execution of the Museum’s current Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access plan and Commitments to Anti-Racism, Diversity, and a Stronger Community, issued in the summer of 2020, and to lead the creation of new initiatives that support The Met’s goals to become evermore inclusive, equitable, fair, and welcoming.