KATE EILERTSEN BECOMES DIRECTOR OF SONOMA VALLEY MUSEUM OF ART

Kate Eilertsen, who has been serving as interim director of the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, was officially named executive director of the museum of Monday, reports the Sonoma News.

Eilertsen began her museum career at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, where she oversaw the installation of the Rockefeller Collection. Harvard University Art Museums then hired her to manage the opening of the Sackler Museum, after which she became director of exhibitions for all three Harvard University Art Museums. In 1988, she moved to California and received a second degree in education. Her teaching career has included serving as associate dean at the San Francisco Art Institute and as an associate professor at California College of the Arts. Her recent museum experience includes serving as director of both the University of California at Berkeley’s Museum at Blackhawk and Museum of Craft and Folk Art in San Francisco. In 2007, she was named acting director of visual arts for the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

“The decision to offer Kate the position was unanimous and enthusiastic,” said board president Jane Milotich. “She brings just the right balance of scholarship and wide-ranging aesthetic and personal sensibilities to meet the challenges of moving the museum to another level.”