Dan L. MonroePeabody Essex Museum

    Dan L. Monroe, the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Director and CEO, has led the Peabody Essex Museum through a remarkable set of transformations since assuming leadership in 1993.

    Dan has served as President of the American Association of Museums (now the American Alliance of Museums), the Association of Art Museum Directors, and the Western Museums Conference. He helped write and pass the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, landmark federal legislation that fundamentally changed relationships among Native American tribes, museums, and federal agencies. He served on the NAGPRA Review Committee for ten years and has also played a key leadership role in national advocacy for museums and the establishment of national policies pertaining to ethics, cultural property, deaccessioning, and other topics. He has also served as a grants reviewer for the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Institute of Libraries and Museum Services and Senior Advisor to the Getty Leadership Institute. Dan has lectured internationally on myriad topics pertaining to museums. He is a recognized expert on Native American art and maintains strong personal interests in Asian art, Contemporary art, and Photography.

    Dan has worked extensively in China and elsewhere in Asia, especially in relation to PEM’s pioneering Yin Yu Tang project, a unique cultural exchange between PEM and China that resulted in the acquisition of a Qing Dynasty house in Anhui Province, China and its re-erection at PEM. Monroe has also been a musician, art photographer, and award-winning filmmaker.