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Alex Rich, the executive director and chief curator of the Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum at Florida Southern College, is leaving to take up a new role as president and CEO of the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, South Carolina.
The news was announced Wednesday afternoon by Florida Southern.
Rich grew up in New York City. He majored in English and art history at Dartmouth College and earned master’s and doctoral degrees in art history from The Institute of Fine Arts at New York University.
In 2014, he came to Lakeland to head Florida Southern College’s art history program and galleries.
In 2019, he was named executive director and chief curator of the Polk Museum Art, the former name of the AGB.
“Over the past eight years, he has driven sustained progress at the museum, including the recent building expansion and a number of significant exhibitions, as it became one of the most respected academic art museums in the Southeast,” Florida Southern said in a press release.
“My past 11 years at Florida Southern and eight years at the AGB Museum have been the highlights of my professional life,” Rich said in the press release.
“I take this new position in Charleston with great respect and gratitude for the opportunities given to me by the college and the museum boards. The growth we’ve achieved at The AGB could not have happened without our remarkable team and community of supporters. I look forward to ensuring a smooth transition and cheering on the Museum’s continued success from Charleston.”
Rich will remain at the AGB through June to oversee the installation and opening of the upcoming “Frank Lloyd Wright and the College of Tomorrow” exhibition, Florida Southern said.
The college said a search for the next museum executive director will launch “in the coming weeks.”
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