October 13, 2005 | Read Time: 6 minutes
As the son of a diplomat, David M. Hillenbrand spent his youth hopscotching Europe, living in Paris and Munich, studying in southern Wales and Berlin.
As an executive for nearly three decades with Bayer AG, he was again a world traveler, as his career took him to Leverkusen, Germany; New York; and Toronto.
So after retiring from Bayer in March, he did not expect to land in Pittsburgh. But though it might seem out of character for a globetrotting intellectual and businessman to relocate to a city known best for steel and football, Mr. Hillenbrand, 58, says he is well cast as the new executive director of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh — a diverse and renowned group of museums that include the Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum of Natural Science, Carnegie Science Center, and the Andy Warhol Museum.
The museums, located in Pittsburgh’s eclectic Oakland neighborhood, house an expansive range of art and artifacts over their more than 1.3 million square feet. Included in the museums’ exhibits are a massive collection of rare dinosaur bones, paintings by van Gogh, and more than 4,000 artworks created by Warhol.
For Mr. Hillenbrand, an art lover who was recruited to the position after his retirement from Bayer, running the museums was an ideal opportunity to blend his affinity for art with his experience in business.
And though he and his wife, Georgianna, had planned to split his retirement years between their homes in Toronto and Savannah, Ga., Pittsburgh — where he had worked for Bayer during the 1980s — proved to be an attractive landing place.
“On the back of an envelope, I would say Pittsburgh has more culture per capita than any other city,” says Mr. Hillenbrand. The museums have yet to publicly release Mr. Hillenbrand’s salary, but a spokeswoman, Betsy Momich, says it will be comparable to the $190,651 salary of his predecessor, Ellsworth Brown.
One of Mr. Hillenbrand’s major goals as Carnegie’s new top executive is to establish the museums as a recognizable cultural center for those outside of western Pennsylvania. The four museums, which operate with separate boards of directors under the umbrella of the Carnegie Museums masthead, collectively draw about 1.4 million visitors annually.
Many of those visitors come from the immediate Pittsburgh region, so Mr. Hillenbrand wants the museums to do more to extend their reach. Three-quarters of the museums’ 25,000 donors hail from Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County and Mr. Hillenbrand says he hopes to attract more new donors from outside of the Pittsburgh region.
“I’m very interested in taking the Carnegie brand and extending it further to see that it goes beyond Pittsburgh and the immediate region,” he says.
Equally important, though, is keeping the museums a relevant part of Pittsburgh’s culture. Since the institution was founded by the industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie more than a century ago, the museums have been entwined with Pittsburgh’s identity.
While Pittsburgh residents are quick to brag about the hometown Steelers and the region’s blue-collar work ethic, they are equally proud to play host to the Carnegie Museums. Mr. Hillenbrand will be charged with maintaining that pride, while continuing to push the museums into new directions, says Suzy Broadhurst, the Carnegie Museums’ board chairwoman and its interim director before Mr. Hillenbrand’s arrival.
“As the largest and most influential cultural organization in the region, Carnegie Museums must continue to play a leading role in helping the region live up to its great potential,” says Ms. Broadhurst, director of corporate giving at Eat’n Park Hospitality Group. “To do that, we need a leader in place who will also ensure that our four museums live up to their own tremendous potential. David Hillenbrand is that kind of leader.”
In an interview, Mr. Hillenbrand discussed his new role, and how he plans to translate his experience with Bayer into managing a nonprofit organization that comprises four distinct museums.
What led you to forgo retirement so quickly and take on this challenge?
My wife and I were looking forward to getting involved in our interest in the arts. But, obviously, the network in Pittsburgh was working and I got called to see if I was interested in looking at this position. It was the best of all possible worlds to be surrounded with the culture and intellectual stimulation that we have here with the museums and to be able to use the professional skills I honed in the business world.
Is running museums different from running a private company?
I haven’t noticed much of a difference. Complex organizations are structured in a certain way to make sure you have sound processes. The fundamental process is we’re talking about how people organize work to get to an end. Certainly, there are always better ways to do things. But I haven’t yet identified targets.
What are your biggest challenges with this position?
The dynamic of the museum world is one where you are constantly on the alert and constantly looking for sources of funding. But the real challenge here is to stay constantly relevant to your viewing public and know who that public is. We feel we are a trust for the people of Pittsburgh for their institutions. These aren’t our institutions. They belong to the people of Pittsburgh.
Is that more of a challenge given Pittsburgh’s long-term economic decline?
It’s clear that overall population has been declining in the city. But in that demographic, you have to look at the other pieces. Because we are part of [Pittsburgh’s] Oakland community, there is a support that might not be found if it wasn’t as well connected. We also have a very engaged base of supporters that have provided stability at a time when the city’s demographics have been changing — and that’s very impressive. But that doesn’t mean that will last forever.
How long do you plan to spend in this position?
This is an open-ended thing for us. This is not something I would have jumped into if it was going to be a short stint. But I also recognize I have a biological clock and there will come a time when I will want to move on to something else.
ABOUT DAVID M. HILLENBRAND, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CARNEGIE MUSEUMS OF PITTSBURGH
Education: Earned his bachelor’s degree from Duke University and his master’s and doctoral degrees in Germanics from the University of Washington.
Professional experience: Spent 28 years as an executive with Bayer AG before he retired in March. Most recently, Mr. Hillenbrand served as chief executive officer of Bayer’s Canadian subsidiary, Bayer Inc., and chief administrative officer and labor director of Bayer Polymers Inc., in Germany.
What he’s reading: Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books, a memoir by Aaron Lansky about his effort to preserve works in Yiddish history
