David Berliner Named President and Chief Operating Officer of Brooklyn Museum

After a turbulent summer that included staff buyouts, protests, a brief loss of air conditioning, and the election of a new board chair, the Brooklyn Museum announced today that it has named David Berliner president and chief operating officer of the institution.

Berliner had previously been on the museum’s board of trustees. In 2011, he joined the board; the following year, he became its finance chair and treasurer. This year, he resigned from the board, only to take on greater responsibility at the museum.

Outside his work for the museum, Berliner has been important to culture and the arts in Brooklyn. In 1989, Berliner began working for the real estate firm Forest City Ratner Companies and went on to become its chief operating officer. Berliner is responsible for the deal that brought the Brooklyn Nets basketball team to Barclays Center, where he also oversaw commissions by Mickalene Thomas, José Parlá, OpenEndedGroup, and others.

“The opportunity to devote my operational and management experience to serve this dynamic institution is incredibly gratifying,” Berliner said in a statement. “I am deeply committed to Brooklyn and the arts, and especially the Brooklyn Museum, and the opportunity to work in partnership with a visionary such as Anne Pasternak and an incredible leader such as Board Chair Barbara Vogelstein is a dream come true for me.”

Berliner’s new position is one of several important staff changes at the Brooklyn Museum since Anne Pasternak became director last September. Other notable shifts have included the arrival from the Guggenheim of Nancy Spector, who became deputy director and chief curator, and Barbara Vogelstein, who became board chair.