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DELAWARE ART MUSEUM ANNOUNCES NEW TRUSTEES

Wilmington, DE (June 7, 2007)—The Delaware Art Museum is pleased to announce the election of five new members to its Board of Trustees: Doneene Keemer Damon, Lisa Davis, Linda Brinton Harra, Alan B. Levin, and Lynn Herrick Sharp.  After careful review by the Board’s Governance Committee, these individuals were nominated and elected to serve as Trustees at the Museum’s 2007 Annual Members’ Meeting.

Doneene Keemer Damon is a Director in the law firm of Richards, Layton & Finger, P.A. She is a member of the firm’s Business Department, focusing primarily on formation and operational issues relating to Delaware statutory trusts.  She is the current Chair of the American Bar Association Committee on Trust Indentures.  Ms. Damon also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Board of Directors for Christiana Care Hospital, and the Board of Directors for Meals on Wheels Delaware, Inc.  She earned a B.S., with honors, in Accounting from St. Joseph’s University in 1989.  She received her J.D., cum laude, in 1992 from Temple University School of Law.

Lisa Davis is the Vice President of Corporate Communications at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals.  She joined AstraZeneca in 2006 from AARP, where she was the head of Communications and Public Relations.  Prior to joining AARP, Ms. Davis was National Deputy Press Secretary for the Clinton/Gore ’96 Re-election Campaign, serving as a spokesperson and manager of national and state press activity.  She holds Masters degrees in Business Administration and in Public Administration from Howard University, and a B.A. in Communications Studies from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.  She has recently served as a Fellow and guest lecturer at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. 

A former Delaware Art Museum Trustee returning to the Board after the required one-year hiatus, Linda Brinton Harra is a graduate of the University of Delaware College of Nursing having earned her designation as a Registered Nurse in 1971.  Mrs. Harra served in coronary intensive care nursing together with neo-natal intensive care nursing.  She is an advocate for nursing as a career choice, as well as advocating for the arts.  She was honored as an outstanding alumna by the University of Delaware in 2001 as well as being honored with the University of Delaware’s Medal of Distinction in 2006.  She served on the Delaware Art Museum Capital Campaign and co-chaired the Steering Committee for the College of Health Sciences during the University’s Campaign for Delaware.  She was most recently appointed as the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Goldey-Beacom College, where she has served as a Trustee since 2000.

Since 1987, Alan B. Levin has successfully led Happy Harry’s, one of the region’s largest employers, as its Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer and through its recent merger with the national Walgreen Company drugstore chain.  He is a graduate of Tulane University and the Delaware Law School of Widener University.  Upon graduation, he served in the Delaware Department of Justice as a Deputy Attorney General and later also served as Executive Assistant and Counsel to United States Senator William V. Roth, Jr.  Mr. Levin took over the family business upon the death of his father in 1987.  He is involved in numerous civic and corporate activities throughout Delaware and the nation.  Most notably, he recently completed a term as Chairman of the National Association of Chain Drugstores.  He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the United States Chamber of Commerce.  In addition, he currently serves as the Chairman of the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce.

Lynn Herrick Sharp is a long-time patron and advocate for the arts, volunteering numerous hours to various arts organizations as a Board or committee member.  She has had a long association with the Delaware Art Museum, including service as President of the Board of Trustees, Chairperson of the 1987 and 2001 Capital Campaigns, and Chairperson of the Collection Committee.  Ms. Sharp was a key participant in the establishment of ArtCo, the arts stabilization initiative that created a $21.5 million endowment for arts facilities in 1993.  She served as the founding President of ArtCo and has continued to serve on its Board of Directors.  Ms. Sharp was the first woman and first Delawarean to serve as President of the Board of WHYY.  As Honorary Chairperson of the Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts Capital Campaign, she helped raise the funds necessary to purchase and renovate the organization’s new facility on Wilmington’s waterfront.

The following Trustees of the Delaware Art Museum served two consecutive three-year terms and have rotated off: Richard V. Pryor, William N. Spiker, and Joanne K. Sundheim.

The following Trustees served one term and were re-elected to a second term: Carolyn S. Burger, Gerret van S. Copeland, Brock J. Vinton, and Rodman Ward, Jr.

The Delaware Art Museum’s Executive Committee remains as follows: Gerret Van S. Copeland, Chairman; Rodney P. Wood, President; Carolyn S. Burger, First Vice President; Brock J. Vinton, Second Vice President; Daniel M. Kristol, Secretary; and Peggy H. Woolard, Assistant Secretary.

About the Museum
The Delaware Art Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. and Sunday noon – 4:00 p.m.  Regular admission is adults (18 – 59) $10, seniors (60+) $8, college students $5, and youth (7 – 17) $3, with children 6 and under entering for free, and admission free to all visitors on Sunday.  For more information, call 302-571-9590 or visit the website at http://www.delart.org.

Founded in 1912, the Delaware Art Museum holds a world-renowned collection that focuses on American art and illustration from the 19th to the 21st century as well as the British pre-Raphaelite movement of the mid-19th century. The Museum offers the outdoor Copeland Sculpture Park, the Helen Farr Sloan Library & Archives, studio art classes, the interactive Kids’ Corner learning area, the delART Café featuring free Wi-Fi access, and the Museum Store with distinctive books and gifts.  The pre-Raphaelite collection goes back on view to the public on Sunday, September 23, 2007, for The Return of the Pre-Raphaelites.