Image: Portland Art Museum
The Portland Art Museum has appointed Michael J. Anderson as its next Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Director, the museum announced on August 11, 2026. Anderson, currently president and CEO of the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, will begin his new role on October 12, 2026.
His arrival comes after Portland Art Museum’s campus transformation, completed in 2025, which the museum says reimagined the institution through expanded galleries, new public gathering spaces and a reinstallation of its permanent collection. In its announcement, the museum said the expanded campus has already drawn hundreds of thousands of visitors, while attendance has risen by 35 percent and demand for school visits has doubled. The museum described itself as one of the oldest art museums in the United States and said Anderson will help advance its mission to connect audiences with art from Oregon, the Pacific Northwest and around the world.
Anderson has led the Oklahoma City Museum of Art since 2019, after more than a decade of work there in leadership roles. Portland Art Museum said he has built a reputation as a curator, educator and museum executive focused on expanding access to art. The museum also noted that he was originally trained as a teacher before moving into museum leadership, and that education and public engagement have remained central to his practice.
According to the museum, Anderson helped guide the Oklahoma City institution through a period of growth that included strengthening its financial foundation, increasing philanthropic support and expanding the permanent collection by more than 30 percent through acquisitions and gifts. He also introduced bilingual gallery interpretation to better serve Oklahoma City’s Spanish-speaking communities. The museum said he forged relationships with Tribal Nations and Native artists across Oklahoma through exhibitions, partnerships and public programs.
In the announcement, Portland Art Museum board chair Cyndy Maletis said Anderson is “the right leader for this moment,” citing his experience, vision and collaborative spirit. Search Committee Co-Chair Alix Meier Goodman said the museum sought a director who could build on the opportunities created by the campus transformation and expand the institution’s public impact across the program and campus.
Anderson said he was “thrilled” to join the museum at an extraordinary moment in its history and described the Portland institution as having built an “inspiring foundation for the future” rooted in artistic excellence, accessibility and civic engagement. He said he looks forward to working with staff, board members, artists, supporters and partners to shape the museum’s next chapter and create new opportunities for audiences to experience art and discover the stories reflected in the collection and exhibitions.
The museum said Anderson succeeds Brian Ferriso, whose nearly two decades of leadership culminated in the completion of the campus transformation. Anderson’s record at Oklahoma City also included expanding the museum’s film program through the creation of the OKCMOA Film Society and coordinating more than sixteen exhibitions and major collection installations, among them 'Kiarostami: Beyond the Frame' (2022), 'Renewing the American Spirit: The Art of the Great Depression' (2019) and 'The Complete WPA Collection: 75th Anniversary' (2016).
