DOHA, Qatar – Roger Mandle will move to the Persian Gulf this summer when he leaves the Rhode Island School of Design, to take the reins of the Qatar Museums Authority, the QMA board of trustees said today.

“The Qatar Museums Authority is the vehicle for the aspirations of the Qatar people to create a unique complex of institutions for the 21st century, to speak of the cultural history of their region and its connections to the world,” Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, chair of the QMA board of trustees, said in a statement today.

“QMA aims to create first-rate curatorial programs within extraordinary architectural settings, to provide the finest educational programs for the people of Qatar and its region, and to develop strong platforms for international dialogue and cultural exchange,” Al Mayassa said.

“In all these areas, Roger Mandle has unsurpassed talent and experience. We are thrilled to welcome him as our executive director.”

Mandle brings more than four decades of experience as an arts educator and senior museum executive.

As RISD’s president for the past 15 years, he has led the school through a period of expansion that has included new educational programs, major facilities upgrades and the development of downtown studios and housing. He has also helped create public-private partnerships with the City of Providence on a wide range of issues, from riverfront development to public-school improvement initiatives.

In his previous post, as deputy director and chief curator of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., from 1988 to 1993, he was involved in every aspect of museum management. He helped redefine the gallery’s mission, instituted a long-range planning process and founded the National Teacher Institute to support art-museum teacher education.

Before joining the National Gallery, he had served as director of the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio from 1977 to 1988, doubling the museum’s endowment; and as associate director of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts from 1967 to 1974.

A graduate of Williams College, with a degree in studio art and art history, Mandle earned his master’s degree at New York University and his doctorate at Case Western Reserved University. He also holds three honorary doctorates.

He has served as a U.S. Ambassador for the Arts, from 1996 to 2002; executive committee chairman for the American Federation of Arts; jury chairman for the National Design Awards; an adviser to the J. Paul Getty Trust’s Museum Management Institute; a member of the Museum Program Overview Panel at the National Endowment for the Arts; and a trustee of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, the Silk Road Project and the group CEOs for Cities, among other affiliations.

“The Qatar Museums Authority … is committed to far-reaching objectives,” said CEO Abdulla Al Najjar. “With his extraordinary record of accomplishments, Roger Mandle is clearly the ideal executive director to help us achieve these goals.”

In his new role, Mandle will work closely with Al Najjar to develop a strategic plan for the nation’s entire complex of museums, and implement that plan, institution by institution. His duties will range from administration and finance to the direction of the curators to the development of a comprehensive program of education and museum work force development.

He also will oversee the authority’s building projects including the expansion of the existing Qatar National Museum and the construction in Doha of a 484,000-square-foot Museum of Islamic Arts, now scheduled to open Nov. 22.

(The new museum – designed by I.M. Pei – will showcase the Quatar National Collection of Islamic Art, described by the national Tourism Authority as “a world-class collection of ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, woodwork, glass and other items made in countries ... from medieval Spain to Central Asia and India.”)

“In recent years, Qatar has made a truly historic investment in education, arts and culture,” Mandle said. “As much as any place in the world, this is where you sense new horizons opening for people on an almost daily basis. It is an honor to have been chosen to participate in these changes.”

His term as RISD president – the school’s longest since the early 20th century – is slated to end this June, with the current school year. John Maeda, now associate director of research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, has been chosen as Mandle’s successor. (READ MORE)

For information about business and tourism opportunities and developments in Qatar – including the Qatar Museum Authority and its planned Museum of Islamic Arts – visit the national Tourism Authority at www.qatartourism.gov.qa.