Anne-Imelda Radice, Executive Director of the American Folk Art Museum (AFAM), today announced two major changes to its executive staff: Kathleen Hayes, formerly Chief Financial Officer of the Judd Foundation, is the new Deputy Director for Administration and Chief Financial Officer.  Karley Klopfenstein, former director of Institutional Giving, Strategy, and Evaluation at the museum, has been promoted to Deputy Director for Development. 

“Hayes’ tenure both at the Judd Foundation and at the New Museum of Contemporary Art showed her to be a savvy manager of a cultural institution’s financial resources, no easy feat during these challenging times for museums, says Radice.”  At AFAM Hayes has oversight of all financial operations and budgets, and provides high-level analysis to the Executive Director, Finance Committee, and Board of Trustees, as well as carries out day-to-day financial activities. She will oversee the Accounting, as well as IT, the Museum Shop, Visitor Services, and other operations functions of the museum. Prior to her position with the Judd Foundation in Marfa, TX, Hayes was the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer for the New Museum in New York.  Prior positions include CFO for the Sababa Group and Financial Reporting Manager at Rockwell Group Architecture.  She is a CPA, and is a graduate of California State University. She holds a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from Carnegie Mellon University.

Five-year AFAM staff veteran Karley Klopfenstein’s promotion to the Deputy Director for Development position will have her continuing to work with major grants and lead the Endowment and Legacy campaigns, as well as oversee Marketing and Communications, Special Events, and Membership.  “Karley’s success in obtaining major funding for the museum from the Luce Foundation, the Leir Charitable Foundations, the National Endowment for the Humanities and many others has been invaluable to this organization,” says Radice. “She is dedicated to the museum with her both her heart and the full range of her professional talents.” Klopfenstein joined AFAM in 2012.  From 2009-2012 she was the Director of Development for NURUTREart, in Brooklyn, an organization that supports emerging artists.  Prior to that position she was Associate Director of Sculpture Key West, a non-profit arts organization in Florida.  Klopfenstein received two Bachelor of Arts degrees – in Studio Art and Anthropology/Sociology - from St. Mary’s College in Maryland, and did graduate work at Virginia Commonwealth University.

The staff changes were necessary due to the departure of Elizabeth Kingman, who was the Chief Financial Officer and Deputy Director for Administration and Development for the museum.  She was at the AFAM for more than a decade, and has now re-located to the West Coast. Both staff changes are effective immediately.

About the American Folk Art Museum

The American Folk Art Museum is the premier institution devoted to the aesthetic appreciation of traditional folk art and creative expressions of contemporary self-­taught artists from the United States and abroad. The museum preserves, conserves, and interprets a comprehensive collection of the highest quality, with objects dating from the eighteenth century to the present.  For more information, please visit www.folkartmuseum.org