The Queens native, who succeeds Sally Tallant, has held senior roles at the institution for over two decades.
Rhea Nayyar
February 11, 2026
— 2 min read
A portrait of Debra Wimpfheimer, the Queens Museum's incoming executive director (photo by Claudia Lucia, courtesy the museum)
Three weeks after the Queens Museum announced the forthcoming departure of Executive Director Sally Tallant, the board has tapped Queens native Debra Wimpfheimer as its next leader, starting this summer. Wimpfheimer, currently the museum's deputy director, has held senior roles at the Flushing Meadows–Corona Park institution for 22 years.
As Tallant bookends her seven-year tenure to steer the Southbank Centre’s Hayward Gallery in London, Wimpfheimer will take the reins on several ongoing projects at the Queens Museum. She has already been credited with extensive fundraising efforts for the institution's expansion, and will direct the next phase of its development, which will include a new children's museum, an outdoor playspace channeling Isamu Noguchi, a designated space serving the borough's older adults, and additional collection galleries.
“I look forward to bringing our wonderful collections to light in our newly designed galleries,” Wimpfheimer said in an email to Hyperallergic, highlighting her excitement about the museum's expansion.
She shared that exhibitions are planned through 2029, and that the museum is in the process of appointing a chief curator who, alongside the leadership team, will develop new programming with the renovated space in mind.The forthcoming outdoor playspace will operate as a “cultural destination connecting the museum and park,” she added, explaining that while Noguchi spent most of his life in Queens, he never got the chance to design a children's space in New York.
Wimpfheimer has stepped in as interim director twice before Tallant's departure, first assuming the role for nine months in 2014 following former leader Tom Finkelpearl's appointment as the city's cultural affairs commissioner. She took up the position again in 2018, after former Executive Director Laura Raicovich resigned in the aftermath of her decision to cancel an Israeli-backed event commemorating the 1947 United Nations vote to partition Palestine to form Israel, which the museum later reneged on.
Tallant's tenure at the institution was punctuated by multiple controversies, including backlash from an anonymous group of artists who criticized the museum's “Year of Uncertainty” (YoU) residency program and internal tensions over the museum's refusal to issue a statement in support of Gaza.
Wimpfheimer has held administrative roles at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in addition to her career at the Queens Museum. As deputy director, she has both overseen and strategized fundraising for the museum's budget and managed the board of trustees, among other key responsibilities.
“Queens is the most ethnically, linguistically and culturally diverse area in the world and as executive director, I am committed to ensuring the museum’s place as an exciting, engaging, and accessible space for artists and visitors alike,” Wimpfheimer said in a statement.
