Kansas City, MO. June 30, 2017–An expanded roster of leaders has been announced at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. The Board of Trustees has named Evelyn Craft Belger, Grant Burcham, and William B. Taylor as new trustees, joining the 18 current trustees.
One of the museum’s six strategic goals is to nurture excellence in governance. The Board is now authorized to expand to 24 trustees, and as part of the effort to evolve roles and responsibilities of trustees, the Board has named four officers: Shirley Bush Helzberg, Chair; Richard C. Green, Chair-Elect; Paul DeBruce, Treasurer; Neil D. Karbank, Secretary. Green will take the helm in 2018 at the end of Helzberg’s term. She has served two consecutive two-year terms after being unanimously re-elected last year.
Trustees shown are: (front row, left to right) Charles S. Sosland; Robert Bernstein; Kent Sunderland; Maurice Watson; Elizabeth Bloch Uhlmann; Evelyn Craft Belger; Richard C. Green, Jr., Chair Elect; Bill Gautreaux; (back row, left to right) Susan McGreevy; William B. Taylor; Paul DeBruce, Treasurer; Shirley Bush Helzberg, Chair; Julián Zugazagoitia, Director & CEO; William M. Lyons; Don Hall, Jr.; Mary Atterbury; Sandra A.J. Lawrence; and Neil D. Karbank, Secretary. Not pictured: Trustees G. Kenneth Baum; Grant Burcham; Greg Maday; and Ramón Murguía.
New Trustees
Evelyn Belger is the President and CEO of Belger Cartage Services, Inc., which she joined in 2009 as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. She has more than 10 years of experience in commercial banking and 16 years in arts management positions in St. Petersburg, Fla. and Memphis, Tenn. Since 2009, Ms. Belger has been the Executive Director of the Belger arts initiatives, providing leadership in the integration of mission-based activities for the Foundation, Belger Arts Center, and Belger Crane Yard Studios. She was instrumental in the visioning and establishment of the Belger Crane Yard Studios facility, which opened in 2013. Belger is currently active on the boards of the Kansas City Ballet and the Builders Association. She has previously served on the boards of the Kansas City Art Institute, American Stage Theater, the Canterbury School of Florida, the Arts Center Association, Inc., and Memphis Concert Ballet.
Grant Burcham is Chairman of Mobank, which he grew from $63 million in assets when he took over in 1994 to more than $600 million today. Burcham and his team specialize in small business and entrepreneurial banking. Mobank was the KC Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year in 1999, and Burcham was named Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 1999. He has also been among the Kansas City Business Journal’s Power 100 for three consecutive years. Burcham is a longtime Atkins Trustee, has served as Director at The Greater Kansas City Community Foundation and is a past president of the St. Luke’s Hospital Foundation.
William B. Taylor, a retired partner of Ernst & Young LLP, has 35 years of experience in the financial services industry as an accountant. Taylor is on the Boards and Audits Committees of RBC Funds, a private insurance company and a private technology company; cofounded and served on the leadership team for Citizens for Higher Education, a group of business executives advocating for state funding of higher education in Kansas; served as Chair of the Kansas University Business School Advisory Council and KU Research Institute at the Medical Center, and served as Governance Chair of the National Association of Corporate Directors. Taylor is also a member of the Board of Directors and Treasurer of the Kansas City Symphony. He and his wife have created numerous scholarships for young women in middle and high school to help them develop talent and confidence.
Trustees Scott Francis and Louis Smith are rotating off the Board, as their terms have come to an end, but both will remain actively involved in the Nelson-Atkins.
Photo by Chris Crum
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
The Nelson-Atkins in Kansas City is recognized nationally and internationally as one of America’s finest art museums. The museum, which strives to be the place where the power of art engages the spirit of community, opens its doors free of charge to people of all backgrounds. The museum is an institution that both challenges and comforts, that both inspires and soothes, and it is a destination for inspiration, reflection and connecting with others.
The Nelson-Atkins serves the community by providing access to its renowned collection of nearly 40,000 art objects and is best known for its Asian art, European and American paintings, photography, modern sculpture, and new American Indian and Egyptian galleries. Housing a major art research library and the Ford Learning Center, the Museum is a key educational resource for the region. In 2017, the Nelson-Atkins celebrates the 10-year anniversary of the Bloch Building, a critically acclaimed addition to the original 1933 Nelson-Atkins Building.
The Nelson-Atkins is located at 45th and Oak Streets, Kansas City, MO. Hours are Wednesday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Thursday/Friday, 10 a.m.–9 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Admission to the museum is free to everyone. For museum information, phone 816.751.1ART (1278) or visit nelson-atkins.org.
For media interested in receiving further information, please contact:
Kathleen Leighton, Manager, Media Relations and Video Production
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
816.751.1321
kleighton@nelson-atkins.org