The committee of partners of the Los Angeles Museum of Art, LACMA, announced Michael Govan as the new Director and Executive in Chief of the museum, who began in March. Since 1994 he was President and Director of Dia Art Foundation in New York; he led the creation and opening of Dia: Beacon in 2003, a new museum that holds the recognized collection of art from the 1960s until now that belongs to the foundation. Before being Director of the Dia Art Foundation in 1994, Govan occupied the role of Deputy Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum for six years; he obtained the title of Historian of Art from Williams College in Massachusetts and studied renaissance art in Italy. He is replacing Andrea L. Rich, who retired from the role of President and Director in November 2005. The new Director, will manage LACMA during its expansion phase and will advance the unification of the campus with the collections and programming, besides benefiting from the available resources, working alongside Melody Kanschat, the President and Chief of Operations.