Part
01
of one
Part
01
Membership Committees for the boards of major non-profits, MET, Met Opera, Alvin Ailey Dancers, Museum of Natural History
Hello! Thanks for your question about the Membership Committees of major non-profits. The short version is that many of these organizations either do not have or do not list specific committees online. The ones that do have separate committees, generally have fewer than 10 people on their membership committee. Board members are selected based on their ability to contribute monetarily to the organization or based on other non-monetary contributions they could make (such as legal advice or artistic expertise).
METHODOLOGY
In order to answer your question I consulted the web pages of the listed companies. From there, I found the list of board members for each company. Whenever an organization organized its board members into committees, I have only listed the members of the Membership Committee. Whenever the board members were not organized into committees, I have listed all members excluding Honorary, Advisory, Emeriti/Emeritus, or In Memorium members. I have listed information about the non-profits you specifically mentioned first, followed by information about other major non-profits.
HOW COMMITTEES ARE CHOSEN
In general in order to be asked to be on the board of a non-profit you need to contribute some combination of "time, talent and treasure". This means that you need to do one or more of the following:
a) Donate a large amount of money, anywhere from $250K yearly for membership on the Lincoln Center board to $10 million for membership on the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the most prestigious board in NYC).
It is possible to get elected to the board of a large non-profit without being a multi-millionaire, but you will be expected to raise an equivalent amount of money from others. It is also important to note that in almost all cases the current board of the non-profit will seek out people it wants as members, not the other way around.
MET
Members of the Met's membership committee are elected in a board of trustee's meeting. Current members:
Samantha Boardman Rosen, Chairman
Wellington Z. Chen
Sir Paul Ruddock
Bonnie J. Sacerdote
Alejandro Santo Domingo
Andrew Solomon
Beatrice Stern
Lulu C. Wang
MET OPERA
Mrs. Veronica Atkins
Mercedes T. Bass
Frank A. Bennack, Jr.
Susan S. Braddock
Alexa Bator Chae
Betsy Cohen
Leonard S. Coleman, Jr.
Judith-Ann Corrente
Rena De Sisto
Jerry del Missier
Mrs. Paul G. Desmarais Sr.
Misook Doolittle
Elizabeth M. Eveillard
Stephanie T. Foster
Marina Kellen French
Joan Granlund
Eugene P. Grisanti
Ekkehart Hassels-Weiler
Rolf Heitmeyer
Marlene Hess
Agnes Hsu-Tang, Ph.D.
Christine F. Hunter
Frederick Iseman
James W. Kinnear
Bruce Kovner
Camille D. LaBarre
Mrs. Walter J. Laughery, Jr.
Harry T. Lee
Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer
Frayda B. Lindemann
Dafna Meitar-Nechmad
Mrs. Corbin R. Miller
William R. Miller
William C. Morris
Elena A. Prokupets
Laura J. Sloate
Howard Solomon
Marc I. Stern
Hon. David A. Straz, Jr.
Ambassador
Nicholas F. Taubman
Mrs. Wilmer J. Thomas, Jr.
Robert I. Toll
Robert L. Turner
Ann Ziff
ALVIN AILEY DANCERS
Members of the Alvin Ailey Dancer's Board of Trustees are not arranged into committees, but their names are:
Daria L. Wallach, Chairman
Debra L. Lee, President
Gina F. Adams, Vice Chairman
Stephen J. Meringoff, Vice Chairman
Arthur J. Mirante II, Vice Chairman
John H. Schaefer, Vice Chairman
Frank R. Ahimaz
Eleanor S. Applewhaite
Robert Battle
Nicole A. Bernard
Paulette Mullings Bradnock
Tia Breakley-China
Sela Thompson Collins
Laura D. Corb
Linda Houston
Jenny Ireland
Jaishri Kapoor
Anthony S. Kendall
Robert Kissane
Ricki Lander
Michelle Y. Lee
Natasha Leibel Levine, M.D.
Anthony A. Lewis
Leslie L. Maheras
Doris Meister
Stanley Plesent, Esq.
Marylin L. Prince
Bennett Rink
Richard Speciale
Marc S. Strachan
Joan H. Weill
Roger C. Williams Jr.
MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
Members of the board at the Museum of Natural History are also not organized into committees, although one document noted that there were 3-5 members in charge of the Planetarium. That may reflect the number of members on other committees not listed on their website as well.
Lewis W. Bernard, Chairman
Ellen V. Futter, President
Christopher C. Davis, Vice Chairman
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., Vice Chairman
David S. Gottesman, Vice Chairman
Richard S. LeFrak, Vice Chairman
Linda R. Macaulay, Vice Chairman
Roberto A. Mignone, Vice Chairman
Charles E. Phillips, Jr., Vice Chariman
Theodore A. Mathas, Treasurer
Christine A. Varney, Secretary
Lewis W. Bernard
Jackie Bezos
Scott L. Bok
Tom Brokaw
Christopher C. Davis
Vivian H. Donnelley
Nancy B. Fessenden
Tina Fey
Ellen V. Futter
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Richard Gilder
Joseph H. Gleberman
Robert G. Goelet,
Chairman Emeritus
Sibyl R. Golden
David S. Gottesman
Peggy Hamburg
Marlene Hess
Richard E. Jaffe
Helene L. Kaplan
Katheryn P. Kempner
Richard S. LeFrak
John Lykouretzos
Linda R. Macaulay
Victor Marrero
Theodore A. Mathas
Rebekah Mercer
Lorne Michaels
Roberto A. Mignone
Alexandra Mondre
Edwin H. Morgens
Charles H. Mott
Valerie S. Peltier
Charles E. Phillips, Jr.
Virginia Hearst Randt
Shaiza Rizavi
Theodore Roosevelt IV
Frank V. Sica
Anne Sidamon-Eristoff,
Chairwoman Emerita
Laura Baudo Sillerman
Anna Deavere Smith
Peter J. Solomon
Christine A. Varney
Kenneth L. Wallach
Tamsen Ann Ziff
METROPOLITAN OPERA GUILD
Winthrop Rutherfurd, Jr., Chairman of the Board
Richard J. Miller, Jr., President
Thomas J. Hubbard, Chairman Emeritus
Susan S. Braddock, President Emeritus
Theodore A. Kurz, Chairman, Executive Committee First Vice-President
Sandra S. Joys, Vice-President
Louis S. Miano, Vice-President
Langdon Van Norden, Jr., Vice-President
Christopher S. Moore, Treasurer
Basilia Yao, Secretary
Thomas M. Martin, Managing Director
Vanessa Kubach, Assistant Treasurer
Christian Alfonsi
Anastasia A. Angelova
Robert E. Bierman
Mrs. Schuyler G. Chapin
Marc Chazaud
Edmée de M. Firth
Carole Bailey French
Robert R. Glauber
John Hargraves
Elaine Hochberg
Stuart H. Johnson, III
Sandra S. Joys
Mrs. Kerryn King
Stephen C. Koval
Theodore A. Kurz
Ellen F. Marcus
Louis S. Miano
Richard J. Miller, Jr.
Christopher S. Moore
Mrs. Peter H. Nicholas
Dr. Ebbie Parsons, III
Sondra Krisher Rapoport
Winthrop Rutherfurd, Jr.
Christopher Serbagi
Marc S. Solomon
Dr. Garry Spector
Ellsworth George Stanton III
Langdon Van Norden, Jr.
Basilia Yao
NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Victor Ashe
Laura W. Bush
Susan E Chapman-Hughes
Jay Clemens
Lawrence H. Curtis
Lester G Fant III
Kevin Gover
Joe Grills
Sheffield Hale
Marilynn Wood Hill
Luis Hoyos
Fernando Lloveras-San Miguel, Esq.
F. Joseph Moravec
Martha Nelson
Marita Rivero
Charles Morgan Royce
Lisa See
G. Jack Tankersley, Jr.
Phoebe Tudor
Timothy P. Whalen
AMERICAN ALLIANCE OF MUSEUMS
Stephanie Gaub-Antequino
AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS
Abel Lopez
Julie C. Muraco
Michael Spring
Alessandra DiGiusto
John Haworth
Margie Johnson Reese
William Lehr, Jr.
Timothy J. McClimon
Steven D. Spiess
Susan S. Goode
Floyd W. Green III
Glen Howard
Dorothy P. McSweeny
Edgar L Smith, Jr.
Charmaine Warmenhoven
Marty Albertson
Sarah Arison
Ramona Baker
Maria Arena Bell
Leslie Blanton
Chuck Block
Michelle Boone
Danielle Brazell
Jennifer Cole
Debra Garcia y Griego
Vijay Gupta
Deborah Jordy
Brian Stokes
Felix Padron
Carolyn Powers
Tommy Sowers
Nancy Stephens
Ty Stiklorius
Ann Stock
Michael S. Verruto
Andrew Zolli
SMITHSONIAN
The Smithsonian is not technically a non-profit because most of its funds come from the federal government and it was created by an act of Congress, however it is a not-for-profit entity (meaning they don't charge admission) and it operates very similarly to a non-profit. The Smithsonian does not have a "membership committee", although the Governance and Nominating Committee serves essentially the same purpose. Right now there are 5 members on this committee, although only 3 are required. Its current members are:
Barbara M. Barrett, Chair
Senator Patrick Leahy
Representative Tom Cole
John Fahey
Michael M. Lynton
ARTTABLE
Arttable is a non-profit for professional women in the visual arts. The current members of its membership committee are:
Jessica Porter
Ruth Abrahams
GETTY
The Getty has committees, although it does not currently have one specifically for membership. The Governance Committee serves essentially the same purpose though with its mission being to "assist the board in fulfilling its responsibilities with respect to matters of governance of The Trust and in identifying and recommending to the board of trustees candidates to serve as trustees." Current members of The Governance Committee are:
Mark S. Siegel (Chair)
Frances D. Fergusson
Joanne C. Kozberg
Paul LeClerc
David Lee
Thelma Meléndez de Santa Ana
To wrap it up, in large non-profits with membership committees they typically have fewer than 10 members who are selected primarily for their ability their ability to contribute monetarily. Thanks for using Wonder! Please let us know if we can help with anything else!"