Since 2001, Rena Zurofsky has been an independent consultant with three primary areas of specialization. As an interim director, she has helped to stabilize and transform historic sites ranging from Gothic Revival to Modernist, as well as museums of mixed and specialty collections. As a strategic planner, she has successful guided both independent and university-affiliated museums towards their goals. As a retail planner, she has strategized, designed, and implemented shops for museums and performing arts centers engaged in new buildings, renovations, or expansion projects.
Rena Zurofsky is adept at working with boards of trustees, community members, and museum professionals across all fields. She is known for mentoring subordinates, streamlining paths to action, and encouraging transformational change. She offers an unusual breadth of museum experience and accomplishment. She is a strategic thinker, an assured leader, and a collaborative colleague.
Prior to opening her consulting firm, Rena held executive staff positions at a number of the world’s great museums. She served as Director of Licensing, Publishing and Retailing for the American Museum of Natural History, where she renovated shops, built publishing and product development areas, and radically increased sales. As Deputy Director of the Newark Museum she managed development, public programs, marketing, publishing and retailing operations, successfully completing the capital campaign for the museum’s Victorian masterpiece, The Ballantine House. At the Brooklyn Museum, Rena was Vice Director for Marketing, managing business activities, where she built robust publishing and licensing operations, and turned a moribund shop into a destination in its own right. Her early training was at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she rose to the position of Assistant General Merchandise Manager.
Rena Zurofsky has an MBA from Columbia University. She has taught graduate courses in non-profit arts management and marketing at NYU, and has lectured on the same subjects internationally.