David Gordon, Principal

David Gordon has had a varied and successful career as a CEO in the for-profit and non-profit worlds. He has the journalist’s ability to get straight to the heart of complicated problems, an accountant’s understanding of the numbers, and a CEO’s ability to make, and help other people make, things happen. He is passionate about the arts and believes that his rare combination of skills and experience can guide cultural institutions to strengthen governance, strategy, planning, organization and finances.

For the past 12 years he has been a turnaround director in cultural organizations.

He became Director ("Secretary") of London’s world-renowned Royal Academy of Arts in 1996 and restored its finances following a major fraud and financial losses, overhauled management, introduced planning systems for its major international loan exhibitions and proposed the modernization of the by-laws.

In 2002, Mr. Gordon was recruited to become the director and CEO of the Milwaukee Art Museum, which, following the opening of the Santiago Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion was left with debts that rose to $30m. He initiated an exciting artistic and education program, built a strong management and eliminated the debt.

He has been a board member of Tate, the British Film Institute and the Architecture Foundation, and chairman of England’s Contemporary Arts Society.

He was active in the (American) Association of Art Museum Directors and served on the board as chair of the Public Affairs Committee.

Mr. Gordon studied PPE (Politics, Philosophy and Economics) at the University of Oxford in England and did graduate work at the London School of Economics, qualifying as a Chartered Accountant (CPA). He then became a journalist on The Economist, where, after being asked to join the management of The Economist Newspaper Ltd, served as CEO for 12 years. Under his leadership, the magazine embarked on a strategy of international expansion that continues to this day.

Mr. Gordon kept a foothold in publishing as non-executive chairman of eFinancial News, a weekly specialist newspaper and job website. The constituent parts were sold in the past two years to Dow Jones and to Dice Holdings. Mr. Gordon is a director of Dice Holdings, which is quoted on the NYSE.