MOCA NAMES JONATHAN ABBOTT CEO & MAURICE MARCIANO DIRECTOR
Former President and CEO of public media leader GBH joins MOCA as the museum builds on strong artistic momentum and looks towards its 50th anniversary
Jonathan Abbott. Photo by Owen Kolasinski for MOCA
Los Angeles, CA—The Board of Trustees of The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) today announced that after an extensive international search it has appointed Jonathan Abbott as CEO & Maurice Marciano Director, effective September 24, 2026.
A nationally recognized leader in public media, Abbott brings to MOCA a commitment to the role of arts, culture, and education in strengthening communities and helping people understand the world around them. At MOCA, he will help shape the museum’s next chapter – building support for ambitious exhibitions and programs, deepening its role as a place for art, ideas, and public dialogue, expanding its audiences and philanthropic community, and strengthening its foundation for the future.
Abbott most recently served for fifteen years as President and CEO of GBH, the country’s largest producer of multiplatform content for PBS, partner to NPR and PRX, and the organization behind such celebrated programs as FRONTLINE, NOVA, American Experience, and Masterpiece. During his tenure, Abbott led an organization of nearly 800 employees and a $225 million annual operating budget, led a $215 million fundraising campaign, and oversaw a period in which GBH’s assets grew from approximately $225 million to $1 billion. He also steered the public media institution’s digital transformation and expanded access to its journalism, educational resources, and cultural programming.
“Jon is a builder of mission-driven institutions and a deeply collaborative leader who understands that great creative work depends on trust, resources, discipline, and a clear sense of purpose,” said Carolyn Clark Powers, Chair of MOCA’s Board of Trustees. “He brings the experience and imagination to help MOCA extend its reach, deepen its relationship with Los Angeles, and give artists and curators the strongest possible platform for their ambitious work. As we look toward our 50th anniversary in 2029, I can think of no better partner for this next chapter”
Abbott joins a museum with a deeply experienced curatorial team led by Clara Kim, Chief Curator & Director of Curatorial Affairs, alongside Senior Curators Bennett Simpson and José Luis Blondet. Kim joined MOCA in 2022, following curatorial leadership roles at Tate Modern in London, where she served as The Daskalopoulos Senior Curator of International Art, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and REDCAT in Los Angeles.
“MOCA has always stood for the power of contemporary art to challenge assumptions and open up new ways of seeing the world,” said Jonathan Abbott. “I’m excited to work with Clara and MOCA’s curatorial team, whose ambition and deep relationships with artists are among MOCA’s great strengths. I want to help bring broader support and audiences to work that is urgent and thought-provoking. Los Angeles is one of the world’s most vibrant cultural centers, with an extraordinary sense of possibility. I grew up thinking of cultural institutions as public places that belonged to everyone. MOCA was built here by artists and civic leaders, and I’m energized by the opportunity to help it remain deeply of this community and for this community.”
“MOCA’s commitment to artists and ambitious ideas is at the heart of our work,” said Clara Kim. “I look forward to working with Jon to build on that commitment, bringing greater support to MOCA’s visionary exhibitions and cutting-edge programs and connecting our diverse audiences with the art and artists of our time.”
Abbott succeeds Ann Goldstein, who has served as Interim Director since August 2025 and will remain with MOCA through November to support the transition as Advisor to the CEO & Director. Goldstein stewarded MOCA through a consequential year of exhibitions, acquisitions, and institutional activity, including the critically acclaimed MONUMENTS exhibition and the acquisition of more than 150 works for the museum’s ever-growing collection. Goldstein began her career at MOCA in 1983 and spent 26 years at the museum before moving into leadership roles at major international institutions, including as Director of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and Deputy Director at the Art Institute of Chicago.
“We are profoundly grateful to Ann Goldstein for her generosity and enduring devotion to MOCA. She returned to an institution she knows deeply and brought the experience, judgment, and care this moment required. Together with the MOCA team, Ann sustained the museum’s artistic ambition and provided steady leadership across the institution, establishing a strong foundation for Jon’s arrival. We are especially grateful that she will continue to share her knowledge and counsel during the transition,” noted Carolyn Powers.
“MOCA is in my DNA, and it has been an honor to serve as interim director over the past year and to hold the museum steady and vibrant while the Board has been considering its next chapter,” says Ann Goldstein. “I couldn’t have been more fortunate than to step in when the epic MONUMENTS exhibition was still on the horizon, ahead of its enormously successful realization. It has been a tremendous privilege to work with MOCA’s dedicated staff and Board to contribute to the museum’s singular legacy of audacious, history-making exhibitions, momentous acquisitions for the collection, including Kara Walker’s Unmanned Drone from MONUMENTS, and renowned education programs. This extraordinary institution will always have my deep affection, and I am very happy to advise Jonathan during this transition.”
ABOUT JONATHAN ABBOTT
Abbott’s career in public media spans more than three decades. Before becoming President and CEO of GBH in 2007, he served as the organization’s Chief Operating Officer and General Manager. During his leadership, GBH expanded across digital and broadcast platforms, launched services including PBS LearningMedia, WORLD Channel, Create, and all-news GBH Radio, and built new enterprises including PBS Distribution, National Public Media, and Contributor Development Partnership.
Abbott also led the acquisition and combination of Public Radio International and PRX and oversaw a major review and evolution of GBH’s board governance. He expanded GBH’s support for the arts through the acquisition of classical radio station CRB and created a new space for public engagement with the opening of a studio and community gathering place at the Boston Public Library, a first of its kind partnership.
Previously, Abbott served as Senior Vice President of Development & Corporate Relations at PBS, where his work included fundraising and community engagement strategies for PBS member stations nationwide, and held senior development and strategy roles at KQED in San Francisco, where he helped develop the strategy for what became the country’s first all-news public radio NPR station.
Abbott holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a B.A. in political science from Columbia University. His current and former board affiliations include GBH, PBS, PRI, PRX, American Public Television, American Documentary (AmDoc) ArtsBoston, Pitzer College and the Children’s Museum of Boston. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.