January 2, 2024 – The Reading Public Museum Foundation is pleased to announce the appointment of the new Executive Director and CEO, Geoffrey K. Fleming. He will replace the Interim Director and CEO, Paul G. Oxholm, beginning March 4, 2024. Oxholm served in this position since May of 2022.
Fleming most recently served as Executive Director of the Huntington Museum of Art in West Virginia, the largest private museum in the state. During his tenure, the Huntingdon Museum of Art received a number of awards and accolades, including the 2021 “Institution of the Year” award from the West Virginia Association of Museums. In total, he’s been in the museum industry for almost 25 years.
As a scholar in the field, Fleming has authored, co-authored, or contributed to nearly forty books and catalogs on American art and history and has written for magazines such as American Art Review. He has also served on several regional educational and charitable boards.
During the past eight years, Fleming has worked as a major grant reviewer for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), National
Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the Kentucky Arts Council; as an accreditation reviewer for the American Alliance of Museums; as a board member of the Huntington Convention & Visitors Bureau; as a committee member of the City Public Arts Subcommittee; and as a board member of the Huntington Symphony Orchestra.
Fleming earned his master’s degree in Art Administration from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, in Chicago Illinois, and his bachelor’s degree in Historic Preservation from the Mary Washington College (University of Mary Washington), in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He also has an extensive background as a lecturer and conference presenter.
“I look forward to bringing my experience and energy to the Reading Public Museum. It is a homecoming of sorts, as my grandmother was born and raised in northeast Pennsylvania,” said Fleming. “It is where her immigrant parents came to find a better life, where my great-grandfather worked as a coal miner, and where he dreamed that his children, grandchildren, and future generations would achieve a greater level of success than he did during his short life.”
Dr. Anna Weitz, Board Chair of the Foundation for the Reading Public Museum, commented, “We welcome Geoffrey Fleming to the Museum. His energy, extensive experience, impressive accomplishments, and community involvement will help us continue to educate, enlighten, and engage current and future generations.”
The Reading Public Museum Foundation is an independent, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization established in 1991 to operate and manage the Reading Public Museum and its environs, including the Neag Planetarium and 25-acre Arboretum.
