DIA loses Annmarie Erickson, key executive

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that Annmarie Erickson is leaving the Detroit Institute of Arts to be a consultant to the Detroit Regional Chamber Foundation, charged with building support for regional transit solutions. An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified her new employer.

Erickson joined the museum in 1999 and since 2008 has been executive vice president and chief operating officer. Erickson will become a consultant to the Detroit Regional Chamber Foundation, said James Martinez, chamber spokesman. Her portfolio will focus on an educational campaign promoting regional transit.

She starts her new job July 1.

Reached Thursday evening, DIA Board Chairman Eugene A. Gargaro Jr. called Erickson “a remarkable executive. She’s had an amazing career. We don’t have enough time to recount the value of all she’s contributed to the DIA.”

Erickson came to the museum after eight years at the Cranbrook Educational Community.

At the DIA, she was up to her elbows in every major development of the past 10 years.

Those included the museum’s 2007 grand reopening, the successful 2012 tri-county millage, and the negotiations resulting in the 2015 “grand bargain” that resolved Detroit’s bankruptcy, cushioned cuts to city pensioners and safeguarded the museum’s world-class art collection.

In a written release, DIA director Salvador Salort-Pons saluted Erickson’s career, with special praise for her accomplishments in helping “to stabilize the museum’s finances.”

Gargaro called Erickson’s performance during the two-year bankruptcy ordeal “ a lesson in how you manage in a crisis environment.”