Who

Weinberg is the director of the Whitney, where he's taken on the task of trying to expand the museum in the face of hostile neighbors, cranky trustees, and touchy staff members.

Backstory

Weinberg grew up steeped in museum culture—his father was chairman of the Jewish Museum on Fifth Avenue. He majored in art history at Brandeis, won an NEA grant to work at the Toledo Museum of Art upon graduation in 1977, and joined the Walker Art Center in 1981. He spent nearly a decade there, rising to assistant curator. In 1989, he began his on and off relationship with the Whitney when he became director of its since-closed branch at the Equitable Center in Midtown. He left a year later to go to the American Center in Paris as artistic and program director, but returned to the Whitney after two years and became senior curator in 1998. He left again in 1999 to direct the Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, Mass., finally returning to the Whitney in 2003, when he was named the museum's director.

Of note

Weinberg took the reins at the Whitney during a tumultuous time—the museum had gone through four directors in the 14 years prior to his arrival. (He succeeded Maxwell Anderson, who had wrangled with the board over just about everything). Weinberg is credited with calming things down inside the building and maintaining a cordial, stable relationship with the notoriously fickle board, which is chaired by Leonard Lauder, who opened his wallet to the tune of $131 million in 2008 and gave the institution the largest donation in its history. (Other board members include Chuck Close, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Raymond McGuire, Victor Ganzi, Wilbur Ross, Steve Mnuchin, Eric Mindich, and Steve Roth.)

As director, the biggest issue Weinberg has had to contend with is the same one that's been vexing the Whitney for decades—expansion. Various proposals to expand its Marcel Breuer-designed flagship on Madison Avenue have been floated since the 1980s. In 2006, the institution finally won permission from the city to build a $200 million tower on the same block as its current building, with a bridge connecting the two structures. Irate neighbors and preservationists, however, filed suit to block the plan, and Weinberg and the Whitney, tired of battling with the neighborhood and daunted by the cost of the proposed addition, turned their attention to building a branch in the meatpacking district instead. If the meatpacking project stays on track—which is by no means a given, in light of all the expansion's false starts over the years—construction would begin in 2009 and the building would open in 2012.

Personal

He met his wife, graphic designer Lorraine Ferguson, when they were both on staff at the Walker. They  have two daughters, Zoe and Kira, whom they adopted from China, and live in a townhouse on East 89th Street.