Maryanne Pfister named new board president at MCASD in La Jolla

LA JOLLA – In July, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla welcomed new board president Maryanne C. Pfister, and offered thanks to outgoing president Steve M. Strauss for his three years of service.

Strauss worked to refine the operations of the museum at 700 Prospect St. after its most recent renovation and expansion, completed in 2022.

“As a longtime board member, Maryanne brings a personal background in MCASD’s development over the years,” said David C. Copley director and chief executive officer Kathryn Kanjo.

“Maryanne’s extensive experience with our organization makes this transition seamless as we express gratitude to Steve Strauss for his vision and commitment, continuing a family tradition of leadership and support.”

Pfister joined the MCASD board in 2006 and has been a vice president for a decade. She has chaired the museum’s Advancement Committee and Capital Campaign Committee, helping raise funds to support the institution and its recent expansion.

The Pfister Gallery, featuring the museum’s treasured California Light and Space collection, is named in honor of Pfister and her husband Irwin’s generous support.

Before getting involved with nonprofits, Pfister had a career in corporate communications in the high-tech industry for 12 years before starting her own consulting business specializing in developing strategic marketing communications plans for companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Cadence, and Artest Corp.

La Jolla Village News spoke with Pfister, who resides in Bird Rock, discussing her history with the museum, and where she’d like to guide it moving forward.

Asked how she first got involved with MCASD, Pfister replied: “It sort of was by accident. I was new to the community, and one of our neighbors who’d been a museum member for a long time invited us to go to Monte Carlo (now The Gala at MCASD). My husband and I went. I’d always liked museums. That was my introduction.”

The new MCASD board president talked about her new job responsibilities.

“As president, my role is to lead the board in ensuring our bylaws are followed and in our mission, which includes strategic planning,” she said. “So my role, in part, will be to get the trustees and the staff working together. And I’ll be the main line of communication between the board and the director (Kanjo), whom I will be serving as a sounding board for.”

What direction does Pfister see the MCASD board going in? “Contemporary art is always evolving,” she responded, adding that it has been a learning experience for her.

“Our board is made up of some long-term members, which has provided continuity. But we’ve been getting fresher ideas and perspectives from new and younger board members as well. We have a productive mix on the board, and I think we’ll continue that into the future.”

Pfister noted MCASD is moving into the next phase of its development.

“The museum has been very dynamic since I’ve been here,” Pfister said. “We had the big remodel and expansion, which were significant, 50,000 square feet of new space in both galleries and behind the scenes combined. That made us something different, bigger.”

Pfister noted the museum’s expansion was character-changing in that it now affords the space necessary to show off its voluminous collection.

“The reason why we did the expansion is that we have over 5,000 works of really stellar contemporary art,” she said. “Before, it was rather frustrating because so much of the collection was in storage so often. We wanted to share it with the public. So we needed more space for that.”

Concerning what MCASD is contending with now, Pfister said: “Our biggest issue is just recalibrating after the expansion. We’re getting into our stride post-expansion, and that is fun. Everybody is just really excited about what the museum has become, and what all the potentialities there are for all kinds of activities. People want experiences now from museums through their programming. We’re getting strong with those.”

So, what’s next?

“We’ve expanded, moved in, and gone through the reopening. We’re still experimenting with this new space, because we have new options now for exhibiting that we didn’t have before,” Pfister said.

“Now we’re in the position where we feel like we need to make sure the community knows just what we have here. The collection is on a par with any top-rated contemporary art museum. I don’t know if everybody knows that. It is a very special museum.”