The California Academy of Sciences’ Executive Director Scott Sampson is pictured in a Chronicle file photo. Sampson announced he will resign after nearly seven years leading the Golden Gate Park museum and research institution on Thursday, May 14, 2026.
Liz Hafalia/Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle
Scott Sampson, the executive director of the California Academy of Sciences, will step down this month after nearly seven years leading one of San Francisco’s most prominent cultural institutions through the pandemic, a prolonged financial strain and a recent round of layoffs.
The academy announced Thursday that Sampson will resign effective May 29 and remain in an advisory capacity through June 30. The board of trustees appointed Amber Mace, the academy’s managing director and chief strategy officer, as interim executive director while it prepares to launch an international search for a permanent successor.
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“It has been a privilege to serve the academy and work alongside such talented staff, scientists and educators,” Sampson said in a statement. “I’ve decided that it is the right time to step aside.”
Sampson, a paleontologist and science communicator who joined the academy in 2019, said he plans to focus on completing a new book entitled “Superbloom” before deciding on his “next chapter,” according to a statement.
Financial strain and layoffs preceded leadership change
California Academy of Sciences will lay off 55 workers and cut programs as rising costs, declining tourism and weaker philanthropy deepen deficits.
Tim Griffith/California Academy of Sciences
The leadership change comes more than two weeks after the Golden Gate Park museum and research institution said it would lay off 53 employees — about 9% of its workforce — and make additional program cuts to address what leaders described as a structural budget deficit as attendance, tourism and philanthropy remain uneven in the post-pandemic period.
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The institution reported a $7.3 million cash deficit in 2025 and projected the deficit for the current fiscal year would exceed $8 million.
The academy did not say Sampson’s departure was connected to the layoffs or the institution’s financial condition.
During Sampson’s tenure, the academy expanded several major conservation initiatives, the statement said, including Hope for Reefs, a program focused on protecting tropical coral ecosystems, and Reimagining San Francisco, which gathered together 60 community organizations to advance urban environmental issues.
Sampson was also key in creating a partnership called One Galapagos, which aims to restore the ecological health of the Galápagos archipelago.
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In an interview with the Chronicle last month, Chief Financial Officer Mathew Lau said the academy’s expenses were growing faster than its revenues, with salaries and benefits making up about 70% of the operating budget. He said full-price daytime admission was down about 6% through March compared to the same period last year.
Union criticizes Cal Academy cuts
California Academy of Sciences docent Jerry Dow (left) talks with executive director, paleontologist Scott Sampson in a Chronicle file photo. Sampson announced he will resign after nearly seven years leading the Golden Gate Park museum and research institution on Thursday, May 14, 2026.
Liz Hafalia/Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle
The cuts drew sharp criticism from Cal Academy Workers United, the union representing employees across research, education and guest services divisions. Union leaders said that 36 union-represented employees were affected and argued that academy leadership should have considered pay cuts for executives before layoffs.
“We unequivocally reject these layoffs, and our message remains the same from the layoffs that we endured in 2024: CHOP FROM THE TOP,” the union said in a statement after the April cuts were announced.
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Sampson defended the cuts in an April interview with the Chronicle, saying the academy could not wait to address the deficit.
“These cuts are deeply painful, yet we believe they’re essential to enable us to deliver on our mission sustainably in the long term,” he said at the time. “We have a significant structural deficit and waiting is only going to compound the problem.”
Board praises Sampson’s tenure
In Thursday’s announcement, Board of Trustees Chair John C. Dwyer said Sampson helped to guide the academy through a “turbulent and pivotal period,” including the pandemic, which tested the academy’s financial health.
The academy closed for nearly seven months in 2020 as a result of the pandemic.
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“We are deeply grateful for his leadership, vision and many contributions to the academy and its mission,” Dwyer said in a statement.
Amber Mace named interim executive director
Mace joined the academy in 2023 after serving as CEO of the California Council on Science and Technology, a nonprofit organization that advises California policymakers on scientific issues.
“We believe this was the correct first step in order to restore an academy leadership structure which puts the people who enact the academy’s mission first,” Cal Academy Workers United President Teddy Vollman said Thursday in a statement to the Chronicle regarding Sampson’s departure plan. “We look forward to working with a new team which will collaborate with us to find alternatives to layoffs and preserve this beloved San Francisco institution.”
Located in Golden Gate Park, the California Academy of Sciences is one of the most prominent natural history museums in the world, welcoming over a million visitors each year, according to attendance data.
“Like many San Franciscans, I love this institution,” Sampson said in April. “What we’re facing is hard, but if this organization is gonna persist another 170 years, it’s our responsibility to make necessary adjustments now to ensure that the academy is resilient.”