{"id":300165,"date":"2026-05-19T19:48:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T19:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/300165\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T19:48:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T19:48:07","slug":"the-fort-worth-modern-appoints-first-chief-operating-officer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/300165\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fort Worth Modern Appoints First Chief Operating Officer"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (the Modern) has announced the appointment of Clarissa Morales as its first Chief Operating Officer. The position is newly created by\u00a0Dr. Halona Norton-Westbrook<\/a>, Director of the Modern since July 2025.<\/p>\n

Ms. Morales will oversee operations of the 53,000-square-foot museum and contribute as part of the leadership team. Her role will include implementation of the strategic plan as well as developing a long-term strategic and financial plan, coordination of museum finances, directing information technology and security policies, assessment of departmental functions, and\u00a0assessment of human resources policies and museum ethics.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>Clarissa Morales. Image courtesy of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth<\/p>\n

In a press release, Ms. Norton-Westbrook said that Ms. Morales \u201cbrings key knowledge of optimizing museum operations to align with institutional goals, and fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and excellence. From a pool of highly qualified candidates, Clarissa stood out as a dynamic and transformational leader with demonstrated experience steering complex operations for world class art museums.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Morales previously held the position of Deputy Director at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, overseeing a team of 160 staff members and the museum\u2019s collection of 100,000 artworks while supporting development of the museum\u2019s strategic framework and audience engagement. Her leadership role included management of the 2022 and 2026 Carnegie International quadrennial exhibitions.<\/p>\n

Ms. Morales first joined the Carnegie as Director of Collections and Exhibitions Management in 2019. In December 2022, she was appointed Acting Chief before her appointment as Deputy Director in 2023. From 2017 through 2019, she was Director of Collections, Conservation and Exhibitions at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University in the Bay Area of California, and served in project management roles at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She earned a BA in Philosophy from California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo.<\/p>\n

Ms. Morales said, \u201cThe Modern stands in a class of its own, from its remarkable building to its distinguished collection and the vibrant region it serves. Halona\u2019s visionary leadership fosters a culture of creative exchange, expanding the possibilities of what a contemporary art museum can be. I can\u2019t wait to partner with the staff, board, and community to advance the Modern\u2019s operational excellence, impact, and sustainability. I\u2019m grateful for the warm welcome from Fort Worth and am excited to build a home and become part of this dynamic and supportive community.\u201d<\/p>\n

She will start in her new position on Wednesday, July 1. Visit the Modern\u2019s website<\/a> to learn more about its exhibitions and programming.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tuesday, May 19, 2026: This story has been updated with the correct start date of Ms. Norton-Westbrook at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (the Modern) has announced the appointment of Clarissa Morales as its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300166,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[109041,109042,109043,109044,116,118,117,109045,4016,109046,109047],"class_list":["post-300165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-cantor-arts-center-at-stanford-university","tag-carnegie-museum-of-art","tag-clarissa-morales","tag-dr-halona-norton-westbrook","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news","tag-los-angeles-county-museum-of-art","tag-modern-art-museum-of-fort-worth","tag-museum-of-contemporary-art-los-angeles","tag-san-francisco-museum-of-modern-art"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}