Juan Ignacio Vidarte
joined the New York staff of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation as
Deputy Director and Chief Officer for Global Strategies in November
2008. He is also the Director General of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
and divides his time between Bilbao and New York.
Vidarte’s
involvement with the Guggenheim Foundation began in 1992 when he served
as Managing Director of the Consortium for the Guggenheim Bilbao
Project, overseeing the construction of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.
He was appointed Director General of the museum in 1996. Under
Vidarte’s leadership, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao has been awarded
numerous prizes, including the Gold Medal in Fine Arts in 1999, the
European Museum Forum Museum of the Year Award in 2000, the Tourist
Appeal Award in 2005, and the EFQM Silver Q Award for Management
Quality.
As
Deputy Director and Chief Officer for Global Strategies, Vidarte is a
member of the foundation’s senior management team reporting to Richard
Armstrong, and is responsible for initiating and implementing new
ventures outside existing foundation activities. He is currently
working to ensure the successful development of the Guggenheim Abu
Dhabi.
Born
in Bilbao, Vidarte graduated with a degree in economics and business
studies from the University of Deusto in Bilbao in 1978, and took
postgraduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
in Cambridge, Massachusetts.