Dr. Nancy Zinn, consulting curator for the National Museum of American Diplomacy (NMAD), was recently elected to the International Council of Museum (ICOM)-US Board of Directors. From 2007-2010, Zinn was president of the ICOM’s International Committee for Exhibitions Exchange.
ICOM is an international organization of museums and museum professionals, which is committed to the research, conservation, continuation, and communication to society of the world’s natural and cultural heritage, present and future, tangible and intangible. ICOM-US facilitates US museum professionals’ participation in the global museum community.
In her current role as consulting curator for NMAD, Zinn works with the director and staff on the conceptualization, planning, and development of exhibition content, design strategies, and visitor experience goals for the Museum.
A native of Minneapolis, Nancy Engstrom Zinn earned her BA in art history and microbiology from the University of Minnesota. Following a successful research career in the field of transplantation immunology, she earned her MA and PhD in the history of art from The Ohio State University, specializing in Northern Renaissance art. After holding positions in the curatorial and education departments of the Columbus Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Art, Zinn joined the curatorial staff of the Walters Art Museum in 1998. She was named director of exhibitions at the Walters in 2002. As deputy director from 2012-2014, Zinn provided leadership for the museum’s curatorial, conservation, exhibitions, and collections management divisions.
Zinn holds certificates from the Getty Leadership Institute’s Museum Leadership Institute (2003) and To Be a Director (2006) programs, and she has completed Governance, Managing Change, Building Evaluation Capacity, and Leading Innovation seminars sponsored by National Arts Strategies. Zinn was a member of the College Art Association’s Museum Committee from 2003-2006. She has served on the Maryland Humanities Council’s Museum Professionals Consulting Panel and as a peer review panelist for the Institute of Museum and Library Services. A 2013 graduate of the Greater Baltimore Committee’s civic LEADERship program, Zinn held the position of lecturer in the department of Advanced Academic Programs at Johns Hopkins University from 2005 to 2010. An independent museum consultant since 2014, Zinn’s clients have included the National Nordic Museum in Seattle, Washington, and the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts in Hagerstown, Maryland.
Ambassador Roman Popadiuk, Diplomacy Center Foundation President, says “We are delighted to hear of Nancy’s election to the ICOM-US Board of Directors. She is an asset to the Diplomacy Center Foundation and NMAD, and we congratulate her on this exciting and well-deserved professional achievement.”