Lois Riggins-EzzellNASHVILLE – After 35 years as head of the Tennessee State Museum, Lois Riggins-Ezzell will step down as the institution's executive director on Dec. 31, Gov. Bill Haslam and Tom Smith, chairman of the State Museum Commission announced today.
Riggins-Ezzell, who has led the museum since 1981, will retain the title of "executive director emeritus."
Meanwhile, the search for her replacement continues with officials hoping to name a replacement by March 2017.
But it was not immediately clear if an interim director would be named if no new chief is on board when Ezzell's retirement becomes effective.
The move to replace the colorful and sometimes-controversial Riggins-Ezzell, who for decades has overseen the state's collections of historical artifacts and documents, art and cultural displays, has been underway for more than a year.
It comes as the state embarks on an ambitious $160 million plan to relocate the museum, which for decades has resided in the basement of the James K. Polk State Office Building in Nashville.
A soon-to-be-constructed 140,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art, stand-alone museum is planned for the state's Bicentennial Mall.
Haslam, who is spearheading the drive to raise $40 million in private funds for the new $160 million museum, said in a news release that "Lois has given her heart and soul to telling Tennessee's story and showcasing its rich history across the country and around the world.
"We are grateful for her many years of service and all that she has done for the Tennessee State Museum and for our state," the governor added.
The Douglas Henry State Museum Commission, which is the institution's governing body, is conducting a search for a new museum director.
Victor Ashe, a commission member and sometimes-critic of Riggins-Ezzell, said he only learned of the executive director's decision today through the governor's news release.
"This was news to the commission members because the chair [Tom Smith] did not give us any advance notice of it happening. None," said Ashe, a former state senator, Knoxville mayor and one-time U.S. ambassador to Poland. "She resigned. How that was arranged is not being shared. Commission members were not involved - or at least not all of us."
Riggins-Ezzell, 76, has had oversight of museum facilities including the Tennessee State Museum, the Military Branch of the museum which is housed in the War Memorial Building, and the Tennessee State Capitol.
For decades, she has been the public face of the museum, fighting for annual state financial support and overseeing expansions including the growth of the facility from just a handful of employees to some 40 professionals and workers.
Still, there have been some controversies. Last year, for example, critics charged Riggins-Ezzell helped orchestrate the effective ouster of two members of the State Museum Foundation, which raises money for museum acquisitions, who had questioned several art purchases by the executive director.
And questions arose over the timing of a planned traveling exhibit for U.S Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., a former governor, in the midst of Alexander's 2014 reelection.
Last year, an exasperated Riggins-Ezzell declared to a reporter, posing questions about her achievements and controversies, "I am the museum. Jesus!"
She has managed the museum's $3.9 million operating budget and has served as an ex-officio member of the Douglas Henry State Museum Commission, the museum's governing authority.
Museum Commission Chairman Smith said in the governor's news release that Riggins-Ezzell has "had a distinguished career, and we salute her tireless efforts on behalf of the museum over these many years. As we look to the museum's future, we build on the foundation of the museum's past, and Lois has been such an important part of that."
He said her title of Executive Director Emeritus is "recognizing her long and invaluable service to the Museum and the citizens of Tennessee."
But Ashe questioned just what the "emeritus" title means.
"Is it a title or are there actual duties?" Ashe asked.
Noting there have been reports about possible efforts to supplement Riggins-Ezzell's state pension through the museum foundation, Ashe said more transparency is needed there or on whether she would hired as a consultant with pay on top of the pension.
"There needs to be more transparency about this, whether it's a normal state employee retirement in which case I wish her well, or will there be consultant duties with compensation, either through the foundation or as a consultant through the museum."
Ashe also said the search process for Riggins-Ezzell's replacement has "moved at a snail's pace and it will be very difficult in four months to have an executive director. They haven't even issued a research for a proposal. In other words, the search committee for a year has done virtually nothing."
And Ashe, a former commission chairman, also questioned Riggins-Ezzell's role as an ex officio member of the museum's three-member search committee to select her replacement.