New Leader of Smithsonian: Lonnie G. Bunch III
Lonnie G. Bunch III, the museum leader who opened the Smithsonian’s enormously successful National Museum of African American History and Culture, will serve as the next secretary of the entire Smithsonian, its most senior position. Mr. Bunch, 66, will be the first historian and the first African-American to oversee the Smithsonian’s 19 museums and galleries, the National Zoological Park and research centers. He will take over on June 16. As founding director of the African-American museum, Mr. Bunch led a decade-long effort to create a space that would recognize the achievements of Black Americans. The museum, which opened in September 2016 was designed by the Tanzanian-born architect David Adjaye. It has gathered a collection of 40,000 objects and attracted four million visitors since it opened