Executive Staff
Elizabeth Duggal
Associate Director for Public Engagement, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Director, International Museum Professional Education Program, Smithsonian Institution
Biography:
Elizabeth Duggal serves as the Associate Director for Public Engagement of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and as the Director of the Smithsonian Institution’s International Museum Professional Education Program, which spans the entire institution, including 19 museums and 9 major research centers.
As an Associate Director, Duggal oversees all public engagement for the Museum of Natural History —an internationally renowned institution that serves as the steward of the world’s most extensive natural history collections. In providing strategic leadership for public engagement, Duggal ensures that the functions and activities that form the public face of the Museum reach and engage large, diverse audiences through meaningful exhibitions, outstanding learning experiences, and effective outreach programs. In doing so, she manages a staff of 90 plus and multiple contractors. She oversees the planning and development of all museum exhibitions, educational programs, public relations, marketing, visitor services and digital media programs and manages a budget of tens of millions of dollars. For the Natural History Museum, she has been deeply involved in fundraising efforts and is the primary liaison with the business enterprises area of the Smithsonian. Through Duggal’s efforts, she has raised tens of millions of dollars for the Museum.
In her other, pan-Institutional role, Duggal serves as the Director of the wider Smithsonian Institution’s International Museum Professional Education Program, pursuing opportunities for the Smithsonian to provide museum professional education services across the globe. She manages the development of innovative partnerships with organizations based in the US and overseas and builds awareness and appreciation of the Smithsonian’s role throughout the international community. Her efforts make available the Smithsonian’s expertise, experience and resources with organizations around the world. She has spearheaded breakthrough partnerships in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.
Duggal formerly served as the Associate Director for Museum Resources at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, and was responsible for the museum’s overall planning, management and coordination of financial and human resources for both the federal and private sector. She provided oversight and direction to the George Gustav Heye Board of Directors in New York City and the National Council in Washington, D.C. She led a department that included museum-wide budget planning, allocation and oversight, human resources, administrative services, development, special events, public relations, marketing, product development, advertising, membership, and direct-mail activities.
Previously, Duggal served as development executive for the British Museum Development Trust in London, where she headed the museum’s International Friends and Patron’s membership program. She also chaired the first royal charity gala in the museum’s 250-year history and headed a series of related events in the United States with the royal family. Prior to joining the staff of the British Museum, she was the founding Chair of the American Friends of the British Museum.
With a background in banking, Duggal has worked as a management consultant, and held positions in several institutions, including The Mortgage Corporation Ltd.— a subsidiary of Salomon Brothers International Inc., Fidelity Investment Services Ltd., American Express Europe Ltd., and Crocker National Bank.
Duggal, studied at the Sorbonne University in Paris, graduated Magna Cum Laude from Tufts University, and received a graduate business degree from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She serves as co–chair of the Board of Directors for the U.S. National Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM-US) and Board member of Children’s Hospital in Washington, D.C. and The Royal Oak Foundation, New York. Duggal is of American and British nationality.
Mailing Address:
Office of the Associate Director for Public Engagement
National Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian Institution
MRC 106, P.O. Box 37012
Washington, DC 20013-7012
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