Arts/Entertainment/Sports: ALEX NYERGES

Last year, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts embarked on a $190 million expansion and renovation plan that will add a 170,000-square-foot wing. Earlier this year, Nyerges said that wing would be named for philanthropists James W. and Frances Gibson McGlothlin, who made a $60 million gift toward the expansion campaign.

A project of such scale is nothing new for Nyerges, who was director when the museum — a state agency with a private endowment — added a 165,000-square-foot wing, also named for the McGlothlins, in 2010. He’s led the museum since 2006.

Nyerges, a New York native, is also a photographer. He earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from George Washington University. Afterward, he became director of Florida’s Museum of Art – DeLand, then was tapped as director and CEO of the Mississippi Museum of Art. Before coming to VMFA, Nyerges served as director and CEO of the Dayton Art Institute.

Last year, AIA Virginia awarded him the Architecture Medal for Virginia Service, recognizing his impact on the built environment and the community, including the 2019 installation of artist Kehinde Wiley’s “Rumors of War” sculpture, a counterpoint to the city’s Confederate statues, which were removed in 2020 and 2021.