Academy Art Museum Welcomes New Trustees, Honors Departing Board Members

The Academy Art Museum is pleased to announce the appointment of four new members to its 2026-2027 Board of Trustees: John Heller, Nancy Hollingsworth, Darlene R. Taylor, and Beverly Tilghman. The Museum also extends its sincere appreciation to departing trustees Sandy Cardin, Robert Fogarty, Elizabeth (Diz) Hormel, and MaryLou Armstrong Peters, for their dedicated service and contributions to the institution.
In recognition of their significant and enduring impact, the Museum is pleased to welcome Donna Alpi and Jim Harris as Emeritus Trustees. Their leadership and commitment have helped shape the Academy Art Museum and strengthen its roles in the community in recent years.

With Thanks to Our Departing TrusteesFour trustees complete their terms this year, each leaving the Museum measurably stronger than they found it.
Sandy Cardin served on the Development, Investment, and Finance committees and worked to extend the Museum’s reach beyond Talbot County as an ambassador in Queen Anne’s, including hosting an AAM friendraiser at his home. He was an early advocate for the ambitious Rauschenberg 100 exhibition and has made meaningful gifts of art to the Academy’s permanent collection.

Robert Fogarty was an energetic ambassador for the Museum’s mission, introducing people throughout his network who went on to become enthusiastic supporters — among the most valuable contributions a trustee can make. He and Maureen hosted the cocktail party that launched the Bugatti Royale Circle, the first step toward Bugatti: Reaching for Perfection, which went on to become a blockbuster show that reached many new stakeholders in the community.
Elizabeth (Diz) Hormel served on the exhibition and permanent collection committee every year of her tenure and was a strong voice on the executive committee. Her energetic leadership of the craft show brought artists, patrons, and the wider community together; her advocacy established the Museum’s standing Education and Program Committee; and she introduced acclaimed artist and teacher Juliette Aristides to AAM for a sold-out workshop and a packed artist talk. Her most enduring contribution was the foresight to address the Museum’s accreditation-dependent need for professional research and collections space — the Freeman Annex and Hormel Research Center, not just vital additions to the facilities but a testament to the Museum’s mission and a tribute to the legacy of the Hill community.

MaryLou Armstrong Peters gave six years to the Board, serving on the development, nominating, and executive committees and chairing the Gala not once but twice. She and Joseph were tireless advocates for the landmark Bugatti exhibition, connecting the Museum with car enthusiasts throughout the region and chairing the Bugatti Royale Circle — work that was instrumental to the show’s overwhelming success, and that links them permanently to Bugatti: Reaching for Perfection. All four leave the board as lifelong friends of the Museum.

The 2026 New Class
The incoming class brings a valuable mix to the table: a healthcare entrepreneur, an attorney and fundraiser, a working artist and scholar, and a steward of one of Talbot County’s most significant historic properties. Three of the four are longtime Eastern Shore residents. All four have been part of the Museum’s orbit for years before joining its board.

“This incoming class are people who already know this Museum from the inside — as members, collectors, exhibiting artists, and neighbors,” said Christine Martin, Chair of the Board of Trustees. “They didn’t need to be introduced to what we do. They came to the table already invested in the Museum and that shared connection gives us a strong foundation from which to move forward.”

John Heller spent his career as a healthcare investor and entrepreneur, founding and leading HealthPRO-Heritage and most recently serving as CEO of MyOrthos. A lifetime member of the Academy, he and his wife, Cindy, have kept a house in Talbot County since 1998 and retired here full time in 2022. His connection to the Museum runs back further than his membership: his mother was an accomplished abstract expressionist who exhibited in New York and elsewhere and was honored by AAM.

Nancy Hollingsworth is an attorney who practiced corporate litigation at Kirkland & Ellis in Washington, D.C., and went on to serve as Development Chair of the Avalon Foundation, helping lead two successful campaigns. She and her husband, Joe, have owned a home on the Eastern Shore since 1986 and made it their principal residence in 2017. They are passionate collectors of contemporary art, have hosted the Keller Collection Society at their home in Trappe, and hosted Museum stakeholders at their home in Florida.

Darlene R. Taylor is a multimedia artist, poet, author, and professor of English at Howard University. For AAM audiences she is already a familiar name: her solo exhibition Heirlooms, with its accompanying book and artist talk, drew a strong response, and her work has since entered the Academy’s permanent collection. Two of those pieces are currently on loan to the Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum in Annapolis for She Speaks: Black Women Artists and the Power of Historical Memory.

Beverly Tilghman built a career in administration and grantmaking at Johns Hopkins University, the Equitable Trust Company, and the France-Merrick Foundation, and has held leadership roles on numerous nonprofit boards, including Board Chair of the Hammond-Harwood House in Annapolis. She and her husband, Richard, own the historic Wye House on Bruffs Island Road in Easton; their stewardship of that property has given them a working knowledge of historic architecture and building systems — practical expertise the Museum will lean on as it cares for its own century-old building and the Freeman Annex & Hormel Research Center.

2026 Incoming Emeritus Trustees
The Museum is also inviting back into the fold two trustees whose work left a lasting mark on this institution:
Donna Alpi served seven years on the Board, including two as Chair. In her first five years, she chaired the Gala, oversaw a revision of the bylaws, chaired the strategic planning committee, and sat on the search committees that hired AAM’s executive directors in 2020 and 2024. As Chair, she guided the Museum through an ambitious stretch — the Bugatti exhibition, a record-breaking Gala, and the introduction of bilingual exhibition guides and labels — while steadying the institution through significant staff transitions. Accessibility was her throughline, and the Museum’s relationship with its community is measurably broader for it. She and her husband, Jim, have hosted the Renaissance Society at their home in each of the past two years.
Jim Harris served as Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee, where his leadership strengthened the Museum’s financial stewardship and fiscal management. As a member of the Executive Committee, he brought steadiness and foresight to the Board’s deliberations. He continues to serve on the Finance and Development Committees as an alumni member, offering sound counsel on financial matters. He and his wife, Pam, remain closely involved in the life of the Museum.

“Donna and Jim gave this Museum years of careful, unglamorous work — the bylaws, the budgets, the search committees — and the institution they handed forward is stronger and more welcoming than the one they found,” said Charlotte Potter Kasic, the Museum’s Executive Director. “Bilingual accessibility in our galleries and a balance sheet we can plan against are both part of that legacy. We are honored to welcome back their voices and as two close mentors of mine, I am particularly grateful to have their perspectives.”
The Academy Art Museum thrives because of people who see the vital importance of the arts in the community and choose to give generously of their time, talent, and heart.

About the Academy Art Museum
Founded in 1958, the Academy Art Museum is the Eastern Shore’s leading cultural institution, accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. It combines the dynamism of an ambitious contemporary art museum with the intimacy of a community space. With five working studios, a 24,000-square-foot facility, and programs including a robust artist-in-residence initiative and major commissions for its soaring atrium, the Museum is a destination for artists, scholars, collectors, and families alike. For more information, visit academyartmuseum.org.
Press Contact: Janelle Burchfield | communications@academyartmuseum.org | 757.439.0139