Global search for new Te Papa head

By PAULA OLIVER

The Museum of New Zealand board is moving quickly to begin an international search for a new chief executive after the shock departure of Dame Cheryll Sotheran.

Dame Cheryll resigned last Friday shortly after returning from London, where she had been on a hectic business trip.

Citing health reasons for her sudden departure, Dame Cheryll said she wanted to spend more time with her family.

It is understood her health problems relate to diabetes, and that there are further complications.

Te Papa chairman Dr Roderick Deane said yesterday that a board meeting would be held tomorrow to decide on a process for appointing a new chief executive.

The position will be filled in the meantime by Te Papa's general manager of strategic planning, Patricia Stuart.

Te Papa spokesman Paul Brewer said the trip to London had been a demanding one, and it had influenced Dame Cheryll's decision to resign.

Dame Cheryll was the foundation chief executive for the Museum of New Zealand, overseeing the project during its development and construction, and recently she guided an expansion of art space.

Her time at the top was often controversial. She was known for a no-nonsense approach, and yesterday her friends and colleagues described her as a tough, tenacious leader who was able to deliver a complicated project on time and under budget.

Tim Walker, director of the Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt, said he had enormous respect for Dame Cheryll.

Mr Walker, who worked with Dame Cheryll at Te Papa, said she was often described as forceful, but he preferred to say she had a strong sense of urgency. She set standards and expected them to be met.

He credited her with changing minds in the museum world about the contemporary Te Papa concept - a concept which was originally criticised for resembling a lowbrow theme park.

Dame Cheryll had wanted to include what the wider public desired in their museum, and had left Te Papa in great shape, Mr Walker said.

Christian Heritage Party leader Graham Capill, a critic of Dame Cheryll during the Virgin in a Condom furore in 1998, said he hoped that her successor would continue with a bold approach.

Former Te Papa chairman Sir Ron Trotter said Dame Cheryll had given herself very strongly to the task, almost to the point of exhaustion. "She's created something. That's her legacy."