Chief Executive & Director, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Since Govan joined LACMA in 2006, he has overseen the near-constant
expansion and upgrade of the museum’s 20-acre campus. During his
tenure, LACMA has acquired more than 35,000 works for the permanent
collection, doubled gallery space and programs, and more than doubled
its average attendance to more than 1 million visitors annually. Govan
personally helped raised most of the money needed to fund LACMA’s
$750 million redesign and overhaul of its Mid-Wilshire campus. Urban
Light – the Wilshire-facing outdoor forest of 202 vintage streetlamps that
opened in 2008 – has been called a new symbol of the city and has become
an attraction for tourists around the world.

YEARS ON THE LA500: 8