The naming of Michael Tomor as the executive director of the Tampa Museum of Art sends a signal. It wasn’t “next up” at TMA; it was “do a search” and “get it right.” By all accounts, TMA did exactly that by bringing in the well-regarded Tomor, 52, from the El Paso Museum of Art, which at 110,000 square feet, is nearly twice the size of TMA.
“Michael Tomor’s departure as executive director of the El Paso Museum of Art is a major loss for this city.” That was the lead from an El Paso Times editorial on news that Tomor had accepted the Tampa position.
What El Paso loses–and Tampa gets–is a high-energy, inclusive fund-raiser and membership catalyst who’s also known as a collaborative force from working with community entities ranging from the Symphony and the Opera to the Alzheimer’s Association and Fort Bliss. He also established a strong working relationship with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.
“The art museum should be an institution that bridges other organizations together and makes our entire community stronger through art,” says Tomor.
Now wouldn’t it be ironic if the Hillsborough County School District and the Tampa Police Department, both in need of replacing their top people, were to be less aggressive in hiring a superintendent and police chief, respectively? Sure looks that way. In fact, the School Board seems ready to offer the job to Deputy Superintendent Jeff Eakins.
Not to disparage the importance of a new art museum leader, but shouldn’t the nation’s eighth-largest school system and the police department of the third largest city in the country’s third-largest state take no less pains in getting it right?
This county, this city, these residents and their children deserve no less due diligence. That means looking outside as well as inside for talent and choosing on the basis of consensus merit. It means looking outside for perspective as well as inside for history. Recall that TIA and Port Tampa Bay didn’t just promote from within. They’re that important.
We are fortunate at TPD to have a cadre of impressive candidates for the top job. Surely they can hold their own against any outside competition. If not, we need to know.