Trustees Tap Current Admininistration Director as Interim Leader, Promise No Interruption to $17.8 Million Expansion Plan
OLD LYME–The Florence Griswold Museum today announced Executive Director Joshua Campbell Torrance will step down on Nov. 26 of this year to move to a new position in Cooperstown, NY.
Torrance, who led the museum since February 2023 and oversaw the planning stages for a $17.8 million renovation and expansion project announced last month, has accepted a leadership role at Fenimore Art Museum and Fenimore Farm and Country Village.
The Florence Griswold Museum in a Thursday press release said its Board of Trustees has named Peter Steere, the current director of administration, as interim director. Steere held the position since 2024, following his retirement as chief operating officer for Yale Health.
Steere brings 40 years of senior executive experience in strategic planning, human resources management, and major expansion projects.
Board Chairwoman Barbara Harms identified Steere as a seasoned project manager.
“Our staff is exceptional, and devoted to the museum and its future,” she said. “There will be no interruption to our expansion plans.”
Torrance will serve as senior vice president overseeing the two Fenimore museum sites before taking over as president and CEO with the retirement of Dr. Paul S. D’Ambrosio.
Harms lauded Torrance for his role in the Florence Griswold Museum’s planned expansion, which she said included multiple in-depth studies, revised vision and mission statements, and an institutional rebrand to honor the museum’s history while preparing for its future.
“Joshua’s tenure was a time of study, planning, and clear strategic direction,” Harms said. “We appreciate his guidance and inspiration, and we look forward to advancing the plans developed under his leadership as scheduled.”
Torrance described himself as privileged to have worked with the museum’s board, staff members and volunteers.
“I am grateful to them for allowing me to be a small part of their distinguished history and impressive future,” he said.
The museum said the move is a homecoming for Torrance, who received a master’s degree in history museum studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program at SUNY Oneonta, and whose first job after graduation was at the Fenimore Art Museum in 1998 as curatorial assistant under then-Vice President D’Ambrosio.
“I am confident that under Joshua’s leadership the future of Fenimore Art Museum and Fenimore Farm are in good hands,” D’Ambrosio said. “There is no one I trust more with the stewardship of two places that have meant so much and been such a large part of my life, for forty-two years.”