Robin E. Reed will take over as the president of the National D-Day Memorial Foundation later this month, replacing Col. William McIntosh.
Reed, a former executive director of the Museum and White House of the Confederacy in Richmond, said he will assume the post on June 28.
Reed, who said he grew up in Richmond, served 12 years as the Richmond museum’s head before spending the past seven years as director of public history at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, he said.
He also served as a project director for the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.
Reed said he would work to make the Bedford memorial a “premier tourist destination.”
“It’s just a great foundation,” Reed said Thursday. “They have established themselves as a great memorial.”
Reed pursued the position because he felt it was a good fit and said he would strive “to take them to the next level,” he said.
The memorial foundation is expected to announce Reed’s hire July 1.
Reed will take over nearly a month after the installation of a bust of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, which incited protests outside the memorial. Protesters have said they hoped the new foundation president would reconsider that installation.
McIntosh, 66, is retiring. He became the foundation’s second president in July 2001 following the resignation of Richard Burrow.
Last year the memorial laid off 11 of its 24 employees because of drops in donations due to the economy.
The foundation has also worked with lawmakers to have the National Park Service take over the memorial. That measure is being studied.
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