After years of staff complaints and high attrition, Gaëtane Verna is no longer the executive director at the Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio State University’s (OSU) contemporary art institution.
OSU sent Hyperallergic Provost Ravi Bellamkonda’s email to Wexner Center staff, in which she states that Verna “was stepping away from her role” as of today, October 29. The news came less than a week after the Columbus-based Dispatch reported that not only had the institution amassed a $1.1 million deficit in fiscal year 2024, but over a dozen staff members had signed a letter expressing a vote of no confidence in Verna’s leadership to Bellamkonda at the end of the summer.
Hyperallergic has contacted Verna, OSU, and the Wexner Center for comment.
Verna departed from the role shortly before completing her third year. She was appointed to lead the Wexner in November 2022 after a decade as the director and artistic director of the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery in Toronto.
Speaking under condition of anonymity last year, four former and current employees gave interviews to Hyperallergic about their experiences with Verna in her role. In addition to reports of “low staff morale” and “poor leadership,” several sources alleged that Verna had a track record of screaming at or belittling employees in meetings, making impulsive financial and curatorial decisions with little to no warning or explanation, and lashing out at anyone whose curatorial and operational opinions contrasted with hers.
Per university documents provided by one of the sources in 2024, there was a 28% staff turnover in less than two years after Verna’s appointment. Employees with over 20 years of service under their belt resigned from the Wexner alongside those who accepted demotions in different fields, and others who quit with nothing lined up at all. The staff-signed letter to the university provost, which was initially publicized by Matter News, states that as of August 2025, nearly half of the Wexner Center’s staff has departed from the center since Verna’s appointment. Seven of 24 trustees are no longer on the board, the letter also stated.
Concerns about the Wexner’s financial health have skyrocketed internally as the center completed Fiscal Year 2024 short approximately $2.5 million of its expected income, Dispatch reported, thus yielding a million-dollar deficit. The Dispatch reviewed the Wexner Center Foundation board’s financial reports and observed that the center spent $365,000 on a website overhaul, $185,000 on a new projector, and $1 million on “unspecified capital expenditures.”
The Columbus news outlet also reported, as did the staff letter, that the university issued a “red card” to the center around June of this year due to its financial instabilities.
In spite of the monetary problems afflicting the Wexner, some current staff members allege that Verna prioritizes projects that they believe would dig the center further into its hole — including a near-million dollar proposal to convert the museum’s store into a multifunctional classroom and makerspace, and spending directing the use of hundreds of thousands of dollars to develop exhibition catalogues from past and offsite shows.
Verna was also accused of nixing other researched and approved projects at the drop of a hat. Former employee Tammy Eckard, who worked as an accessibility specialist for the Wexner for 13 months, told Matter News that her initiative to have the center make sensory-inclusive kits available to visitors was slated for final approval until Verna “axe[d] it out of nowhere,” and then tried to have her reprimanded by her direct supervisor after she tried to set up a meeting with Verna directly about the decision. Hyperallergic has attempted to contact Eckard for comment.
Ahead of Verna’s departure, staff at the Wexner Center have also alleged difficulties in having the university acknowledge and appropriately handle their complaints.
Those sentiments were reiterated in August’s staff letter, which alleges that many employees had raised concerns “through meetings, emails, and anonymous complaints via the online confidential reporting tool,” and also “sought out mental health support from the Employee Assistance Program.”
“Despite these efforts, no satisfactory resolution has been reached,” the letter reads.
Details regarding interim leadership at the Wexner have yet to be announced. Bellamkonda wrote in his email that he asked Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Trevor Brown to “help guide this transition in close collaboration with the center’s leadership team.”
