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Pocantico Executive Director Meredith Horsford outside the campus's conference center. Photo by Sarah Edkins.
Historic house museum, conference center, and arts venue on the former Rockefeller estate will benefit from Horsford’s extensive experience in community engagement and heritage tourism.
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) has named Meredith Sorin Horsford as executive director of The Pocantico Center on the former Rockefeller family estate in Tarrytown, New York. In this new role, Horsford will oversee all operational and programmatic aspects of the Fund’s programs at Pocantico and guide the strategic vision for the 200-acre campus, which includes the David Rockefeller Creative Arts Center, the Conference Center, and Kykuit, John D. Rockefeller’s 1913 home.
“The Pocantico Center brings together many of my passions—history, community, modern art,” said Horsford. “I’m thrilled to join the incredible team at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and to partner with the Rockefeller family and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, to write the next chapter for this campus, which offers many lessons from the past and so much promise for the future.”
Before joining the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Horsford was the executive director of the Historic House Trust of New York City (HHT), where she stewarded 23 historic sites across all five boroughs of New York City through advocacy, promotion, and technical expertise for the nonprofit partners that operate them. At HHT, she focused on advancing capital projects, fundraising, and managing relationships with multiple nonprofit and government stakeholders.
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Meredith Horsford.
Horsford served for eight years as the executive director of the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum in Upper Manhattan, where she guided her team in creative and inclusive programming and interpretation with a community-focused perspective. In 2019, she led an extensive research project on the enslaved and free Black men and women that contributed to the prosperity of the Dyckman Farm. During her tenure at Dyckman, Horsford helped connect the past with the present through a recurring race lecture series, contemporary art installations highlighting the Black experience in America, and urban agricultural programs.
“Meredith has the distinctive skill set to manage the breadth of programming we offer at Pocantico and tackle the challenges of stewarding a century-old property,” said Gerry Watson, executive vice president for finance, operations, and Pocantico at the RBF. “With experience, enthusiasm, and openness, she will be a beacon for visitors from the community and around the world to experience, interpret, and shape The Pocantico Center in the coming years.”
Horsford previously served as the executive director of the Gracie Mansion Conservancy, the official Mayoral residence of New York City, and the deputy director of the Historic House Trust of New York City. She currently serves as president of the board of the Greater Hudson Heritage Network, a museum service organization, and is on the advisory council of Lyndhurst, a property of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
She holds a Master of Arts in geography from the University of Delaware, a Bachelor of Arts in geography from the State University of New York College at Geneseo, and a certificate in grantmaking and foundations from the George H. Heyman, Jr. program at New York University.
About The Pocantico Center
Once home to the Rockefeller family, The Pocantico Center campus in the scenic hills of the Hudson Valley has been host to some of the most influential leaders, thinkers, and creative minds of the last century. Owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and operated by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Pocantico continues that tradition today with a robust slate of programming—including conferences for nonprofit and policy leaders, artist residencies, tours, performances and exhibitions, and educational programs for the community—that brings together people to learn, share, and imagine a better future.
About the Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Founded in 1940 by the grandsons of John D. Rockefeller, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) is a private foundation with a mission to advance social change that contributes to a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world. Through grantmaking, convening, and mission-aligned investing, the RBF supports the people and organizations building lasting solutions to the challenges facing today’s increasingly interdependent world.
Press contact: Sarah Edkins | slien@rbf.org | 646-897-1672