Christopher Mekal
Christopher Mekal has worked in industries ranging from commercial banking and large-scale commercial real estate development to museums and social service agencies. Currently he specializes in strategic planning and implementation, nonprofit organizational development, and financial management.
Christopher has worked with the World Bank, Management Sciences for Health, IBM, and other organizations facilitating strategic and tactical planning and rapid implementation. He is the former finance and operations director for Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, where he coordinated its first strategic plan, which led to a $25 million capital campaign. While there he oversaw finance, human resources, security, information technology, retail, construction, facilities, gardens and greenhouses, and food services. Prior to that, he served as chief financial officer of a 300-employee social service agency.
At the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Christopher directed the development of the Institute’s new museum, a seven-year, $50 million project. His participation began with the development of financial proformas (capital and operating) and overseeing program development through all aspects of design, budgeting and public approvals, selection of project managers and general contractor, all while working closely with trustees and board committees as the project progressed. The New York Times called the new museum, which opened in December 2006, “…the most important building to rise [in Boston] in a generation.”
While directing the ICA project, Christopher also worked with Management Sciences for Health, which serves over 140 countries helping to solve pressing health problems, as well as with the Williams College Museum of Art and other organizations on strategic planning issues.
Christopher has worked with a major Philadelphia-based foundation to assess new museum ideas and concepts. Together with another consultant, he led The Fabric Workshop and Museum through a strategic planning process, and worked with them to advance their planning and consideration of a new museum. He also works with other consultants, performing needs assessments and writing business plans.
Christopher earned his BA in International Relations and French from Tufts University. He has also attended the University of Paris, Sorbonne, and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris, and is bilingual in English and French.
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