Allan Altholz has been named director of marketing and communications at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Beginning May 26, Altholz will be responsible for growing VMFA’s visitation and public image. He will work to promote the museum’s breadth of valuable resources and works.
“We are thrilled to have someone with Allan’s range of experience and knowledge join VMFA,” VMFA Deputy Director for Resources and Visitor Experience Claudia Keenan said. “He is a seasoned marketing and communications professional. With his background in both for profit and non-profit arenas, he will surely take the marketing efforts of the museum to the next level. He is absolutely the right person to help us as move into our 2020 strategic plan.”
Altholz will come to VMFA after nine years with the Virginia Lottery, serving as the Marketing Product Manager since 2013. At the Lottery, he created and executed strategic marketing plans to meet revenue goals while analyzing trends and sales patterns to identify new product opportunities. Prior to working in marketing, he was consumer engagement and electronic gaming manager from 2008, where he worked to develop and enhance both existing and new customer relationships. He designed and implemented a range of programs such as digital interactive games and the lottery industry’s first real-time age verification system. His first job at the Virginia Lottery was as online product development manager starting in 2006. His responsibilities included communications planning and promotion design. He spearheaded a new category of lottery games that created more than $18 million in sales (19 percent higher than was projected.)
Altholz is no stranger to the museum field. From 2004 to 2006, he was director of marketing and membership services at the Pamplin Historical Park and the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier in Petersburg, Va. He led a sales and marketing department to oversee membership, new product development, market research, advertising, special event promotions, media relations, and more. He served as the Park’s spokesman and handled all publicity efforts, leading to coverage in publications such as The New York Times, USA Today, and the Boston Globe.
Before that position, Allan created growth for companies such as CMSS Architects as director of marketing and communications, RightMinds, Kings Dominion, and Swedish Match North America.
After graduating cum laude from the University of Miami in 1980, Allan received his Masters of Business Administration in 1985 from the New York Institute of Technology in Westbury, NY.
About the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
VMFA’s permanent collection encompasses more than 33,000 works of art spanning 5,000 years of world history. Its collections of Art Nouveau and Art Deco, English silver, Fabergé, and the art of South Asia are among the finest in the nation. With acclaimed holdings in American, British Sporting, Impressionist and Post-Impressionist, and Modern and Contemporary art – and additional strengths in African, Ancient, East Asian, and European – VMFA ranks as one of the top comprehensive art museums in the United States. Programs include educational activities and studio classes for all ages, plus lively after-hours events. VMFA’s Statewide Partnership program includes traveling exhibitions, artist and teacher workshops, and lectures across the Commonwealth. VMFA, a certified Virginia Green attraction, is open 365 days a year and general admission is always free. For additional information, telephone 804-340-1400 or visit www.vmfa.museum.
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