David Skorton

A year in to his tenure as 13th secretary of the Smithsonian, David Skorton spoke with David Rubenstein about the road forward for the world’s largest museum and research complex.

New Smithsonian secretary David Skorton is the first to admit that he “really [doesn’t] know much about the museum world.” But a lack of first-hand knowledge won’t keep Skorton from making big changes to the 169-year-old museum and research complex. In a conversation with Aspen Institute President and CEO Walter Isaacson at the Washington Ideas Roundtable, Skorton outlined his vision for updating the government institution into a twenty-first century marvel.

Philip Kennicott, Art and Architecture Critic, The Washington Post, interviews Incoming Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and Cornell University President David Skorton.