The George Eastman Museum has appointed Margaret Rollins as Vice President, Development. She assumed this role on Monday, August 24.
Rollins joins the Eastman Museum from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), where she served since 2021 as Senior Director for Advancement for the College of Science and the College of Liberal Arts. In that role, she led fundraising and advancement efforts for the colleges’ priorities and programs, including establishing national councils.
Prior to joining RIT, Rollins held advancement positions at Nazareth College in Rochester, including Associate Director of Gift Planning and Assistant Director of Corporate, Foundation, and Government Relations.
Rollins began her career working with several arts and cultural organizations, culminating in her position as Executive Director of the Smith Opera House in Geneva, New York. During her tenure, she led fundraising efforts and oversaw the historic restoration of the landmark theater.
“I am eager to return to my first love of working with an organization dedicated to arts and culture,” Rollins said. “I am thrilled to join the George Eastman Museum to deepen and broaden its community of supporters and thereby strengthen this esteemed institution for generations to come.”
“We are delighted to welcome Margaret to the George Eastman Museum,” said Bruce Barnes, Ron and Donna Fielding Director of the George Eastman Museum. “Her extensive experience and proven success in fundraising and relationship development, together with her deep commitment to arts and culture, make her an excellent addition to our executive team. We are excited to have her leading our development efforts as we build support for the museum’s mission as expressed in our preservation efforts, world-class collections, exhibitions, film screenings, programs, and educational initiatives.”
Rollins earned a bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from Ithaca College, where she majored in speech communication and minored in music. She received a master’s degree in arts administration from the University of Cincinnati.
About the George Eastman Museum
Founded in 1947, the George Eastman Museum is the world’s oldest photography museum and one of the largest film archives in the United States, located on the historic Rochester estate of entrepreneur and philanthropist George Eastman, the pioneer of popular photography. Its holdings comprise more than 450,000 photographs, 31,000 motion picture films, the world’s preeminent collection of photographic and cinematographic technology, one of the leading libraries of books related to photography and cinema, and extensive holdings of documents and other objects related to George Eastman. As a research and teaching institution, the Eastman Museum has an active publishing program, and its L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation’s graduate program (a collaboration with the University of Rochester) makes critical contributions to film preservation. The George Eastman Museum is supported with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. For more information, visit eastman.org.
