Royal Ontario Museum Announces Interim Co-Director & CEO Appointments

TORONTO, November 6, 2025 – The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), Canada’s most visited museum, announced today that Yoke Chung and Jennifer Wild, currently members of ROM’s Executive Leadership Team, will step up to jointly assume the roles of Interim Co-Directors & CEOs as of January 1, 2026.  

The interim appointments will provide leadership and operational continuity while ROM’s Board of Trustees continues the search for a permanent Director & CEO to succeed the departing Josh Basseches. After a successful and transformative decade as Director & CEO, Basseches announced in June 2025 his decision to step down from the role while continuing with the Museum until December 31, 2025.  

“I am pleased to share that Yoke and Jennifer have agreed to together take on the Interim Co-Director & CEO role,” said Andrew MacLeod, ROM Board of Trustees Chair. “With proven and complementary areas of strength and expertise, they are well positioned to ensure continuity and stability in the Museum’s strategies, activities, finances, and operations until a new Director & CEO is in place.”

Yoke Chung and Jennifer Wild are presently Executive Leadership Team members at ROM; Chung as Deputy Director, Museum Operations & Chief Operating Officer, and Wild as Deputy Director, Engagement. Wild joined ROM from the Detroit Institute of Arts in 2018, where she held a series of senior leadership roles for more than 20 years, most recently Vice-President, Learning and Audience Engagement. Chung was appointed to ROM in March of 2025 from the Ontario Science Centre, where she served as Vice-President of Corporate Services and Chief Operating Officer. 

As Interim Co-Director & CEOs, they will provide collaborative overall leadership to the Museum, with Chung managing the oversight of all aspects of Museum operations and finances, and Wild of Museum content and mission-based work, including collections, research, learning, programs, and exhibitions. 

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CONTACTS: 

ROM Communications  
media@rom.on.ca

ROM Social Media  
Instagram: @romtoronto  
Facebook: @royalontariomuseum  
Twitter: @ROMToronto  
 
About ROM  
Opened in 1914, ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) showcases art, culture, and nature from around the world and across time. Today, ROM houses more than 18 million objects, from Egyptian mummies to contemporary sculpture, from meteorites to dinosaurs. ROM is the most visited museum in Canada and one of the top ten museums in North America. It is also the country’s preeminent field research institute, with a diverse range of experts who help us understand the past, make sense of the present, and shape a shared future. Just as impressive is ROM’s facility - a striking combination of heritage architecture and the cutting-edge Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, which marks the Museum as an iconic landmark and global cultural destination.  
 
We live on in what we leave behind.

ROM is an agency of the government of Ontario.