10-23-2022 W2W - Flipbook - Page 16
Jenenne Whitfield
director, American Visionary
Art Museum
When the American Visionary Art Museum’s board of directors last spring appointed
Jenenne Whitfield as AVAM’s new director,
they accomplished the seemingly impossible by finding a kindred spirit to pioneering
founder Rebecca Hoffberger.
Whitfield began her new job in September
after 29 years helming Detroit’s acclaimed
Heidelberg Project. These are the “to-do”
items on her agenda: diversifying AVAM’s
audiences, building partnerships with cultural
and educational groups, and raising money for
an endowment.
“Rebecca Hoffberger and I are both engaged
in bringing the work of visionaries to life,”
Whitfield said. “We have so much in us as
people that is untapped.”
— Mary Carole McCauley
PHOTO BY AMY DAVIS
Suzanne Johnson
vice president for research and
development, McCormick & Co.
Suzanne Johnson has been working in
the flavor business for most of her career.
Some of the chemist’s favorite flavors are
pepper, mint and black currant. “I’m fascinated by multi-sensory flavor perception,”
she said. “How can flavors, and actually the
whole food, eating and cooking experience,
contribute to your well being?”
Johnson, the third-ever female president of the Flavor Extract Manufacturers
Association, said her mentors have inspired
her to help others. “I love to give people
opportunities to grow, push people a little
bit outside of their comfort zone and see
where it can take them,” she said.
— Giacomo Bologna
PHOTO BY LLOYD FOX
16 | 2022 | WOMEN TO WATCH