The Total Tenure of 14 Recent Sotheby’s Departures Is More Than the Age of the House

The exodus is without parallel.

Sotheby's Departures.
Photo: Courtesy of Getty Images and Patrick McMullan.
Graph by Robert McConnell.

Graph by Robert McConnell for artnet News.

It’s a tumultuous time at global auctioneer Sotheby’s, with a new CEO, a round of staff buyouts, and increasingly tough competition with its main rival, Christie’s.

Between those who took the buyouts and those who left after the house’s controversial acquisition of art advisory firm Art Agency, Partners, there has been a real exodus.

Related: Exodus at Sotheby’s Plunges Auctioneer Into Murky Waters

In fact, if you total up the years served by 14 of the auction house’s staffers who recently found their way out the door, the sum is greater than the number of years the house has been open for business.

Here’s a roster of names and how many years they each served:

Aileen Agopian, 5 years
Former senior vice president and international senior contemporary art specialist

Melanie Clore, 35 years
European chairman and worldwide co-chairman of Impressionist and modern art

Anthony Grant, 26 years
Senior vice president and international senior specialist in contemporary art

Miety Heiden, 18 years
Senior vice president and head of contemporary private sales for North America

Patrick McClymont, 2 years
Chief financial officer

David Norman, 31 years
Vice chairman of Sotheby’s Americas

Scott Nussbaum, 12 years
Contemporary art specialist

Alex Rotter, 15 years
Global co-head of the contemporary art department

Polly Sartori, 15 years
Head of 19th-century European paintings

Matthew Weigman, 31 years
Director, worldwide sales publicity

Warren Weitman, 37 years
Chairman for North and South America

Elaine Whitmire, 35 years
Vice chairman, head of specialists, decorative arts

Henry Wyndham, 22 years
Chairman of Sotheby’s Europe

Mitchell Zuckerman, 27 years
Executive vice president of global operations

TOTAL:             311 years

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