The president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Emily K. Rafferty has announced that she was stepping down from her role after 10 years and almost 40 years in the institution last July 29.

Emily K. Rafferty is the first woman to be named president of said institution, also credited for sustaining growth in the museum while she was in service.

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During the announcement, Rafferty expressed that she was convinced that it was the right time to retire, considering all the changes that the museum will undergo inevitably.

"There's no hidden agenda here - nothing anybody should be looking for," the president stated. "It is completely my decision."

Emily Rafferty started working at the museum in 1976 and has been the president since 2005. As the chief administrative officer, Rafferty is in charge of overseeing around 1,500 employees in different departments of the museum management including legal affairs and government relations.

She is known to have boosted the museum attendance from 4.8 million in 2008 to 6.2 million visitors a year through dealings she made with trustees and philanthropists.

She has been deeply involved in the master plan of drafting the museum's physical plant which was completed last year. The museum is planning to reconstruct the Lila Acheson Wallace Wing which contains the museum's collection of contemporary art and is expected to be completed in 2020.

Rafferty added that the one who would replace her should be there to see the projects she would be leaving will be finished as she cannot be there for the next ten years of its completion.

Philippe Campbell, the director of the museum, praised Emily Rafferty for her efforts as president to improve Met Museum, saying, "Few people have had a greater impact on this museum than she has."

Rafferty, 65, is scheduled to retire next spring to give Met Museum the time to form a search committee and find a replacement for her.

TagsEmily Rafferty, Metropolitan Museum of Art, retirement, Met, president, museum