About Steve Rooney

Steve Rooney has been a successful leader in non-profit management since 1980, and has been independently consulting since 2017 after 41 years on the staff of the International Center of Photography (ICP), a museum and school in New York City. Steve joined ICP’s staff within months of its founding in 1974, becoming Assistant Director of Exhibitions in 1980 and Director of Finance and Administration in 1983, reporting to ICP’s founder and Executive Director Cornell Capa. 

Working closely and collaboratively with the Board and staff, Steve established budget and staff management systems that helped ICP eliminate its crushing start-up debt and retire the two mortgages on its Fifth Avenue mansion by 1986, maintain thirty years of major growth and positive operating net income, and increase total net assets from $1 million in 1983 to $38 million by the time he retired in 2015.

Steve helped Cornell Capa plan his retirement from ICP in 1994 and supported ICP’s Board in its search for his successor. The Board selected Steve’s colleague Willis (Buzz) Hartshorn, who Steve had recruited to ICP in 1983 and who Steve supported in his bid to succeed Capa.

Steve helped lead the planning and implementation for all of ICP’s major growth initiatives for 35 years:

• The creation of a major revenue-generating traveling exhibitions program in 1979,
• ICP’s first satellite gallery (supported by International Paper) in 1986,
• A much larger satellite, ICP Midtown, in 1990 (supported by Kodak),
• The sale in 1999 of ICP’s Fifth Avenue mansion, and the consolidation of the school and museum in much larger space in 2001, funded by a $26 million campaign,
• The expansion of the school’s programs and its growth, 
• And the strategic planning process that led to a successful $10 million endowment campaign in 2006.

Working with ICP’s current Executive Director, Mark Lubell, Steve helped lead the search and planning that led to the purchase and build-out of the current museum space on the Bowery in 2015 funded by a $15 million campaign, as a transition for ICP’s next move to Essex Street in 2020. The new Essex Street location will reunite ICP's school and museum in one beautiful space and serve as ICP’s home for many decades.

Throughout his career, Steve has collaborated and consulted with colleagues at other arts institutions. He served for eight years on the Board of the New York State Association of Museums and in 2008 co-founded an ad-hoc association of the CFOs and COOs of New York City museums.

Recent Consulting Work

Steve brings his deep experience and practical skills to bear in his consulting work, helping clients develop their intentions and create forward movement in complex and dynamic conditions. 

The Asian Cultural Council (ACC) retained Steve in June 2017 to help resolve options under consideration to relocate their NYC office. Working with ACC’s Executive Director Miho Walsh, this assignment resulted in a report with financial analysis that helped ACC quickly reach its decision to enter into a short-term lease. In September 2017 ACC retained Steve to help the staff develop several business model options. This assignment grew into a comprehensive strategic study of the organization led by Steve and overseen by a Board committee, a final report in May 2018 drafted by Steve and the staff, and the decision in November 2018 to establish certain goals including undertaking an endowment campaign.  https://www.asianculturalcouncil.org

The Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography (FEP) retained Steve in December 2017 to help develop strategies to resolve chronic cashflow shortfalls and increase the professionalism of its financial management and planning. Steve helped the Director, Todd Brandow, secure FEP’s first line of credit and establish a more effective budget management system. Currently, he is advising the Director on business strategy and management and serves on FEP’s Board as its Treasurer. https://www.fep-photo.org

Steve is founding Treasurer and Board member of Pawling Yoga & Wellness, a nonprofit community organization he helped launch this year. https://pawlingyogawellness.org

Steve is also a highly trained Yoga Therapist, a student of the American Viniyoga Institute and certified by the International Association of Yoga Therapists