Met Museum President Becomes Board Chairwoman at NYC & Co.

The president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Emily Rafferty, is the new chairwoman of the board of directors at NYC & Company, the city's marketing and tourism arm.

Ms. Rafferty was elected board chairwoman by a unanimous vote of the company's executive committee yesterday. She has served on the 81-member voluntary board since 2005.

Ms. Rafferty succeeds Jonathan Tisch, the chairman and CEO of Loews, who resigned as chairman in mid-February. She has been the president of the Met since 2005 and has spent 31 years at the museum, beginning her career there as a fund-raising administrator in 1976.

She takes over amid an expansion of the tourism group, which recorded a record 46 million visitors to the city in 2007. Within the last year it has opened 10 new international offices and launched a $30 million global communications campaign.

In an interview yesterday with The New York Sun, Ms. Rafferty said the city's tourism industry could weather the economic downturn.

"I think we all know that the economy is a challenge for people now, but I'm optimistic that New York will retain its place in tourism," she said. "But it won't be without the collective efforts of all of us."