Smithsonian Board Begins Search for New Secretary

The Smithsonian's Board of Regents is beginning a search for the next secretary to lead the world's largest museum and research complex.

Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough has announced he will retire next year. The board has formed a search committee and hopes to have a new leader in place by summer or early fall of 2014 before Clough leaves.

Search committee Chairman John McCarter, the former president of Chicago's Field Museum, said Monday that the board is seeking someone with Clough's characteristics and will cast a wide net.

Clough joined the Smithsonian in 2008 after serving as president of Georgia Tech for 14 years.

Board member Shirley Ann Jackson, the president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, says the Smithsonian needs a person with a vision and who can raise money.