Dan Monroe is the retired Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Director and CEO of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. Founded in 1799, PEM is the oldest continuously operated museum in the United States. During his tenure, Monroe increased the operating budget from $3 million to $36 million, increased the endowment from $23 million to more than $500 million, raised more than $1 billion, increased annual on-site attendance from 70,000 to 280,000 and annual off-site attendance of PEM organized exhibitions to more than 1,000,000 in 2019. Monroe spearheaded design and construction of more than 300,000 square feet of new facilities, and achieved the highest visitor satisfaction numbers from 2003 to 2019 among more than eighty museums around the nation. He also initiated a unique initiative to apply knowledge from the Neurosciences to the design of art experiences, and PEM became the only art museum in the world to employ employed a full-time neuroscientist to help enhance the design of exhibitions, education, and public programs. 

Monroe has served as President of the Association of Art Museum Directors; Chairman of the American Alliance of Museums; President of the International Council of Museums America; and President of the Western Museums Conference. Monroe played a key role in helping write and obtain passage in Congress for the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990, groundbreaking federal civil rights legislation that fundamentally changed the relationship between Federally recognized Native American tribes and museums, federal agencies, and universities. Dan resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico and is married to Catherine Wygant. He has two sons and five grandchildren.