The Rooms CEO Anne Chafe to retire in May

The Rooms says its chief executive officer, Anne Chafe, will retire this spring after nearly two decades with the provincial cultural institution.

The organization’s board of directors announced Wednesday that Chafe’s retirement will take effect May 13, 2026.

Chafe joined The Rooms in 2007 as director of the Provincial Museum Division. She later served as executive director of museums and galleries and was appointed interim CEO in July 2019. In June 2020, she was named CEO following a recommendation by the Independent Appointments Commission.

During her tenure, Chafe oversaw the creation of three permanent exhibitions at The Rooms: Here We Made a Home in the Elinor Gill Ratcliffe Gallery; From This Place: Our Lives on Land and Sea in the Cenovus Energy Gallery; and Beaumont-Hamel and the Trail of the Caribou: Newfoundlanders and Labradorians Overseas and at Home, 1918–1949 in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment Gallery.

In a statement, board chair Margaret Allan said Chafe helped guide the institution into its next phase of development and strengthened its reputation nationally.

“Anne has guided The Rooms into its next phase of development and has helped solidify its reputation as a national institution of distinction,” Allan said. “Her contributions to the organization are immeasurable, and her legacy will be long lasting.”

Chafe began her museum career at the former Newfoundland Museum in 1983. After earning a master of museum studies degree from the University of Toronto in 1986, she worked in Ontario’s museum sector for more than two decades, including roles in Oakville, Windsor and the Region of Waterloo.

She has served as president of the Ontario Museum Association and the Alliance of Natural History Museums of Canada, and has been involved with the Canadian Museums Association and ICOM Canada. She was recently appointed to the board of directors for Destination St. John’s.

Chafe’s work has been recognized by several heritage and museum organizations in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario and nationally.