Sasha Suda, who was suddenly fired from her role as director and chief executive of the Philadelphia Art Museum (PAM) on 4 November, is suing the institution for alleged “breaches of contract, bad faith, unfair treatment and abuse”. She is requesting a jury trial and seeking relief including two years’ severance pay and damages.
Suda’s lawsuit, filed Monday (10 November) in Pennsylvania state court, alleges that she was fired after clashing with “a small, corrupt faction” of the board of trustees who “formed an executive committee that actively worked to undermine Suda by attempting to sway staff, poison board relations and sabotage” the museum’s pursuit of its mission. The lawsuit was first reported by The New York Times.
A spokesperson for the museum declined to comment on the lawsuit to the Times. Reached by The Art Newspaper, a museum spokesperson said in a statement: "The Art Museum is aware of the recently filed complaint against the museum, and we believe it is without merit. We will not be providing further comment at this time."
Luke Nikas, a lawyer with the firm Quinn Emanuel who is representing Suda, told The Art Newspaper in a statement: “A small cabal of trustees commissioned a sham investigation to create a pretext for Ms Suda’s termination. Ms Suda fought for and believed in a museum that would serve Philadelphia and its people, not the egos of a handful of trustees. She is proud of her work and looks forward to presenting the truth.”
Suda’s lawsuit alleges a long string of ethical and contractual violations by the museum’s current and previous board chairs—Ellen Caplan and Leslie Ann Miller, respectively. The alleged incidents range from pushing through hires that Suda alone had the authority to make, per the terms of her contract, to failing to adequately investigate an incident involving a board member that had resulted in multiple staff complaints.
The lawsuit alleges that, following a vote-of-confidence by the board’s executive committee earlier this autumn (eight-to-two in Suda’s favour), Caplan “fabricated a false narrative around Suda’s compensation” by questioning a 3% cost-of-living increase to her salary that was part of the contract negotiated with the museum workers’ union in 2022.
The museum subsequently hired a law firm to conduct a "forensic investigation” of Suda’s compensation and expenses. According to the lawsuit, that investigation found no evidence of misconduct but nonetheless portrayed Suda “as financially irresponsible and recommended that she be given the opportunity to resign”. A subsequent vote-of-confidence resulted in an eight-to-two tally in favour of firing Suda, who was allegedly informed “that she had just been effectively terminated” on the morning she was hosting leaders visiting from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Tate in London.
According to the lawsuit, the sudden termination of Suda’s position three years into a five-year contract risks leaving her—a Canadian national—with no source of income to qualify for her Green Card. The complaint notes: “This would give Suda 60 days to leave the country where she resides with her family and where her children attend elementary school.”
The lawsuit claims that, in spite of alleged opposition by some board members, Suda excelled in her role. She reportedly surpassed fundraising goals, bringing in $16.7m in fiscal year 2025—almost $800,000 more than the target for the year. Capital funding also doubled, increasing by $2m. She helped increase student visits to the museum from around 8,000 in 2021 to 38,000 in the 2023-24 school year, the complaint claims. A few days before her firing, she had allegedly secured a donor’s verbal commitment of a $25m gift to support the construction of a new education centre.
Suda was previously the director and chief executive of the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. She arrived at the PAM at a time of turmoil. The museum’s previous leader Timothy Rub had resigned after it emerged that leadership had failed to stop a pattern of workplace mistreatment and alleged sexual misconduct by a manager. Workers at the institution subsequently voted to form a union and, as negotiations over its first contract dragged on, they went on strike the same week that Suda started in her role. The strike ultimately lasted for three weeks.
