The Museum of the Bible announced Monday that Carlos Campo, president of evangelical Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio, will become its new CEO in June.
Mr. Campo, a museum board member since 2015, succeeds Harry Hargrave, who has held the position since 2019. Mr. Hargrave previously led the D.C. museum’s development by locating the site, obtaining approvals and overseeing the planning and development process.
Mr. Campo said Monday he will continue the institution’s work of letting “the Bible speak for itself.”
“We feel that the Bible will powerfully speak for itself if we allow it truly to do so,” he said in a telephone interview. “It’s not an easy needle to thread, to be a nonsectarian institution, clearly founded by people with evangelical principles and worldviews.”
Mr. Campo, 65, earned a bachelor’s degree in theater, a master’s in English and a doctorate in English with a drama emphasis at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and is an active member of the International Shakespeare Association.
Will that background influence his role at the museum?
“Yes, it is my hope that the early modern English of Shakespeare’s telling, and my being steeped in that tradition will be helpful. But, moreover, we want to present this museum as an extraordinary opportunity for people of all nations and backgrounds to engage with the Bible and see its transformative power,” he said.
Before coming to Ashland University, Mr. Campo was president of Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and previously served as chief academic officer and provost there. Before his stint at Regent, he was chief academic officer and dean of the College of Arts and Letters at the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, where he started the first Latino Studies Program at the school, among other accomplishments.
Museum board Chair Steve Green said in a statement: “We look forward with great anticipation to the museum’s future under Carlos Campo’s leadership, confident in his knowledge and passion to take us into the next chapter of the Museum of the Bible’s story.”
Mr. Campo’s mother was the late Betty Clooney, a singer who achieved fame with her late sister Rosemary. His cousins include actors George Clooney and the late Miguel Ferrer.