Patricia Stonesifer, former chief executive of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is expected to be named chairwoman of the Smithsonian Institution, reports The New York Times.

No one has ever previously held this position. Ms. Stonesifer is expected to improve stability and openness at the organization and help it raise more than $1-billion over the next five to seven years, reports the newspaper.

Read a profile of Ms. Stonesifer as she stepped down and a transcript of an online discussion in which she took questions posed from Chronicle readers.

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